Got to go with Aquatic Safaris to the Brian Davis Memorial Vessel. I am still green when it comes to scuba and this was my first ocean boat charter. Everyone from the folks that worked in the shop to the crew that ran the dive boat were very warm and receptive and made sure I was safe and had a great time. I chose to get a dive lead since this was my first open ocean experience, just as a precaution for myself. My dive leads were Lloyd and Chase and they were super friendly and made sure I wasnt nervous about any of it. This company is very professional and VERY reasonable when it comes to cost. For example with Aquatic Safaris I paid HALF of what other companies wanted for a 60 minute dive, with a dive lead, and the dive leads time?, and got a two air tanks and two 40 minute dives in. Whenever I am diving in North Carolina, this will be the company I use!

I had a great experience diving for Megalodon teeth with the crew at aquatic safaris. The crew was very friendly and helpful (even though I showed up a little late), and we ended up have a few successful dives.

This is an excellent dive shop, and they run great little trips out to the nearby wrecks!Im still adding pix as we do more of their fun trips!

Horrible communication. I was warned by my usual dive shop who had a bad experience with Aquatic, and said: “I’ll never dive with them again!!” They might be a good dive shop but if you can’t communicate dive status above water, I have no confidence below water. Arrived at the dock on a beautiful sunny morning, National Weather Service has only 7 mile winds & no warnings to find it cancelled, even after receiving an email at 5:15 am entitled “Aquatic Safari Dive Confirmation”. I had to call to find out it was cancelled, no text was sent. At least have the courtesy to call at 6am, to alert everyone (that’s what other dive operators I’ve dive with do).Plus I saw other dive boats heading out.To help everyone, no matter the weather, you should call the day before the dive to confirm. If Aquatic would like to contact me, I’m happy to give them constructive suggestions on how to improve from a 25 year diver.

Paul and crew are great,very professional and always helpful!

Review of Aquatic Safaris SCUBA CenterPending reviewThings that might help you have a more successful experience than I had:1. VERY, VERY carefully check your confirmation email. If you dont get an email, your dive isnt booked, despite what staff tell you. They wont hold dives for you. Once they send the email, any errors are your problem regardless of who made them. If booking for a party, and you didnt schedule the dive, make sure the person who gets the confirmation email checks it carefully - only one person in a party gets the email. If you cancel a dive, again, check that cancellation email. If you didnt get it, they didnt really cancel your dive and will charge you.2. Beware of staff error. This past summer while trying to book a dive, I was lied to repeatedly by staff and not told information I should have been told. Staff will not call you back. They will not pass on messages to the owners. When one staffer booked my sons for the wrong dive, a dive they werent certified to take, he tried to convince them to go anyway, to cover for his mistake. He put their lives in danger to cover for his error.3. TOO busy. The owners, according to their own staff, are too busy to take your phone calls or return messages. I tried reaching them by phone multiple times. When advised to use the contact form on their website, they did not respond to that as well (yes, I checked my spam mail too, no answer). I was finally able to get them to respond to my concerns by sending a letter. Try that.4. Beware of the late cancellation! If they have to cancel your trip last minute due to weather, be advised you will get an EMAIL - at 5:15 AM while you are driving on the freeway from Raleigh or wherever you are coming from. So if you dont regularly check your email at 5AM, make sure you do on the day youre scheduled for a dive. They are not set up to send a text message to everyone, and even if they were, I wouldnt trust the staff to collect the information needed. They wont call. So rather than show up for a dive after driving 2 1/2 or more hours and then be disappointed, but sure to check your email regularly all morning long.5. Staff wont tell you, but you can get on waiting lists for dives. There are regular cancellations, so its likely you can get on a dive if you sign up on enough waiting lists. Just make sure you are on the list for the dive you want. Check that confirmation email. And if you cancel a dive or ask to be off a waiting list, double check that cancellation email!!! Errors are your problem, not theirs.

The diving out of Wrightsville Beach is fantastic. Had an equipment issue on the morning of our dive and Paul was very understanding. Made every effort to make our experience great. We will definitely be back.

I got my open water certification over the summer and my experience was amazing. My instructor Maiah was beyond amazing and helped me so much. When I was having trouble with my flippers, she traded with me and took great care of me. She worked with so I felt comfortable in the water. Being the youngest and only girl on my class was intimidating but I have no regrets. Awesome experience!

