White Star Quarry under new management?

[wb416]

I heard today that Divers Inc out of Michigan won the bid to manage the diving operations for Sandusky County Park District at White Star Quarry.

Curious to see how that will change things.

Anyone know anything about Divers Inc or worked with them before?

Was curious if other dive shops would take issue to a dive shop managing the quarry?

 

[GoalieManPat]

If your talking about Divers Inc out of Ann Arbor that is where I am currently taking my OW class. Eveyone I have met so far has been really cool.

 

[diver_paula]

Divers Inc is owned by Rich Synowiec and his wife. I first met Rich in the late 80's/ early 90's. They are good people and run a great operation. Rich managed the Plymouth store (closed for a few years now) for the prior owner of Divers Inc. His profile is on the store website: http://www.diversinc.com/Staff/rich_synowiec.htm

Since buying Divers Inc, Rich has sponsored "Fun Dives" at Whitestar through his store. I believe they are at Whitestar once or twice a month.

Paula

p.s. I forwarded your questions directly to Rich for confirmation / answers.

 

[wb416]

Divers Inc is owned by Rich Synowiec and his wife. I first met Rich in the late 80's/ early 90's. They are good people and run a great operation. Rich managed the Plymouth store (closed for a few years now) for the prior owner of Divers Inc. His profile is on the store website: http://www.diversinc.com/Staff/rich_synowiec.htm

Since buying Divers Inc, Rich has sponsored "Fun Dives" at Whitestar through his store. I believe they are at Whitestar once or twice a month.

Paula

p.s. I forwarded your questions directly to Rich for confirmation / answers.

Thanks Paula. I also didn't realize it until Brandon just mentioned it to me, that this is the store that was owned by the late Richard Roost (the instructor trainer of my OW instructor)

 

[driftin' by]

Say it aint so Joe! Say it aint so! An Ohio quarry owned and operated by people in Michigan!?!? That's like Bush's attempt to let an Arab company run our seaports! Naw, just kidding. Sounds like Rich will do a great job.

I miss diving WS. :sad:

 

[crpntr133]

As long as it is open and the price doesn't get jacked, so be it.

 

[Hoosier]

It looks like that almost every quarry diving sites have a season pass option except IN......

 

[diver_paula]

Yes, that's the store. It took awhile until Rich was able to purchase the store due to issues with the Roost's death / will.

I also just remembered that Rich S. worked at Great Lakes Technical back in the day.

P

 

[brutus_scuba]

Has anyone heard anymore on this? I heard rumor last night that Mike at Gilboa was going to take it over. I don't dive Gilboa much or know Mike, but the source was pretty decent.

 

[diver_paula]

Rich Synowiec's responses to the questions are in blue font.

"I heard today that Divers Inc out of Michigan won the bid to manage the diving operations for Sandusky County Park District at White Star Quarry.

Yes, we won the bid and will be managing the scuba operations for the rest of 2007 and into 2008.


Curious to see how that will change things.

At first you will not see any changes other than maybe the air fills will be done a little slower.



The Staff of Divers Incorporated are very professional and love to dive, and also understand that divers are happy with most of the aspects of White Star Quarry and the operations of the quarry so far. It is our hope that the change at first will be seamless. The envelope system will remain the same, the platforms will remain the same, and it is our goal to start up operations in May with no major changes. We are planning on re-launching the “free diving for instructors with students” program shortly (with a couple of changes in the application procedure) and we will not be raising pricing until we have a reason to. It is in the plan that sometime this summer we will be offering nitrox at the quarry, rentals for those people who need it, and a concession with pop, drinks, t-shirts, and those minor things people often break or forget. We are also planning on offering winter hours, weather permitting, and ice diving on select weekends this winter. We already have a couple of new underwater sights slated for sinking, and will be adding platforms as they are needed.


Anyone know anything about Divers Inc or worked with them before?
Hopefully you can answer this is a positive manner yourself. J Just like any other dive center I am sure that there are people who are not as happy with me as they are with others. That is the nature of the business. I hope that most people find me and my staff to be honest, hardworking and enthusiastic about scuba diving. We have made a number of changes to Divers Incorporated – Ann Arbor over the past three years and they are all for the better. We are constantly evaluating our level of customer service and making improvements to our store. We ask that people give us feedback so we can improve.


Was curious if other dive shops would take issue to a dive shop managing the quarry?"

I am sure that at least two will be disappointed with Divers Incorporated managing the quarry. Before putting the bid in, I had discussions with a few dive shop owners and discussed the possibility of Divers Incorporated running the quarry. All of them, without exception, were pretty pleased with the idea. White Star Quarry will have to be run separately, as a separate entity. Our customers are now the dive centers, clubs, independent instructors, and manufacturers, along with those divers coming down to White Star just to dive. If I make a decision that is not in the best interest of other dive centers and independent instructors, I would just be hurting myself. I would hope that anyone with issues with the idea would contact me directly at rich@diversinc.com in order for me to address their concerns rather than look at rumors.



True? Most definitely! Any insight I can forward to limit gossip? Just the above… thank you very much!