We’re in the news! Thank you Community Impact for interviewing us and sharing our love of scuba with the world! You can view the original article here.
Although Scott Berry, Brent Webb and Rusty VanMeter own multiple businesses, which they say are their primary means of supporting their families, they also have another thing in common—their love of scuba diving.
The three like-minded entrepreneurs, who believe they have nearly 100 years of combined scuba experience, opened Scuba Adventures in January 2020. Berry said they did so to make sure people did not forget about scuba.
“We wanted to pay it forward and build something the younger generation would fall in love with like we did when we were coming out of college,” Webb said. “We got into it to make dive fanatics.”
They offer multiple services, including a variety of levels of scuba classes, equipment servicing, equipment rental, diving vacations, scout badge courses and more.
In the introductory class, called the Scuba Discovery Program, students will get in full diving gear and breathe underwater for the first time.
“Usually one or two [of three] things happen: It’s a super cool experience and it ends there, or maybe it activates the desire to get certified later in life,” Berry said. “Or they come out and say, ‘That’s the most amazing thing,’ and they sign up on the spot to get certified, because they want to go in the ocean or lakes.”
What to expect in the Scuba Discovery
- Basic overview of physics and physiology and how it relates to diving.
- In-water skills, such as pre-dive check, ear clearing and equalization, use of a buoyancy compensator device, mask clearing, underwater communications and more.
- A chance to swim in the 18-foot deep pool.
- Unique underwater experience under the watch of an experienced instructor.
The final step to becoming a certified scuba diver is completing SDI, or Scuba Diving International, open-water training dives. Scuba Adventures has a pavilion at The Scuba Ranch, a private lake located in Terrell, which is where the open-water dives take place. This step follows e-learning and completing in-water skill-development training at the Scuba Adventures pool.
In addition to being the business owners, Berry, Webb and VanMeter are also dive instructors. They say their students’ ages range from 10-80 years old.
“We get a lot of joy seeing people that don’t think they can do it actually achieve it,” Berry said.
Webb echoed Berry’s sentiment.
“We don’t give up unless they give up,” he said. “If they have the desire to keep going, we do, too.”
