Pinnacles Dive Center

The team at Pinnacles go the extra distance to put the customer first. There are no high pressure sales techniques. They are very professional and have a pleasant way of tuning in with the customer and putting themselves in your shoes. What has really impressed me is how they will go above and beyond to meet your needs and to support and back the products that you purchase from them. Christine is a third generation owner of the store and the diving manufacturer’s stand behind Pinnacles and their clients to the max. I highly recommend them for all your diving needs whether diving trips, equipment, training or just plan old advice. They are good people.

This is a great dive shop. The employees are super knowledgeable, they have everything you need, and can special order exactly what you’re looking for. They make everything easy to understand and speak from experience. They are also very thorough to make sure you get the best product for YOU and for how you intend to use it.
I’ve gone on two dive trips with them now, Cozumel and Bonaire. Both we amazing. Both times Christine was running the trip. She was very attentive to everybody in the group and went above and beyond to accommodate us. I can’t wait to go on another. There are a lot to choose from.
Overall, I have been very impressed with every interaction. And it feels good to know I’m supporting a local, family owned business.

I did like the service and friendliness. I was shown around the show. And it all looks good. I purchase a dive bag which was $ 20 more than online but all in all a good place.

Christine is a pleasure to work with. Her product knowledge and patience led to a $ 1700 sale. She helped me put together a Scuba pro package, BCD, Air2, regulator, and computer at sale prices that I could not find in online scuba locations, eBay, or Amazon. My research showed what she told me is exactly true about the product and how it’s rated. She also ensured we had access to the pool to determine how much weight we need and to set buoyancy control with the new equipment.
Great service and friendly knowledgable staff.
I highly recommend Pinnacles Dive Center and look forward to joining them on some dives in the near future.

Beware when you purchase an item from this establishment. There is a NO refund policy, even when try returning it a day later. I had purchase an item that my husband told me he had got me the same item. They are not very kind in this store.

Pinnacles helped several people in our Boy Scout Troop get certified (including classwork, pool time, and open water). They were great in helping us through the whole process, and definitely went the extra mile. For example, after working a full day at their store, they attended one of our scout meetings to give a presentation and answer any questions. During our open water dive weekend, divemaster Jennifer even went to the extra effort of free diving for abalone so that the scouts and families could taste some. She is very knowledgeable about diving and marine life, so the experience was very memorable for all. It was a great experience in every way.

Spent 6months looking for a dive shop in this area and found this gem of a store. Christine hooked me up with some great gear and Jennifer was awesome with refreshing my dive skills. I bought my whole setup from Pinnacles and no longer know the definition of disappointment (though I haven’t seen the new Spider-​Man movie– but that’s a whole nother’ review). If you’re looking for a dive shop, put these guys on your list.

I’m happy with all my Aqua Lung gear, but if you need it serviced you MUST go through an Aqua Lung dealer, you can’t send it back to them directly.
I contacted Pinnacles Dive Center via e-​mail to have my Sea Quest BC repaired. (Aqua Lung provided me a list of authorized dealers in the north Bay Area, and the Novato store was closest.) But after a week of waiting, I got no response. This is highly unprofessional.
While waiting for a response I began shopping for a DUI drysuit. Coincidentally I noticed that Pinnacles is listed as a DUI dealer. But do you think I’m going to go to them now to drop thousands of dollars on a new drysuit? No way in hell!
Pinnalces: YOU FAIL!

My wife and I decided to try Pinnacles Dive Center in Novato for our annual warranty overhauls of our Aqua Lung regs and BCDs. We had a dive trip planned and wanted to the the service done before the trip. Fortunately our dive trip was land based and not our usual live aboard as my regulator failed on the second dive day. I had to use a rental regulator. The shop technician had to rebuild my first stage and noted the reason for the failure was my reg was overdue for service. Very curious as Pinnacles had supposedly just done an overhaul on my regulator. My wife’s regulator was breathing very poorly so we decided to bring it in for inspection. Her reg had to be reset to factory specs by the local dive shop who thankfully was an Aqua Lung authorized dealer. So my regulator failed and my wife’s reg was totally out of whack and we had just had a full overhaul at Pinnacles. We contacted Joe the owner of Pinnacles when we returned from our trip. We explained our problem with his service and faxed him our repair receipts. After two phone calls Joe at Pinnacles agreed to a partial refund for our service. Obviously we would not recommend Pinnacles for equipment service.

Just finished my certification with my wife at Tahoe a few weeks ago with Pinnacles… The experience from the initial training in the pool to the final dives at Tahoe were outstanding. The rental equipment my wife and I used were top notch and the staff were friendly and very knowledgable. I plan on working on my advanced training with them!