Had a great trip with these guys this week. Dove the Markham and Hyde. Great dive sites, a ton of marine life. Chase, Luke and Captain Paul were great!

Top-notch-first-class-awesomeness!Son became certified with these folks & weve done 2 charter dives with them. Its been 16 years for me & they really put me at ease getting back into the water. Amazing (REALLY AMAZING) staff, dive masters, boat captains....all of it is just great. Safety is their paramount mission, they are thorough, and extremely attentive to customers. The shop & boats are clean and equipment is clean/well maintained.A few of our favs: Peyton Whisnant & Michael P MP dive masters - Summer is amazing too (watched her work with a group on one of our charters). All the boat captains are just fab - please please tip these folks on your next charter!As a side note; we had to wait 15 min for our ride at the end of a charter & these folks SCOUR & clean the boats after each charter. I watched them work and was amazed (we dont always see the extra work before & after we show up-dive-& leave)! Additionally, I had some small issues in the water on one charter & Mike (boat captain) was SERIOUSLY awesome!!!Charter tips:1) they have bottled water onboard, so dont lug your own unless youre picky2) beginners or even beg-novice - ASK FOR A FIVE MASTER on your charter, its not too much to have that extra security/safety & overall guidance. Ive been SO grateful I did it these past few dives & until I feel like Im really comfortable (5+ dives under the belt) Ill keep adding the dive master!!!3) Liberty & Stone Tug are great for beginners - Liberty due to depth & Stone Tug for visibility....Liberty usually has less visibility near the surface but is a shorter boat ride! Per Dive Instr., Stone Tug & Hyde he said were the most relaxing (best visibility, easy decent/ascent, great wrecks, average depth/not too deep for beginners.4) bring a washcloth you can toss, great to wipe your face with between/after dives5) I loved having my small waterproof bag with a towel & my valuables inside. Really worth it to get one of these & a small one will fit under the bench with your gear.

Great staff, both in the shop and aboard the Aquatic Safaris I dive boat! It took days to get dives in due to weather not cooperating. But, FINALLY got a few in on my last day in the area! Hopefully will be back for more! Dove The Hyde.

Great place to get certified. Instructor Rosie is awesome.

Always top notch service. Class act. Sales, service and dive charters run well.

Staff is always friendly and helpful.

I got my advanced certification with Aquatic Safaris. MP was my dive instructor and he was awesome! He was very friendly, patient, and knowledgeable. He never had a problem answering a question and had plenty of interesting stories to tell. When we were out on our final dive, the weather turned bad and I was afraid that the second dive would be cancelled, but the captain told us to suit up and get back in the water! It was a great experience!

On Friday, September 15, 2017 my sister and I dove the Hyde Wreck via Aquatic Safaris Scuba Center, Inc. The staff was very friendly, informative, and professional. We arrive the day before to get our gear fitted and had a great conversation with the folks in the shop. Rental gear was in great shape. Getting the shop and the boat launch site were very easy. The had Nitrox air testers. Only bad thing we can say is that one of my tanks was at 1500 psi, which was replaced at the dock before launching. The captain and dive masters were very personable and helpful. Safety stop bars were an added plus. The seas were very calm that day making it an enjoyable ride out, however the visibility (we understand that it can be hit or miss) was not as good as we were hoping BUT! the action was super intense making it an awesome first NC coast diving experience for my sister who is a dive instructor in Hawaii. We will definitely be back for any future NC coast dives!

My daughter, son and I took the OWDC together. Summer is a great instructor, in and out of the classroom. She had a great deal of patience with the entire class and gave detailed practical instruction during the dives. Peyton was our instructor for our lake dives and was very professional and patient as well. My son, Noah, was having difficulty with equalizing and Peyton took extra time to help him and make him feel comfortable. But the most important aspect of both Summers and Peytons instruction was they made the class fun!!! On our open water dives, again they both took extra time to help my son. It was an awesome family experience. Thanks again to the entire staff of Aquatic Safari!!

My brother and I have been open water divers since 2013 and finally planned to get out Advanced Open Water certification. Aquatic Safari made it easy to sign up, communicated to us several times leading up to the course, and the instructor even reached out to all of us via text message. Mike (MP) Waters was a great instructor and handled every situation thrown at him during the dives. I would definitely recommend them.

