Guam Tropical Dive Station

Diving Guam with GTDS

Established in 1992, Guam Tropical Dive Station has earned its title as one of the major dive centers on Guam. John and Paula Bent bought what used to be Guam Divers and renamed the store — better known today simply as GTDS. John is known for his knowledge of decompression diving and his excavation of the Pilar, a Spanish galleon.

Guam sits in the Western Pacific, across the International Date Line, and is the largest of more than 2,000 islands scattered between Hawaii and the Philippines. There are only two seasons here, wet and dry, which makes it a fine place to get in the water.

As a PADI 5 Star IDC centre with 3 PADI instructors, GTDS runs PADI Discover Scuba Diving from USD 240, taking roughly two hours — a natural fit for first-timers. Divers head out to Fish Eye, where the waters hold sharks, whales, turtles, ocean fish, rays, eels and echinoderms, corals, anemones and jellyfish.

The waterfront shop has an onsite classroom, air conditioning, free Wi-Fi, a retail shop, parking and a dive boat, with air fills, equipment sales and scuba rental on hand. Staff speak English and Japanese.