Heading for Maui where I loved snorkeling, I thought I’d take the advice of a friend and finally look into scuba. After comparing places, I found that a short conversation with Art & Christine made the difference. Having a pool on-​site, along with answers to each question/​concern I had, combined with competitive rates and a willingness to work with my schedule set the difference. It was also suggested that the gear that I would be responsible possibly be obtained before my confined water portion to keep the day’s focus on target. When it came time for my class work, Art was thorough, helpful, and addressed anything that I seemed unclear on. Upon entering the water, I was asked to display a few swimming skills which are pretty necessary if you plan on diving deeper than you can stand. Then it was onto the skills. All equipment was chosen for me, and all was in great working condition. We practiced skills as described in my book, and anything I felt uneasy with, they took the time to help me build up my comfort level. Before you knew it, the day was complete. I chose to do my open water dives while on vacation, but they went smoothly as I was well prepared. In fact, I felt further prepared than some who also came from other shops to finish their training. Now? I’m hooked. Can’t wait to take advantage of one of Pinnacles many excursions. I can only speak from my experience, but there’s nothing I would have changed in beginning my diving experience at this awesome shop in Novato.

DO NOT RENT EQUIPMENT HERE! (See numbered reasons below) Rent instead from Bamboo Reef in San Rafael or Pinnacles in Santa Rosa (though the Santa Rosa shop is connected to the Novato shop and they do bring gear back and forth, the staff at Novato neglected to check the quality of the gear they rented me).
1. My mask strap came out of the side buckle immediately upon placing it on my head. I then noticed that the pin was missing that holds the rubber strap in the buckle. This made my mask completely unusable. Maybe the renter before me had broken the pin and gently pushed the rubber strap back «in place» as to avoid paying for the broken mask. In any case, the staff at the Novato shop do a POOR job of inspecting equipment.
Since my mask strap was not reachable I tried just holding my mask to my face and diving down but you can imagine how difficult that was. My mask kept flooding with water. So I decided to just snorkel at the surface holding my mask, but the snorkel was difficult to hold up since it had a flexible-​compressive tube element so it didn’t stay stiff… and I ended up sucking in water. Ruined my day after I drove all the way out there to Gerstle Cove, spent $ 30 in gas and $ 70/​day for all rental equipment.
2. Did I mention my boyfriend’s mask he rented from them was duct taped at the buckle? A «quality» fix-​it job by the Novato staff.
3. The gloves I rented had visible holes between the fingers. Hands got cold. Besides my mask being unusable, this was the other reason I gave up and got out of the water.
4. BAD ATTITUDE: the woman who rented me the items (if you have been to the shop you will know immediately which one I am talking about) was present when I returned. I told her how bad a time I had because the mask failed on me. She proceeded to sass me and say «that’s why I told you if you buy anything you should buy your own mask». Funny thing is, I do have my own mask but I thought the dive shop rental mask may be better quality than my old one. This woman has horrible customer service and POSES A RISK TO COMPANY LOSS.
The fact of the matter was that whether I buy my own mask or not, I decided to rent from their shop. The item I paid money to rent FAILED. I am really surprised that she did not take any fault or provide any sympathy. All together just a BAD ATTITUDE.
I live in Novato and I WILL NOT shop here ever again, nor will any of my friends.

very sketchy business…
I talked to a person who claimed to be the daughter of the owner, and therefore would know everything I needed to ask. I was calling with regards to various specialty courses and equipment they sold. Not only was she extremely pushy about me coming into their store to discuss the questions (that is an hour-​long drive for me!), but at some point she asked me for my address and phone number before giving me pricing details on rentals. When I asked her afterwards if she needed this information to determine the price, she responded: «Well, I gotta get something [personal information] in return, right?»
Really? I had to give you my contact information, just so you give me pricing for your courses and rentals? And you have an attitude about it? That’s sketchy and a very unprofessional practice to obtain information from people. CLEAR SIGN TO STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE!

These have always been really great to me. Whether I am bugging them for hours in the store, or over the phone, they give me all the time I need. And, I recently learned that they do Nitrox, which saves me a trip to Sacramento (which used to be the closest place to Petaluma.)

Water and I have been friends FOR-​EVER. I mean I was floating in my mother’s womb before I was walking so have always been fairly comfortable in the ocean, pools, lakes you name it.
However, trying to breathe underwater even with the aid of SCUBA equipment is the weirdest thing in the world! I discovered I am not a mouth breather, so thankfully I am not a creeper (but the bf is, which tells me a lot ;-)). I freaked out when I realized I couldn’t breathe through my nose, but my instructor Paul kept me calm and walked me through it in his Zen like fashion. He even managed to float in a cross legged Buddha like fashion (while I flailed trying to stay upright) to get me to calm down and relax. At the time annoying, but afterwards hilarious :-)
In any case, the PADI certification course offfered at Andrea’s (aka Pinnacles I believe) was great! They send you the study materials to review before your pool day which helps (unless you’re like me and the bf, where we waited til the last day to cram it all in. Doh!) Pool day is a long day so be prepared, but the way they broke up the educational book learning with the time in the pool made it easy to get hands on experience along with the theory.
They also have a lot of equipment you can try and buy which I recommend if possible, and also offer extra days of pool time for people like me who need to practice more before I hit the open waters of the ocean.
The staff there is great and enthusiastic and it was a great way to get my toes into the SCUBA pool!

