looking for private instructor in tampa area

I have been diving for about 10 years and am currently thru my advanced open water with nitrox and have a potential dive buddy who is looking for a class around us. We are both unhappy with the offerings at the local dive shops as they all seem to be pushing gear and trying to upsell personal equipment $150 for a mask or $200 for split fins. or you run into instructors that want to act like they wrote the book on teaching new divers and they can do no wrong or feel the need to brag about how they have gone deeper or done more intense dives than I could ever do when I start asking about their experience and qualifications. The whole attitude surrounding how profit driven this is becoming is really putting him off from wanting to get certified. Also we would like to find an instructor that we can work with to bring him up to my level of certification and then both of us to deco advanced nitrox any suggestions or input would be appreciated.

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Have you tried the folks at Depth Perception? I've heard good things. Also, while not in Tampa, David Ochs of Aquasafari is in West Palm Beach and is an independent instructor that does only private teaching. He has also developed a network of similar instructors and may have a colleague in your area. Contact him at 561-734-8816

I got my training through Scuba Haven in Tampa, a small shop near USF, and while I did buy mask/fins/snorkel from them it wasn't a hard sell and the gear was all good quality (still using it a couple years and a couple hundred dives later). I took OW/AOW/NITROX through them and liked their instructor Joe Ventimiglia. They're not a tech shop but a solid small rec shop. I don't use them any more because I'm mostly cave diving these days and use the shops in cave country but they've got integrity in my opinion.