Down Under Surf & Scuba is no more

[DukeAMO]

What a loss to the North Carolina diving community!

The Down Under Divers Club is continuing as an independent group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/downunderdivers/

From the Down Under Surf & Scuba Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Down-Under-Surf-Scuba/255587911745

To Our Friends & Customers,

After 20 years of providing exceptional service to the diving community and making hundreds of new friends, we must announce that due to circumstances, we must close the dive shop. We gave it a good run but we have been bested by other market forces at an inopportune time.

We appreciate all of our customers over the years and are absolutely upset with the closure of the shop and our common meeting ground.

If you have any dive gear in for service, we have made arrangements with Gypsy Divers to handle your equipment. Please Call 919-255-1931.

Renee, Aaron, & Martin

 

[Tortuga James]

That's too bad. Scott's death was tragic. I had hoped his legacy would continue with the shop.

 

[DukeAMO]

Agreed, on all points.

 

[Tortuga James]

Agreed, on all points.

I hope the silver lining in this is that customers of all dive shops and dive operations will realize that we all operate on a shoestring budget and at any given point the slightest hiccup can send you into insolvency. We all (and especially Scott) do it for love and not money. Revenue and profit only allow us to live our passion. Nobody is getting rich. Support your local dive shops, please.

 

[Randy g]

That is sad that they are closing. I met and dove with Scott (RIP) last Oct in Hatteras, him and JT brought me on as a safety diver on an attempted 420' dive on the SS Virginia?. Great guy and I am happy that I was able to spend a weekend with him and get to know him a little.

 

[herman]

Just a little update. While the shop itself is closed and we hope it will reopen, the instructional staff is working on a plan to keep the dive club itself up and running as a stand alone group, at least for now. We have too big of a group of friends to let the club go under without a fight.

 

[DukeAMO]

Herman, did you hear something that makes you think they'll try to re-open the shop?

Yeah, the dive club Facebook group alone has almost 200 members. It seemed like there were a good 50 people at the meetings I went to at Mimi's or that pizza place, and twice that many at the annual holiday party. Definitely a good, big, fun group.

It would be nice if the instructors could find a way to keep the monthly picnic-and-a-specialty-class at Fantasy Lake going too.

 

[Steve_C]

It would be nice if the instructors could find a way to keep the monthly picnic-and-a-specialty-class at Fantasy Lake going too.

Since PADI instructors can operate without a shop, that is quite doable as long as there is access to rental gear and Gypsy, AHS, Carolina Dive Center, and Water World have that.

Reactivating the shop itself is a bigger task. Sorting out the financials is a nontrivial task and it would have to be under totally new management. Be great if it could happen, but I am assuming anything like fill cards, gift cards, etc. are gone.

 

[herman]

I am unaware of anything happening to reopen the shop itself, my HOPE is someone will buy it and reopen. Even if someone does buy the shop, I would imagine it would take a good while to get through the leagal stuff and reopen the doors.
The instructional staff, which I am part of, want to keep the club section going, training is a different matter. As you know, the club is a big family, as was the shop, so we still want to keep it going with regular meeting and organized functions. In the event someone reopens the shop and wants to include the club, it would not have to be revived.

 

[Dane@Scuba-Now]

I hope the silver lining in this is that customers of all dive shops and dive operations will realize that we all operate on a shoestring budget and at any given point the slightest hiccup can send you into insolvency. We all (and especially Scott) do it for love and not money. Revenue and profit only allow us to live our passion. Nobody is getting rich. Support your local dive shops, please.

Agreed completely!