Any experiance with SSA?

[twinpop]

Hello,

does anyone live in the so.cal area and/or have any experiance with SSA (scuba schools of america) or with the owner Rusty Berry? I have been doing my ow training there and it has been excellent so far. just trying to get a second opinion. all the instructors have been great so far and i have actually already signed up for my safeair/andi training.
Thanks,
Kevin :newbie:

 

[padiscubapro]

Hello,

does anyone live in the so.cal area and/or have any experiance with SSA (scuba schools of america) or with the owner Rusty Berry? I have been doing my ow training there and it has been excellent so far. just trying to get a second opinion. all the instructors have been great so far and i have actually already signed up for my safeair/andi training.
Thanks,
Kevin :newbie:

People either love him or hate him, Most of the hate though seems to be from his competition, although Some people get thrown off by his cocky attitude, but he does care.. He does run a very successful operation, and has many customers that come back year after year..
Rusty has been teaching SafeAir for a long time, I think you will enjoy it..

 

[caveseeker7]

I did my CSU training with Rusty as it's required for the CCR class.
First off, CSU exceeds any nitrox class I'm aware of, and second Rusty is a good instructor.
On the CCR subject we sometimes don't see eye to eye, but he always respected my opinions, extended invitations and offered very good service. I wouldn't hesitate taking classes from him.

 

[pasley]

Kevin,
Welcome to diving. When you ask about any dive shop or certification agency, you are sure to get those who love them and those who hate them.

I have never been to one of their stores, and never will after exchanging some e-mail with them and their attitude about harassing marine life. My only experience comes from these threads::
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=52519&highlight=angle+shark
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=55268&highlight=pasley
http://diver.net/bbs/messages4/30486.shtml
http://diver.net/bbs/messages5/43058.shtml
and others.

The video being discusses was on their website in 2004 and showed them holding onto the tail of an angel shark as it struggled to get away and then grabbing the angle shark’s head and riding it. Not cool. When I contacted the store they defended the practice and vowed to keep it on the website. I then posted a poll on the subject, which is for some strange reason no longer assessable here where I asked if people had seen the video and found it acceptable or unacceptable, and for those who had not seen the video if they thought such actions were acceptable. Landslide said unacceptable and strangely enough, the video got pulled within days of the poll going up.

Now for the honesty part. I normally do not approve of touching the marine life. Some species like pipe fish are ok because they will choose to swim into your hand if you place it close and thread their way through your fingers. In other words, I am not touching them, but allowing them to touch me. I also hunt lobster and unfortunately in the process sometimes a bug looses a leg or antenna and then is too short to keep. But beyond that, I believe in keeping hands off. I also do not approve of smashing urchins to attract fish. Is that a contradiction, yes, but life is full of them. I eat beef and have been hunting for duck, squirrel etc, but don’t hunt marine life (except the aforementioned lobster)

 

[twinpop]

Hey,

Thanks for all the info! I have really enjoyed my classes so far - like i said just wanted a 2nd opinion. I would recommend them to anyone and already have.

Thanks again,
Kevin