Written by Chris Manning.

Since opening in 1998, International Scuba has attracted a loyal following from the local dive community. Located in Carrollton, International Scuba is a full-service scuba shop and dive training center. With a wealth of certified instructors, an on-site, heated training pool, and two classrooms, one “wet” (i.e., adjacent to the pool) and one “dry”, International Scuba is well equipped to meet the training needs of any diver. As a PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Center, they offer classes for beginners all the way to master instructors, and for the technical diver they offer the entire cirriculum of TDI courses. In addition, they are a retailer of the industry’s top lines, offer equpiment service, and travel to local and exotic destinations.

I had the opportunity to interview Patti Stewart, Co-owner and General Manager of International Scuba, to discuss all things scuba.

Q1. How long has your dive shop been in business?
A1. The dive shop opened in February of 1998 so we are fast approaching 10 years!

Q2. How long have you been diving?
A2. I am still the new kid in some respects as I have been diving for 9 plus years

Q3. What got you interested in the sport?
A3. My husband and co-owner has been diving for 5 years longer than I have. I was consulting with a Hawaiian company and got a chance to snorkel. It was history after that. He found International Scuba to be the only shop that didn’t pressure him into signing me up. The manager, Mike Rowe, filled Brian in on the normal details but told Brian to bring me in to and let me decide based on my feelings. We have been home ever since.

Q4. As a diver, what level of certifications do you hold?
A4. I am a PADI Course Director. We have 2 Course Directors, 4 Master Instructors, 4 Staff Instructors, 7 Master Scuba Diver Trainers, 4 Open Water Scuba Instructors, 6 Assistant Instructors, and 3 Divemasters.

Q5. What kind of training does your shop offer?
A5. We offer the PADI system education of experience programs to Open Water all the way to Master Instructor. We have most of the specialties offered except those that aren’t applicable. (ice!). On the TDI side we offer all of their curriculum.

Q6. What local dive facility do you take students for OW training?
A6. We typically use Clear Springs but because we do multi-level training at all times be could be anywhere. Lake Travis is next followed by Possum Kingdom

Q7. Do you offer dive trips and if so how many trips a year do you take?
A7. Yes we offer trips. One of our Dive Masters is our Travel Agent. We travel somewhere monthly with as simple as Flower Gardens or as exotic as Galapagos, Palau, Micronesia, etc.

Q8. What is the most common misconception about diving, especially among beginners?
A8. Many people will say they are claustrophobic and so we ask details about what kind they experience.Typically we change their thoughts and make them divers. The other one is about sharks and we work through that with several different approaches.

Q9. What does your dive shop bring to the table that is unique to the Dallas dive scene?
A9. We focus on customer service. Both myself and Rich have that as a complete background throughout our history of working. Remember that no one is forced to walk through a dive shop door - so therefore if we honestly answer their questions, listen to their needs and help them decide what is best for them we typically have divers for life. We remove the obstacles for a divers success.

Q10. This is your opportunity to promote your shop to our readers.
A10. We have a unique atmosphere at the shop. As you saw when you looked around that we have bar stools. This type of relaxed environment allows divers to relax and enjoy themselves without high pressure sales. We have very high statistics where training is concerned and that is due in part the phenomenal team that surrounds us. We have a ‘get-er done attitude’ amongst the staff. Our team members will do what is right by the customer, take extra measures to make divers feel at ease and have fun doing it. Brian and I don’t have typical owner thoughts. Our team drive the plans as customers should drive what we sell. It is very easy to have fun.

You can visit International Scuba’s web site for more details or stop by and check out their store.

Thanks to Patti Stewart and International Scuba.

DallasDivers.com is not affiliated with International Scuba or any other local dive shop. We exist to promote the sport of scuba diving in the Dallas area.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 at 7:32 am and is filed under Dive Shops. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.