APE Divers Academy

I can’t say enough good things about APE Diving Academy. What began as my journey as a student has turned into a lifelong passion, and ultimately a friendship and professional connection I truly value. Daniel—the owner, mentor, and heart of APE—is one of the most talented, professional, and genuinely kind people I’ve ever met in the dive world. His depth of knowledge, calm leadership, and commitment to doing things the right way sets a standard that is incredibly rare. Learning through Dan didn’t just make me a better diver—it helped shape how I teach, think, and approach diving today. The entire APE team is equally impressive. Every instructor and staff member is highly focused, deeply passionate, and clearly dedicated to their specific role. There’s no ego here—just precision, safety, teamwork, and a shared love for exploration and education. You feel it from the moment you arrive. APE truly stands out in the world of recreational and technical diving, especially cave diving. The level of training diversity and opportunity is exceptional. From fundamentals to advanced technical and cave environments, the education is thorough, disciplined, and incredibly rewarding. Cave diving with APE has been some of the most challenging, awe-inspiring, and enjoyable diving I’ve ever done—and I keep coming back for more. Today, I’m proud to call myself both a student and a current friend, and to instruct through Dan is an absolute privilege. I recommend APE Diving Academy without hesitation. I won’t go anywhere else moving forward—and neither should you if you’re serious about becoming the best diver you can be. Highly recommended.

Diving into full cave training with APE Divers Academy was one of the best decisions I’ve made for my underwater skills. From day one, Daniel (Gonzalez) set a highly professional tone—exacting in safety protocols, meticulous in technique, …

APE Divers Academy is phenomenal in all respects. I took four courses with Daniel (sidemount through extended range) and he was absolutely amazing. He took me and fellow students one step at a time, providing the little pieces of information we needed as we needed them, building our experience and confidence with each dive. In the end we were all amazed how well we performed our deep decompression dives, as one student put it "he is like a wizard". The Academy itself is also great, three bedrooms in the upper floor where students stay; classroom, living room, kitchen and equipment storage in the first floor. This is an immersive experience quite literally, we were either diving, or taking excellently-explained lessons or talking diving with other students (sharing tips etc). The end result is that you get great value for your money. We often went out to eat together and it was always a real treat. Last but not least, Daniel is a super nice guy, an elite diver trainer, and he is always thinking about how to make the experience and location even better. Can't recommend APE Divers enough.