Find somewhere else!!! I will never use Aquatic Safaris again. Rented 4 tanks from them. Somebody in our dive party had a accident so 3 of the 4 tanks were returned completely full. Asked about a refund for the unused air and was looked at like I was crazy. I’ve previously rented tanks from other dive shops in town, other states and countries and have never had this issue before. I’ve always been refunded if a tank was unused. Bottom line: Aquatic Safaris is making double the price off of those unused tanks now by charging both myself and the next person that rents them. Will definitely take my business elsewhere from now on.

Paul’s a good guy, thank you for reaching out.

Great shop, great customer service

You get what you pay for. This shop might be a little cheaper than others in the area, but it quickly became obvious why.We had a dive booked here on the last day of our vacation, as it was the only date they had available. We were warned by two other (more expensive) local shops not to use this shop as they had been having issues keeping their boats in the water and were canceling trips. Upon hearing this, we called AS to cancel our reservation so that we could book with one of the more reputable but pricy shops, but were told we were too close in to cancel. At the same time, we were assured by the staff at AS that our boat was not the one having issues and that our trip would proceed as planned.Of course, our trip was canceled at the very last minute. To add insult to injury, the staff lied and claimed the trip was canceled due to high winds - not mechanical issues on the boat. Mind you, this was on a day when the forecasted winds were 5mph. We called other dive shops in the area to try to book a last minute trip, but they were, of course, all booked up. None of them canceled tours that day due to weather, with one going so far as to call it a “perfect” day for diving.

I just got open water certified. Both Rachel and Maiah were excellent instructors! I felt comfortable throughout the whole process! Very encouraging and inspiring. We saw sharks on the check out dive! Life changing experience. I will definitely be continuing my education here if at all possible. I highly recommend this shop for your education!

Good group of people to work with.

Such an awesome experience. I went to two other local locations looking for a pair of Costa Del Mar sunglasses my boyfriend wanted. I decided to get them for him for valentines. The other locations did not carry the exact style that he wanted. The woman I spoke to on the phone was very knowledgeable and the woman, young man, and a man that I assume was the owner were so helpful. The Woman I spoke to had them out and ready when I arrived. They also let me know that if he was not satisfied he could come in and try out any others they had or even order something from the catalog. Great experience. I will definitely return. Good job guys!

Fantastic dive charter with this team last weekend. Very helpful and knowledgeable about the location. Patient with new salt water divers and younger crowd. We will definitely dive with them again!

Professionally run scuba shop. Captains Paul and Mike do a great job getting to the dive sites. Mates are helpful. Theyve had a lot of the same crew for years. Been diving with them for about 10 years.

My husband and I recently obtained our PADI OW certification through Aquatic Safaris. Kelsey was awesome in helping us accommodate our crazy schedule so that we could piece together all of our required dives; she also did a great job as an instructor during our final OW dive. We completed our previous dives with Eliza--who I cannot say enough good things about! She is a phenomenal instructor & helps you feel 100% confident in the water. Both of these ladies made our certification experience enjoyable.The only reason for my 4 star rating is because when we purchased our gear at the shop, the gentleman that helped us had ZERO knowledge about the dis-/advantages of selecting one item over another. As total newbies, we had no idea what we were looking for & some guidance would have been great.Barring that, I would definitely recommend obtaining your certification with either of the ladies I mentioned. Happy diving!

Great dive experience with these guys from start to finish. I haven’t dived in 5 years, but the dive masters were very helpful and made me feel comfortable the whole time. Did two wreck dives; the second one was teeming with sharks! It was fantastic!

Simply the BEST! You have questions they have answers! I am never pressured into buying things.. Super friendly/welcoming staff, guys and girls on staff. Just all around exactly what a person both professional and novice in the dive community would want in a dive shop! Thanks to Captain Paul and everyone on his awesome staff!!

Loved going through Aquatic Safaris for my open water cert. Will Newhouse was my instructor and I couldnt recommend him enough! He was thorough, patient, and really knows his stuff. After this class I was adequately prepared to go on my dive trip in the Caribbean just two weeks later.

They actually have a great selection of gear! But can be more expensive than other shops. If you cant find it here they do recommend other shops that may have it in stock if you need something write away! Which is what I loved!

I’ve been diving with Aquatic Safaris for years and am never disappointed. The instructors and crew at AS are among the best in the business. This is no-nonsense SCUBA.

Dive shop staff and boat staff were very knowledgeable. The way that payment is done really should be revised, really long wait times to pay for the trip. The dive sites for Megladon teeth were great and a lot of teeth were there waiting to be found.

