LDS's you use the most

[morecowbells]

I love the crew at Y-kiki! They go above and beyond with their customer service. I have heard about all the grudges and bad blood between the dive ops but one time I was at Y-kiki looking for those new fins that flip up(for shore diving) they didn't have them but found them at Great American(I ended up not getting them-but that is an unrelated story). Both dive shops are 10 minutes away from my house. Y-Kiki always remembers our names and chats with us for a while. They are in the process of opening a new store in Lake St. Louis.

 

[terrapinken]

"I use to go to Y-Kiki too, but they kept giving me trouble for buying a tank from Great American, so now I just go to Great American."

I am surprised at this. First of all, thank you for supporting any LDS. I know many of the people at TGADC and they are good people trying to support a good shop. Y-kiki Divers holds no grudges against anyone. Let me know who gave you trouble, and I will square them away. My shop is by divers for divers. Anything less than great personal service will not be tolerated. Ken Elliott

 

[terrapinken]

Hey b1gcountry! Lets go diving sometime and then we can get to know each other. I promise I wont try and sell you anything. Ken Elliott

 

[b1gcountry]

Ken-
Sure thing. I actually just dove with Bob Bost a couple times already this year. I'll be down at Mermet on May 16-17. I'm doing some dives in Milwaukee this weekend.

Tom

 

[nagel]

I'm in Warrensburg, Mo and the closest dive shop (Scuba Down Under) in Sedalia, MO closed it's doors Jan 1. So, no dive shop near me anymore. I've actually done buisiness with both TGADC & Yikki in St. Louis. (I have family in St. Louis who also dive)

Been thinking about checking out TD Scuba in Lees Summit, MO sometime - it's about 60 miles away from me. Anybody know anything about them?

Snagel

 

[sabbath999]

Sabbath - Isn't there a shop in Moberly???

Phil

Not to my knowledge... if you or anybody has further details I would be interested.

There's another dive shop in Columbia, I've stopped in there once and picked up a couple pounds of weights (I needed the weights and they were the same price there as at the other LDS's) and was treated fine... I don't remember the name of the shop.

I haven't been to TGADC in St. Louis, so I have absolutely no opinion on them... the folks at Y-kiki impressed me from the start, were interested but not doting and they had what I needed for a fair price (I like Henderson clothing, it just fits me best) so there we are.

I have taken several classes with them, and they have all been pretty good... I am being a bit silly and getting my "PADI Master Diver" rating (yes, I know, it's dorky, but hey it's something to do and I have learned some good stuff along the way)... next up, we are scheduled for rescue diver in June with them.

I have no idea how good other LD shops in our area (having never attended their training) train their people, but I can very much recommend Capt. Nemo's basic OW training... as I have seen other newbies on dives we have done both locally and in warm water, I can see that our training was FAR AND AWAY better than these folks had gotten. The Nemo's folks are cave divers, and the whole cave diving "train to safety" groove really works.

We are planning on The Dive Stop this weekend and we are planning on Mermet over Memorial Day Weekend, so we may see some of y'all out and about.

 

[Blu Diver]

Y-kiki rocks!