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August 31, 2006

The Dive Shop Blues

I must have exceptionally bad luck with dive shops. First the one where I took my PADI Open Water certification classes closed down three days after I bought thousands of dollars worth of scuba equipment. I got it all, no problem there, but I sure didn't like to have spent extra to support my local dive shop just to see them close on me. And I am also not pleased that almost a month after my certification dives, I still don't have my PADI C-card.

So a couple of weeks ago I found a new shop, closeby. I bought more equipment and was looking forward to a great relationship, more classes, dives, and so on. That may still happen, but so far it's been a bit rough. I have not had a response to my emails. Those are important to a dive shop, and so I must assume they got lost in a spam filter.

Last Saturday I stopped by to have my tanks filled. Unfortunately, the shop was closed. They probably went to do open water dives in a nearby lake. Not so cool for customers who need tanks filled. It wasn't a real big deal for me, but I wish I'd have known ahead of time.

So this morning I loaded a big steel 95 tank into my PT Cruiser, secured it, and drove to the dive shop again. Business hours 10 to 6 or so. Sadly, at 10:30 no one was there and the shop was closed. So today I am driving around with a steel tank in my car. Again, what if I had really needed a fill?

I've probably just been unlucky and there were good explanations why the shop was closed and what happened to my emails. I'll try again tomorrow.

Posted by conradb212 at August 31, 2006 10:56 PM