This is a very well run dive store. The staff are knowledgeable dive professionals. It is a pleasure to dive with them. i have purchased and serviced equipment with them. Its always been a pleasant experience.

I got my original certification back in 1976 so I have had the opportunity to dive with quite a few dive centers over the years. 2 weeks ago I went out with AS and found it to be a well run boat. Everyone on the crew was professional, thorough, knowledgeable and well versed in every aspect of safety (there are many dive centers that dont come close to the professionalism these folks provided). I also earned my Nitrox certification - the class with Will Newhouse was outstanding - clearly he knew his stuff on a deep dive level (pun intended).- questions were welcomed and experiences were shared. I have already booked two additional dives with these folks. My only suggestion is call a few days in advance to make sure the boat is full and is going out as scheduled.

Fantastic choice to get your open water certification. Instructors were knowledgeable and personable. I was also impressed with there charter service. The crew was great and really helpful.

Store has been part of Wilmington for a while. The staff us always friendly and knowledgeable. Charters are well organized and a good time.

Great experience with Aquatic Safaris getting my open water diver certification! Will Newhouse was my instructor and he made the whole experience very fun. Great teacher, very patient, knowledgeable, easy going guy.

Really enjoyed my PADI open water certification with Will Newhouse. Very knowledgeable, easy going, not easily frustrated, and thorough. This is not the place to pencil whip your certification-you will know what your doing before allowed to go further.The checkout dive from a boat charter onto liberty ship wreck! Spend your $ with these guys and get the whole experience.

Aquatic Safaris is the best dive shop in the SE NC area. They have a fully equipped store and run charters to all the great diving locations regularly. I highly recommend you check them out for your diving needs when in town.

My son and I took the advanced open water class and our instructor Maiah did an excellent job and was very helpful an knolagable . We had an excellent time. Highly recommen aquatic safaris. The boat Crew and staff did an awesome job and were great as well. Thank you Aquatic Safaris.

Although I was not on this charter yesterday, my family was. NC wreck dives are amazing but your charter was NOT. The poorest attention to equipment and safety that I have ever heard of in my 27 years of diving.• my daughter had trouble connecting her tank to the BC. Dive master on charter addressed it ... but carelessly and the tank dropped out of the strap at 50 feet. Family members spent bottom time trying to get her tank properly positioned.• brother in law noticed he only had 2000 psi. This should have been checked at shop by your employees. Resulted in delays for entire charter bc crew had to go get tank from shopThere was no assistance offered to divers upon reentering boat other than fin handoff..certainty with heavy tanks an extra boost up would be easy to offer and appreciated.Most importantly, back at the dock, your crew initiated tank removal from boat before divers had completed disembarked. People are tired, gathering their gear and it should be your policy to make sure all divers have left the boat/dock before you start moving heavy equipment.You are setting yourself up for a lot of liability.

Great dive shop ! Friendly, knowledgeable full service dive center. Charters are professional and reasonably priced. Great staff !!

Great place to dive! The staff is friendly and knowledgable, and I always enjoy my time with the Aquatic Safaris crew.

Overall, the experience on the boat was great. The crew was friendly and went out of their way to assist me. They even let me borrow equipment after I lost some to the ocean. The only reason for my two star rating is because I requested four 100CF Nitrox tanks and they quoted me $16.50 per tank. When I called to pay they again quoted me $16.50 a tank. I then saw I was billed $20.50 per tank. They explained that it was because I got the steal tank not the aluminum. I was never offered a choice, nor did I specify what type of tank I wanted. They would not reimburse me based on what they quoted me on two different occasions. I did not feel this was good business practices. I would use this company again, but get your quote in writing.

Had a blast, good crew. Decent but not great boat. Easy diving.

They have great charters a pretty awesome store the staff is very nice the only problem I have is I dropped off 3 tanks to get hydros I knew it would take a while but i never got a call back I had to reach out to them bit they are cool people

Attempted to sign up for a dive class and charter however considering the importance of dive safety and the lack of knowledge by the staff I felt that safety wouldnt be possible with people teaching something they cant answer questions about. I look for very knowledgeable people in their area of expertise and did not find it here.

I got certified on 7-18-15. Chris was my instructor and did a fantastic job. Everyone was very helpful too.

