Matthew is owner-operator of Liburdi's Scuba Center at The Camp retail space in Costa Mesa. He moved the shop from Irvine to Costa Mesa six years ago when Shaheen Sadeghi, creator of the "anti-mall" shopping area, lobbied for them to join his newest lifestyle center. "He had a vision of building this shopping center, so we moved over here and built the facility from scratch," said Matthew.
At the facility, Matthew Liburdi and his scuba professionals teach courses for all abilities, from beginners to the instructor level. He also offers specialty scuba diving certifications like wreck diving, night diving and underwater photography classes.
Irvine resident Mike Faust has been going through level after level of courses at Liburdi's and is now enrolled in the instructor courses. Faust enjoys the "peacefulness" of the underwater sport and captures it on his submergible camera. Through each level, Faust has stuck with Liburdi's. "I think the instructors are great, they're so knowledgeable," Faust said." I like the shop too — it's a big dive shop with a lot to offer."
Matthew has streamlined the classroom portion of the shop to make it easier for people like Faust, a computer programmer by day, to complete. Matthew sends some of the materials home with his students, who move on to the pool after completing the classroom segment successfully. The pool is salt water chlorinated, and has an artificial reef built into one side, to simulate real-life ocean conditions. The reef also has a swim-through so students can really test their buoyancy abilities.
