scubacucamonga
Registered
I will add that my wife and I were recently certified at SSA. We have dived with Rusty, and a couple of his instructors, and have never felt unsafe or threatened, because Rusty, for all of his bravado and attitude, preaches and practices safety.domskynetlabs:
In fact, if it wasn't for the TLC, patience, and over-the-top safety of Rusty and his instructors, my wife probably would not have made it through her OW cert.
We have moved on to Nitrox classes, and plan to take AOW with SSA sometime next year.
That having been said, Rusty and his people at SSA are inexorable about selling equipment, but that is what they are in business to do...SSA is a fully equipped DIVE STORE. The facility also has a roomy classroom facility and a pool (heated, I might add), much more than a lot of dive shops I have visited here in California or other places. Rusty absolutely believes in diving safely and comfortably, and that by doing BOTH of these things, new divers will dive more often, and become better divers as a result. He believes that diving on Safe-Air, and diving in dry suits promote diver safety and comfort, and there is ample evidence to prove that both are true.
We actually EXPERIENCED the classes and so far, all of our dives, with SSA staff. We learned things in our basic OW classes that other friends of ours, who are also recently certified with other agencies, did not learn, things that will make us safer divers. Rusty has also taken time to teach us things that were not part of our OW cert classes, without charging us for each word.
We also purchased our basic gear (regs, bc's, computers) from SSA, and yes, our bc's are the custom bc's that have received so much attention. But until you have actually experienced the fit and features of this bc, it would be extremely remiss to comment or criticize the product. I DID shop around, I found BC's that were less expensive, and quite a few that were a lot more expensive, however we like the features of our BC's the best, and for the $$$ we are quite satisfied. We got absolutely top quality equipment at a decent price, and have no reason to doubt that when we need something serviced it will be handled with the utmost care. But interestingly, we also have other equipment purchased from other places (wetsuits, lights, masks), and Rusty has never threatened to 'kick us out' or refused to dive with us. In fact, he commented that the choices we made in wetsuits (Henderson Hyperstretch 7/5) was one of the best we could have gotten, which made us feel even better. He continues to work on us to purchase dry suits, and probably will work on that as long as we dive with him. I can tell you that if we ever decide to purchase dry suits, it will be from SSA.
Finally, our schedules don't allow nearly as much diving as we would like, but Rusty continually sends us personal invitations to dive with him knowing that we will turn him down most of the time, simply due to scheduling. Again, he doesn't get insulted, refuse to invite us on other dives, or turn a cold shoulder to us.
So...while there is plenty of negative stuff to read on the Internet about all kinds of subjects, it isn't always true (I have very personal and factual reasons for stating this). You can choose to believe what you read from people who have no real experience with any of these subjects (Rusty, religion, or a whole host of other subjects), or you can actually experience it yourself with an open mind, and see what happens. If, after you have experienced SSA, you find that you don't like it, there are plenty of other dive shops in SoCal. I have spoken with a few people who have done that, which is their choice and good for them. I have also spoken to a lot of people who enjoy the atmosphere and people at SSA, which is their choice and good for them as well.
Note that I am not promoting SSA, or Rusty, nor am I an employee of their company, and I am not compensated for this post. I am simply stating what we experienced FIRST HAND and not based on conjecture, or what someone else said, or how I feel based simply on my style of diving.
You are free to use this personal experience in your decision making process as you see fit.
Sincerely,
