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.

Written by Chris Manning.

After visiting their excellent dive facilities yesterday, I added a new gallery for Athens Scuba Park. The images were taken with my SeaLife ReefMaster Mini using the optional wide angle lens. Images were subsequently enhanced in Adobe Photoshop. All in all, it was one of the best days of local diving I have had recently. Athens Scuba Park has much to offer the Dallas diver and will be featured in an upcoming article.

Written by Tim Ralston. Originally published in the August 2007 Newsletter of InternationalScuba.com. Published by permission of the copyright holder.

The light dawn rain gave way to a calm overcast after our 55-minute ride. We were the only boat in sight. Just four divers and one huge wreck – the USS Oriskany. Sweet!

The aircraft carrier (pronounced o-RIS-kuh-ny), launched as WWII ended, served in Korea and Vietnam. Hollywood cast her with Van Johnson (Men of the Fighting Lady, 1954), William Holden (The Bridges at Toko-Ri, 1954), and Robin Williams (What Dreams May Come, 1998). But on May 17, 2006, she became a living memorial, resting upright in the sand 20 miles south of Pensacola. At 911 feet long, 157 feet wide, and over 150 feet tall, she’s the largest ship ever sunk as an artificial reef. (For a brief history, go to the Wikipedia Web Site.)

I’d booked the trip through MBT Divers. Most Pensacola dive shops run scheduled charters through independent captains and most boats are small (six or less divers). I was a last minute “walk on” with Capt Ron of the Pensacola Dive Company.

Two tech divers in our foursome planned a single dive to penetrate the hull and hangers below 130 ft. Ben (my buddy) and I followed a more typical recreational plan: two dives to the carrier’s island (control tower). A 30% Nitrox mix would allow a brief visit to the flight deck (130 ft) without compromising safety. Currents on the wreck are usually light and visibility runs at least 60 ft.

For the first dive Ron met us on the flight deck. We entered the island’s base through a starboard hatch. Working our way in slow circles upward, we explored cabins, crew stations, a head (with its facilities intact), stairways, flight control tower, and the bridge, emerging near the radar mast base at 60 ft. In a year the wreck hasn’t accumulated much growth, but sea urchins have flocked to a new home. Large octopi snuggle in beam ends. Arrow crabs are holding conventions in the companionways. We returned to the line for a slow ascent.

After an hour surface interval, we descended a second time. Now we concentrated on the external populations of the wreck. Yellowtail Snapper and Jacks schooled along the island. Spotfin Butterflyfish, Tangs and juvenile Queen Angelfish
grazed the open deck. Seaweed Blennies played sentry in the deck stanchions. A 4 foot long barracuda
circled just beyond arm’s reach. A juvenile Blue Tang even declared war on my gloved
hand. (That Fish ID course was worth it, Patti!)

Old Glory and the POW/MIA flag furled and unfurled slowly in the current at the yardarm. Bottom time exhausted, Ben and I headed slowly up.
By 2:30 we were back at the shop – and straight into a Barcelona film documentary about the Oriskany’s impact on tourism. (Somewhere in Spain my face is famous.) Wasn’t unusual. Earlier this spring MBT Divers had hosted charters for divers from as far away as Korea and Brazil!

Souvenirs in hand, I returned to great accommodations (with an MBT discount) at Suburban Lodge Extended Stay, a mere
half-mile from the dive shop.

Since my wife and daughter don’t dive, we continued exploring Pensacola’s other attractions. Down the road at NAS Pensacola are the lighthouse and forts. The National Museum of Naval Aviation (free admission!) needs its own day! (I know because my wife reluctantly accompanied me early one afternoon and had to be dragged out as they shut the doors!) Then there are great beaches, super restaurants, the historical districts…

You know, I think I need to go back. Real soon.

Shadow Divers is a book about a couple of New Jersey wreck divers who discovered a WWII era, German U-Boat in the fall of 1991. It took six years and several diver deaths to ultimately identify the wreck and rewrite history. This is a book about pushing the envelope of deep wreck diving and pursuing a dream of righting a historical error.

To most recreational divers, the names John Chatterton and Ritchie Kohler are familiar. They are the hosts of the History Channel’s “Deep Sea Detectives” and well known in the international dive community. I found both men’s backgrounds to be intriguing and thorough. Both are veterans of the Andrea Doria, the Mount Everest of wreck diving, and their experiences on the Doria are entertaining and well documented here.

One of the most fascinating chapters in the book covers the dangers of deep diving. Nitrogen narcosis and its affects such as jungle drums, tunnel vision, and sensory intoxication are documented in detail. The book also covers the deaths of several divers who perished while exploring the wreck.

Nova featured the story on one of its PBS programs as “Hitler’s Lost Sub”. It is available on amazon.com on DVD and is a two hour look into the discovery, research, and ultimate triumph of Chatterton and Kohler as they positively identify the U-boat. The DVD also features interviews with families of the doomed crew members of the u-boat.

Bottom Line: This is the best book on diving I have read - period. I am a student of history as well as a World War II buff and this book does not disappoint. The story is almost too good to be true and perfect for a big screen adaptation which is pending in 2008. This book has it all: history, perils of both deep and wreck diving, warfare, u-boats, and the U-boat crew and their families. A must read for any diver interested in wreck diving, WWII history, and u-boats.
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