South Beach Dive And Surf Center

Surf shop in Key Biscayne, FL

SurfSpotGuide verified

4.3 (140 reviews)

Key Biscayne, FL

About South Beach Dive And Surf Center

South Beach Dive And Surf Center in Key Biscayne, FL, provides comprehensive dive services including certifications, specialty courses, spearfishing, and guided trips to local reefs and wrecks. Customers consistently praise the highly professional and patient instructors, excellent staff service, and the shop's ability to manage groups with varied experience levels effectively. This center is ideal for everyone from first-time scuba explorers seeking patient guidance to seasoned divers looking for well-equipped, knowledgeable local operations.

The Good

Customers overwhelmingly praise the staff, instructors, and dive masters (with specific mentions for Benjamin, Joe, Arturo, Mauricio, Sergio, Marco, Mark, and Jeff) for being patient, professional, knowledgeable, friendly, attentive, and excellent teachers, especially for beginners and certification courses. The diving experiences themselves, including the aquatic life seen on reefs and wrecks, are frequently described as amazing adventures. The shop is noted for having good communication, clean gear, and being accommodating with scheduling changes or minor equipment issues.

Things to Consider

Several negative experiences involved third-party coordination, specifically one instance where the customer was diving with 'Rainbow Divers' without prior notification and felt abandoned on the boat. Other complaints include a rented GoPro battery dying mid-dive with an unhelpful response from staff, failure to honor a promised discount, and feeling that staff became less caring after the diving portion was complete. One review detailed an extremely negative interaction with a manager regarding a cancellation due to medical reasons, citing an uncaring attitude and refusal to reschedule without a significant penalty.