Ideas on a good tec dive shop Florida?

[liverock]

EZ scuba in Tampa...Eric the owner is a tech freak!

 

[rddvet]

Isn’t that the case with nearly every dive professional? New Divers really need to do their homework, and just not drink the first $1,000+ pitcher of coolaide pushed at you.



Full service? Does HW do gas fills already? Wow, things change pretty fast around here.

Sorry. Full service as in gear. No fills

EZ scuba in Tampa...Eric the owner is a tech freak!

All I’m going to say is EZ Sscuba has a reputation

 

[kensuf]

Just as an FYI, the TDI EXtended Range class is not a part of the required sequence through Advanced Trimix.

Correct, TDI's Extended Range is a unique course and is not a pre-req for anything. Actually, with all of the main tech agencies you never need to go below 100' on air/nitrox. TDI has the AN/Helitrox combo instead of AN/DP and IANTD has ART. Even NAUI now allows me to teach Helitrox with the Technical Decompression Diver course.

 

[kensuf]

Sorry. Full service as in gear. No fills



All I’m going to say is EZ Sscuba has a reputation

I'm usually politically correct, but I'll come out and say it since this is simply a fact.

EZ Scuba's owner got booted out of IANTD for safety and standards violations in 2017. Caveat Emptor there.

IANTD World Headquarters | Consumer Alert

 

[rddvet]

I'm usually politically correct, but I'll come out and say it since this is simply a fact.

EZ Scuba's owner got booted out of IANTD for safety and standards violations in 2017. Caveat Emptor there.

IANTD World Headquarters | Consumer Alert

That I didn’t know. I know of the quality of students that were being produced, the taking ow divers to EN, and posting directions to EN and Buford on their site (which doesn’t sound like a big deal, but as personally think added to ow divers at EN)

 

[liverock]

Did not know that either......

 

[KevinNM]

I took a sidemount class from Edd. He’s very opinionated but very good. If you don’t have any sidemount experience it will be worth your time and money. He’s got something like 7 different sidemount rigs for students, but to get the right one you have to know what you plan to do in sidemount. For example, I understand that North Florida ‘recreational’ cave diving and Mexico sidemount exploration usually need very different rigs.

 

[lostsheep]

I have to throw this out there with respect to Edd as I just got back from diving with him and I find the commentary on his teaching interesting.

I showed up with a pieced together homebuilt (all plates were either Cnc or laser cut fwiw) side mount rig with very little formal training on it. I don’t think I’m a train wreck but I’m certainly no Edd. While Edd is an opinionated person, and a strong personality, he is in no way, “my way or the highway.” He had legitimate criticism of my rig , that I’m going to address, but his standard reply was , “if you can make it work and do the skills, I don’t care.”

If you’re looking for a feel good type of instructor, Edd might not be for you; if you can deal with brutal honesty, you’ll learn a lot from Edd. It’s not personal with Edd, my guess is he doesn’t want to do anymore recoveries so he’s gonna teach everyone as best he can.

 

[RyanT]

The instructors at Extended Range Diving Services-Exceptional Instruction Personalized Adventure might fit the bill for you. They are TDI tech instructors with years of experience, but they also do a lot of OW and AOW training. It's clear that they love what they do whether teaching OW or Trimix. Their experience teaching the entire range of SCUBA means they can probably give you some perspective on your own teaching. Jon is also a technical instructor trainer. They are located in NC, but they do lots of training dives with Pompano Dive Center. They are super flexible and work with you schedule.

If you're interested in SM caves, then they aren't the instructors for you. If ocean boat diving is your thing, they would fit the ticket.

 

[MikadoWu]

I don't know if I should post the question here or in the Florida department but hey, here we go:

My man and me are thinking about doing Sidemount and extended range in June. We have the feeling that Florida would be a great place for doing that as it has lots of tec diving places. We also think -but do not know for sure- that tdi would be the best option. We are both SSI instructors and I may in up it teaching later. I know SSI has since recently an extended range part but we rather go with a tec agency that has years of experience.
It would also be the start of going further into tec, and do cavern and cave later.

Any ideas on good dive shops in Florida where we can have a great price/quality experience?

Couple of different shops to add to your list, that are outstanding.

Jim @ Fantasea Scuba in Port Charlotte for everything Tech, including Tech Instructor.

John @ Deep Six Diver's Service Inc in Lakeland for all the Cave stuff. Staff - Deep Six Divers Service Inc. Plus the best fill price I can ever find.