The Skinny on Local Dive Shops...?

[DougDiver]

Greetings, all:

I'm a recent transplant from southern waters (Virginia, to be exact) and I was curious as to what you guys thought of some of the local dive shops here.

I went around and visited some of them, just to get a feel for what kind of prices, policies and general customer service vibe they all had. Interestingly enough, I got just as many different perspectives as there were dive shops. Although there were some things similar to the LDS's that I frequented in Virginia, there's definitely a general, shall we say, "cold breeze" blowing through a lot of shops up here.

I guess I'm just curious as to whether or not it was me personally or if everyone else 'round here gets the same reaction.

looking forward to the summer,

Doug

 

[ScubaSarus]

If you are in CT let me know I have a recommendation to a very easy going dive shop operator

 

[matt_unique]

I think it's the same sort of experience with instructors - some are great and some are not. I visit different shops for different needs. I use one shop for all my service (Mass Diving in Natick), one shop for all my air fills (Aqua Shack in Marlborough), and a few shops for my gear purchases. I purchase tech gear at Northeast Scuba in Chelmsford. For non-tech gear purchases I use the Aqua Shack and Inland Divers (Leicester).

--Matt

 

[PeaceDog]

Doug:

Vilkommen. Bienvenue. Aloha.

Out of curiosity, which shops did you go to?

 

[MASS-Diver]

I like South Shore Diver in Weymouth. NITROX fills, halycon and OMS dealer, and the owner dives an Inspiration RB, very tech friendly.

 

[LUBOLD8431]

Hey Doug, and welcome to SB. Where are you located so we can give a local recommendation for you???

 

[DougDiver]

I actually live in downtown Boston but work right off the Massachusetts Turnpike.

PeaceDog, to answer your earlier question, I checked out East Coast Divers, United Divers, Mass Diving and a place on the cape whose name I can't remember. I wouldn't have normally gone down there, but my girlfriend lives in Hyannis.

 

[LUBOLD8431]

Ok, so now that we know where you are, I would suggest checking out PG Dive. They are at 212 Adams St., Newton. The owners Paul and Genevieve are good people. Check them out if you are ever in the area. www.pgdive.com

 

[DougDiver]

Thank you for the advice. I haven't been into East Coast Divers in a while, not since the spring (when I first arrived!), but I did like the cat who was managing the store a lot. Actually gets out and dives with his customers. I hear he's not there anymore, though. A lot of my dive buddies up here are really bummed about that.

I haven't gone into PG Dive yet. I just saw a thread about that shop in this forum, actually. Otherwise I wouldn't have known it existed. Nice website!

I saw some posts in other threads here about some shops - it looks like some of you have some pretty strong opinions one way or the other about local shops, which is okay by me. I'm just curious as to how or why you came to yer conclusions. On the Virginia shore, a lot of folks ended up becoming loyal to just one store, not using different shops for different stuff the way y'all seem to. Which is cool, too, you know?

What about shops that are on the way up to the diving in Cape Ann? I was getting a fair amount of my fills at Cape Ann Divers (pretty convenient!), and a buddy of mine broke a mask at a dive site once and we went in there to get a new one.

 

[Spectre]

I did like the cat who was managing the store a lot. Actually gets out and dives with his customers. I hear he's not there anymore, though. A lot of my dive buddies up here are really bummed about that.

ROFL!!!

Yea, that was when I ran out of shops in that area to frequent.