Seeking an excellent Portland shop

[krux]

Hi all, hopefully someone can help me out. I am looking into getting into cold water diving. All of my diving thus far (around 300 dives) has been in warmer water, about 90% of that happening in Southern California with a few trips into Mexico. I have decided that the occasional trip South isn't getting me wet enough, and I am ready to start diving up here.

My needs are two fold.

First, I am looking for a shop that other students have been happy with both the instruction and the service. I want a shop that will give me good information on technologies as they come out (instead of trying to move old stuff sitting on the shelves) a shop that can point me to some nice area dive spots, preferably a busy one where I can find buddies, and one that generally feels "fun" to be in (not looking for a stuffy, overego-ed shop). Immediately I need to get my dry suit training and purchasing taken care of, so if someone has specific feedback on a program for that it would be especially helpful

Secondly, I hope to start working my way through some of the less recreational courses, in the direction of some of the tech courses, so I want to find a shop where the instructors have knowledge of things like deeper diving, multi tanks, decompression diving, tri-mix, possibly eventually overhead training (though i can travel to find that if there isn't anything locally). I want to form a lasting relationship with a shop and a set of instructors that can fulfill my training needs for the next 10 years.

All my previous training has been through padi and naui, but I am not against jumping to sdi to access the tdi course work.

Diving since 1995, ow padi, aow naui, padi rescue and nitrox, dan o2 (probably dating myself) was a research diver for UC Santa Barbara for two years... wanting to move on to more at this point.

Thanks

Ryan

p.s. heads up on a Portland dive club would also be great... going to play in the search bar for a while, but a contact would be nice.

 

[daveman692]

I am from Portland, although learned to dive in San Francisco. Was up on a trip and Horizon Watersports was awesome, at least as a retail location. Talking with the owner who seemed very knowledgable and knew what he was talking about. Seems at least worth checking out.

 

[Dive_Girl PNW]

Welcome to SB Krux! I just sent you some info!

 

[tangfish]

...I know its not in Portland, but its nearby and they can mail order you stuff and you don't have to pay tax (ok I know you don't have to down there anyways).

Check out Underwater Sports, they're one of the largest bricks-and-mortar shops in the country with 8 locations in Washington.

 

[DiveMaven]

If you don't mind going to Vancouver, WA both Thunder Reef Divers and Seven Seas Scuba are excellent shops.

 

[Scottri]

Under Water Works in Tigard. The best instructors I've ever worked with and no high pressure sales tactics in the shop. They carry some great gear and Dave is an ex commercial diver and has more knowledge on the tech side than anybody I've ever known. Drop me a line if you have more questions.

 

[inked_diver]

I strongly reccommend Seven Seas Scuba in Vancouver WA! Besides being a dive professional at the shop, I really think they can meet all of the needs you presented in your original posting. Good luck, and hope we see you around
Edward

 

[Cold_H2O]

I know a few of the instructors at Seven Seas Scuba.. you won't find a more honest or harder working group of dive professionals anywhere. The skill and knowledge of this group is outstanding.
If I lived in Portland/Vancouver area they would be my only shop.

 

[jwobbe]

I second the vote for Under Water Works. Scottri was right on the money.

 

[Jaeger]

Under Water Works

Daves classes are fantastic. For training I would HIGHLY reccomend them. More organized, comprehensive and well run than any class I have ever seen.

Underwaterworks carries great gear but appear to be a primarily aqua lung/USD/Seaquest shop for BCD's and regs so they dont have other brands to compare with. That is my only complaint. The shope is well stocked with plenty of sizes and selections and the prices are reasonable.

Dave is a super knowledgeable guy with a history as a commercial diver and runs a very tight ship when it comes to training. You really couldnt be in more capable hands if you sign up for one of his classes. Dave meets more than just the minimum requirements and gives his students as thorough of training as possible. Besides, Dave is just a generally good guy and has a really great staff to back him up. Really a first rate operation