Ben and Paige were very helpful will definitely recommend this dive shop

A great outfit in Wilmington. I have been out on several charters and got my advanced PADI certification with them even though I live out in the triangle area. They always try to get the charters out, and are as disappointed as the rest of us when the seas dont cooperate.

Great staff willing to help .

Its always doing business with AS

Excellent crew and very helpful staff. I recently certified as an open water diver and took my first dive with them. Since I was by myself I opted to pay for a dive lead. This means that one of the crew will dive as your buddy. It was a great expirence and they were very professional. They briefed me before entering the water and guided me around the wreck. All this for only $35. Its a steal. On one dive we were all on the boat ready to go and the captain came out and said we were cancelling the dive. The weather was just not right and he didnt want to risk it. Safety first and while I was dissapointed I also completely trust that they will do whats right. When my wife completed her certification we took her on her first dive with them and she had an awesome time as well. Highly recomend them and will continue to use them.

Best place for diving in wilmington.

Terrible service and unprofessional attitudes. I called about going out to dive with them. The person I spoke with had no idea about their dives or diving in general. I ended up renting my gear from them and the place smelled. Everything seemed cramped and unorganized. Stay away.

I would love to start by giving this place a really great review. However, due to the fact that I have booked over four charters with them this summer alone and all have been cancelled, leaving a good review seems a impossible task.Aside from never actually getting to go out on a boat, one thing that seemed silly to my wife and I was the fact that we were expected to pick up our tanks in the morning before boarding. We have been diving in many places and I cant recall one place that didnt deliver the tanks to the boat for its customer. It causes a unnecessary stress on the customer which is usually taken on by the business. Diving isnt cheap and its suppose to be a relaxing time for the divers. Tanks should be delivered and equipment should be changed over on the boat by the boats employees. That and the ride is essentially what we are paying them for.I understand completely that dives can be cancelled from time to time. However, I have been out on days where the swells were 3-5ft. While it may make for a slightly uncomfortable boat ride I seen no reason that a whole dive should be cancelled for it, unless youre not confident in your captain or crew. If thats the case then you shouldnt be offering dive charters at all.With all that being said, this review may reflect poorly on their charters, but I dont know much about their classes. The customer service was okay at best. It seems that the people I have spoken with are not super knowledgeable about diving or the classes. Ive only been in the store once and it was an okay store. Much better than what they have in Jacksonville.If youre looking to get a on a boat to dive and youre around the Jacksonville area then youre much better off booking with a shop in Morehead City. If we had, then we would have went diving on today which was beautiful instead of sitting on the house due to a seemingly senseless cancelled dive.Jeremey TorresCertified Dive Master - Dive Pros Pensacola, Fl

Enjoyed may diving with the Aquatic Safaris. Will recommend to others.

Great shop, great charters, great people.

Amazing Customer Service!

Aquatic Safaris store staff are unknowledgeable and not able to answer questions about dive gear. They are unorganized, unhelpful, and do not follow through with customers either. I have never been so poorly treated at a dive shop in my life. The dive charters are not much better either. The crew are not very friendly and usually ignore customers throughout the whole trip.

If you plan on doing a certification with these guys, stop. Dont do it.Earlier this summer (2014), these guys sold us an Advanced OW PADI certification and they did not provide a single class other than a 20mn hurried navigation class in the Banks Channel in the middle of boat traffic.They say that they require you to read a book and dive 4 specialty dives, each one of them accompanied with an instructor who is supposed to teach you that specialty (i.e. deep dive, wreck dive, etc). Instead of providing instruction, our instructor was showing us shark teeth, taking pictures and later he went down again for the 3rd time spearfishing (I hope he doesnt get DCS one of these days). Our instructor did not instruct.They are unorganized and their staff are 3 or 4 kids, undergrads from UNC Wilmington who are unprofessional (they screwed up my tanks twice, booked us on a class/charter and then a day before had to cancel it because they couldnt provide an instructor).Even their charters are not fun -- the captain and mates huddled together on our way to the dive spot and never cared, interacted or inquired about their customers. I had to help a couple who forgot how to set their gear, and they certainly could have gotten into an accident.I will be making a formal inquiry to PADI about Aquatic Safaris.

Decent prices for rentals and really close to the marina. Ill come back again the next time Im in Wilmington

Very helpful sales staff. Open on Sunday!

Very knowledgeable and experienced staff.

Always a great dive experience!

Owner was rude and the products were over-priced.

Good service!!

Avoid.