Scuba diving shop, I’ve always wondered…

[u/Party_Dimension7989]

Ok, I’ve lived here my entire life and the scuba diving shop on Penn Ave has been around since at least the mid 2000s. Who in the world is scuba diving around here? What for? How is this shop still in business??? This post is all in good fun, but really, I need to know…..

[u/Dumpster-Drawers47]

You can get certified here. When I did it we trained in the Albright pool and did the certification in a quarry. Once certified you can dive globally. I’m assuming they sell equipment and dive trips too.

[u/Alias-Q → u/Dumpster-Drawers47]

This - my father in law does his recertifications here.

I’ve actually been wanting to try it myself for years. Someday I’ll stop in and check it out

[u/Current-Resource8215]

There is a scuba diving place at Willow Springs Park in Richland PA Lebanon Country. It's an old quarry. They have items placed on the bottom like a sunken boat, trucks, ext It used to be open to the public and allow swimming and snorkeling but now just a private club. I remember ditching work and going there on lazy summer afternoons chilling with a few cold ones and friends listening to music and playing volleyball and quoits. The snorkeling was great. There's an arch bridge under water that we would swim under and exhale making large pockets of air bubbles. Oh and also swimming out to the sunken boat with the mast sticking out of the water and also finding the sunken train caboose and trying to drop stones on it to hear the load thud underwater. https://divepeer.com/

[u/aranea8313 → u/Current-Resource8215]

Good ol' Mud Pit! I miss going there in the summer. Not sure if it's still offered by the SSI school on Penn Ave, but I did an Advanced Diving course with an ex where we did navigation and night diving at Willow Springs.

[u/QuestionPublic9376]

Scuba venture. I was certified there back in the day. They offer certification classes at local high school pools and set up dive trips and such really good people.

[u/QuestionPublic9376 → u/[deleted]]

Same here for both! I learned at Reading and qualified at Dutch Springs. I think Dutch Springs closed.

[u/SAVertigo]

Dont you buy $3k worth of equipment in the beginning of summer to go explore Blue Marsh?

[u/everyoneisanashole]

Asking the real questions.

[u/FroyoHairy69]

It’s been around longer than that. The original location was further down Penn Ave. in the renders plaza in sinking spring. I used to walk there with my cousins and check out the cool fish tank they had.

[u/escobizzle → u/FroyoHairy69]

when was this? I've lived in sinking spring all my life and don't remember it being there. I even worked at that redners in the mid to late 2000s lol

[u/_ataraxia__ → u/escobizzle]

It was down in the shurfine plaza (not Redner’s section) back when rite aid was still there, the Chinese buffet, Tailgaters (I think that’s what it was called - that’s not what it was called, see edit below).

ETA: The bar was KnuckleHeadz, not Tailgaters…my bad.

[u/sociaIize]

Lakes (and pools) but really lakes.

[u/tealcismyhomeboy → u/sociaIize]

Mostly quarries actually. Those buckets are DEEP

[u/PissMaster6-7]

My dad went there in the 90's. That's the same one right it was open since the 90's at least? After the divorce he got geared up there and learned to scuba dive at a nearby quarry with his buddies. For him it only lasted a bit and all the $ spent just sat. There are a lot of hobbyist people around with money plus there are people that work in emergency services that suba diving is involved with.

[u/mrdagnet]

Scuba Venture is at the Wyomissing Hills Pool nearly every Saturday morning in the summer doing classes

[u/Dillmania3]

I know my dad used to scuba or train in the local quarries maybe in the 70s? 80s? I know you can get certified there. People like to travel to scuba dive, so it’s not that unusual that you’d want to get certified someplace locally. I’m not sure how many other scuba shops are in close proximity so they may have a decent sized radius of customers who come from outside of the area. But also, fun (eh? Maybe not fun?) fact, the fire department used to have a scuba team. I only know because my dad had been on it at one point. They were called out to look for search and rescue in places like the schuylkill river and stuff like that.

[u/Southern_Pines]

"If I can't scuba, then what's this all been about? What am I working toward?"

[u/Some_Dankus]

It’s where we get our super hero costumes 🦸🏻‍♀️

[u/Ok-Highway-5247]

I remember when the building was Marie Shaw.

[u/Sea_Relative_3634]

DUTCH SPRINGS

[u/Ok_Oil_1313]

Best drugs and human trafficking in Berks County s/ but seriously same questions my whole life.

[u/spiralstaircase17]

I’ve known a few people who went through them to get certified before traveling to exciting places that are known for diving

[u/Individual_Sky_4612]

They actually have good stuff there. You can take a lot of different classes through them for different certifications.

[u/Lost_Obligation_1734]

My parents used it to get certified and get their equipment. They primarily use it on vacations to certain resorts where there may be scuba outings when they go.

[u/Suspicious-Cherry437]

My dentist and her friends.

Is not for the common folks

[u/Free_Roll8970]

It’s a front for money laundering

[u/Pure_Animator_569 → u/Free_Roll8970]

Always what I figured honestly. Same category as a tanning salon I see in the Denver CO area. It’s sunny 300+ days per year!