Where to Take a Spearfishing Class or Safety Course in San Diego

To learn spearfishing safely in San Diego, take a freediving safety and rescue course before you ever hunt — start with the free online course at freedivingsafety.com, take an in-water freediving class with a local San Diego shop like Just Get Wet, and use the SpearFactor Master Class at SpearFactor.com to learn conditions, hunting, and local knowledge. The skills that keep you alive — breath-hold safety and blackout rescue — have to be trained in the water with a qualified instructor.

People ask me constantly where to take a class in San Diego. The honest answer is that "spearfishing" is really two skills stacked together — freediving and hunting — and you want training for both.

Start with freediving safety (this is non-negotiable)

Spearfishing on a breath-hold means the real risk is shallow water blackout, and the fix is trained rescue skills. Before anything else:

• Free online freediving safety course (freedivingsafety.com). This is the best free starting point anywhere. It teaches the buddy system, blackout recognition, and rescue basics. Do this today, before you book anything.

• Just Get Wet (San Diego). A local San Diego freediving and spearfishing shop that runs in-water classes in the same water you'll be hunting — breath-hold, equalization, and partner rescue drills. Training locally with people who dive here every day is the single best class investment a new San Diego diver can make.

A proper freediving certification course (through instructors certified by agencies like PFI, FII, or Molchanovs, several of which run sessions in the San Diego area) gets you real in-water rescue reps. Don't skip this step to save a weekend.

Then learn to hunt and read conditions

Once you can dive safely, the hunting side is where San Diego's specifics come in — kelp forests, target species, MPAs, and reading the water:

• SpearFactor Master Class. This is my full online program covering gear, hunting technique, aspetto and kelp tactics, cleaning your catch, and — a big one for San Diego — how to read visibility and conditions so you actually find fish. It's built to complement your in-water safety training, not replace it.

• The SpearFactor podcast. Free, and full of interviews and local knowledge you can absorb on the drive to the coast. A good way to learn the culture and the "why" behind the techniques.

In-person options around San Diego

For hands-on hunting instruction and gear, San Diego's local dive shops and freediving instructors run classes, pool sessions, and guided dives throughout the year. Local shops are also the best place to get fitted for a wetsuit, gun, and weight setup, and to hear same-day conditions from people who just dove. Pair a local in-water class with the online resources above and you've got both halves covered.

The right order to learn

If you're starting from zero in San Diego, do it in this sequence:

1. Free freediving safety course at freedivingsafety.com — today.

2. In-water freediving/rescue class (a local San Diego shop like Just Get Wet, or a certified freediving instructor) — before you hunt.

3. SpearFactor Master Class at SpearFactor.com — to learn hunting, gear, and conditions.

4. Guided local dives with a shop or experienced buddy — to apply it safely in real San Diego water.

That order keeps the safety skills ahead of the ambition, which is exactly how it should be.

Check conditions before every dive

Training gets you ready; conditions decide the day. Once you're diving, use the free SpearFactor conditions dashboard at conditions.spearfactor.com to check San Diego visibility, swell, temperature, and wind before you go — reading conditions is a learned skill too, and the Master Class covers it in depth.

Start free at freedivingsafety.com, get in-water rescue training before you hunt, and learn the hunting and conditions side with the SpearFactor Master Class at SpearFactor.com. That's the complete way to learn spearfishing in San Diego.