Staff friendly.
Product great.
Prices seemed fair.
But be aware of their return policy.
I purchased an item from them then after leanring my situation changed I no longer needed this item which cost me $ 159.00 So in less then a hour I went back to return it and was told they only do store credit. I asked the young man to call the owner who sold me the item and he called me back later letting me know that Policy is policy and we can only do store credit.
I think policy needs to be respected but I also feel a small business owner can be flexible. I would agree with that policy if it had been longer then a day but to come back less then a hour later and be told sorry store credit only or you can try selling it on craigslist seemed very poor choice in keeping a potential customer. Sometimes a business owner should look at the situation and just be flexible. Policies are put in place to keep everyone safe and keep people from abusing the business and taking advantage of them. I think my situation could have been handled better which really would have helped me out but they chose to stick to their policy and I exchanged the item for store credit and got two other items I felt I would more likely used later on.
My wife recommened this place because she purchased a dive mask for our son.
Because of how it was handled and how the owner was not willing to at least look beyond his policy he made I will not be returning along with my family.
I’m amazed an employee would really suggest to me to try selling it on Craigslist.
Oh well.

I live in Novato, and not only is it great to have a dive shop so close to home, but a shop with knowledgeable, patient, and all-​around awesome staff. The fact that they have a pool on-​site is a plus too — when it came time to buy my regulator I was able to test out the contenders in the pool for as long as I needed to make a decision.
I got my OW certification in 07 and AOW in 09 with these guys, and got great service both times. Like another reviewer mentioned, this place wont just pump out new divers like an assembly line, nor will they ignore you if you aren’t a regular with an innumerable amount of dives. I have also done a 3-​day dive boat trip to the Channel Islands with Pinnacles, and highly recommend it, as it was the best diving I’ve had yet.
I agree that prices on smaller items (fins, mask, snorkel, etc.) can be steep here, but I imagine the business can keep going largely due to certifying new divers and arming them with the very basics of gear. Another bonus to getting certified here though — if your first diving experience is in Monterey (where students will do their ocean dives) you will forever appreciate warm water and good visibility, and will be a much more durable diver when you inevitably find yourself diving Hawaii or GBR.

I just finished the classroom and pool portion of my Open Water certification course. I’ll check back in when I do the ocean dives. I thought the staff did a great job. John handled all of the registration stuff and made it easy. Linda was a great instructor. She was the perfect balance of friendly and professional. She seemed really invested in making sure each of us (we were a small class) did a great job in the water. When I had my one difficulty in the water, she looked at me with a «you are absolutely going to be able to do this» look and BAM — I got it done.
I brought borrowed gear for the first part of class based on an earlier review. At lunch I decided to buy my own stuff using the student discount. I suppose if you want to hunt down lower prices you could, but there’s not a dive shop on every corner and I didn’t want to get scuba gear on Amazon. John made sure I tried everything on before I bought it. I felt no pressure at all to buy my gear there, but I’m glad I did.
One tip for future students — bring layers of clothes just in case you get cold while outside the water. The room we met in seemed a little on the cool side (it was a cold, rainy day) and you want to be really comfortable before, between, and after your dives in the pool. Btw, the pool, with a well fitting wet suit, was completely comfortable.
Finally, I took the one day «cram» course. If you do your homework — really read it all, answer all the questions, and watch all of the DVD, there’s no retention issue on the coursework. Going into the pool twice in a day was fine too. Before the ocean dives they offer a mini refresher course for free on the Thursday night before the weekend dive.

Getting scuba certified on a whim? then this is the right place for you. Pinnacles dive center really streamlines the process of getting scuba certified. I signed up for scuba certification and that included renting all of the equipment for the one day pool class as well as the rental of equipment for the two day monterey open water dive. The instructors were all very helpful and friendly (carlos and braith i think). I had a great time, and I now feel comfortable diving without needing an instructor around as my safety net.

Update: 1÷23÷2009:
I thought this would be worth mentioning– while in Australia on the dive trip (the one I got my certification for) I was 50 feet under at the Great Barrier Reef when a piece of my rental equipment broke. (maybe in the future I should buy my own equipment… :)) It was a complete panic moment, but thanks to the excellent training at Pinnacles Dive Center, I followed the emergency steps and everything was fine. Instructors Carlos and Braith made sure we went over these steps countless times during out open dive certification in Monterey so I knew exactly what to do. I am oh so happy I came here for my certification and not some place that just pushes you out the door with a PADI card.
After purchasing a trip to Australia, my boyfriend and I decided to get scuba certified here so we could not deal with the tests, etc. while on vacation. After a lot of research, i found Pinnacles Dive Center to have the best rates. I was a little worried that this would mean the classes would be less than par, but i was pleasantly surprised with how professional and well done everything was. The instructors were great and the amount we paid included ALL equipment rentals and necessary materials.
We did the intensive scuba certification, meaning one LONG Saturday in a pool getting acquainted with the process, and then the open water dives down in Monterey. The class group was really fun and everyone enjoyed the learning process. I feel completely comfortable in the water and am so excited to try out my new skills on the great barrier reef. Overall this was a great experience and I would highly recommend going to them for your scuba certification.