Always going deeper, Scott Sanders was teaching scuba from a sailboat in the Florida keys when he loaded up his gear and set off to get an MBA at Virginia Tech.
MBA in hand, and piles of scuba gear in his basement, five years ago, he opened The Tech Dive Center in Blacksburg. That shop became a hub where divers new and experienced learned, traveled and, well, immersed themselves in diving.
Now, looking for roomier digs and a central location, the team has opened as “Submerged SCUBA” in Christiansburg (690 Radford St) this week.
“We have hundreds of people throughout the year,” Sanders said on the phone having just flown back from selling dive equipment from Chicago. Divers from all over the New River Valley travel to the shop.
“Christiansburg is more strategic for the trips we go on. It saves everybody time. Our client base isn’t just VT students, it’s people from the community, all over the NRV plus, this is a larger space than before and we’re in the process of purchasing it.”
They’re still hanging up masks, snorkels, fins, and buoyancy compensators in the new shop and new partner, Mark Guenther, describes the new space as providing service, education and passion for diving with a bigger shop and bigger plans.
The group travels the East Coast exploring wrecks and pelagic, open-ocean, worlds, diving in springs, warm oceans and cold lakes.
“Big fish and fun wrecks,” Guenther, who has been diving for decades, said. “We dive sunken battleships in Morehead City, North Carolina. In the Great Lakes, we go to Lake Eerie where the water is cooler and you do see wooden ships, their masts and sails that have been there for hundreds and hundreds of years.”
Groups travel the world. Truk Lagoon and the Bikini Atoll dives are being planned.
Asked whether it’s scary to try to learn to dive, Guenther says the philosophy is that they train and train until both the new diver and the instructor are comfortable and confident.
“We teach how to mitigate risk,” he said. “How to dive and be underwater safely. We – nobody – benefits if the new diver doesn’t dive again.”
That supportive, welcoming philosophy sloshes over into events when they’re not diving.
“We’ll have social nights, and we’ll have 50 people. Tonight, it’s a Full Moon Social. We have ‘em on a full moon. So every month, it’s a different day of the week. Some people can come on a weekdays or weekends,” he said.
The recent bout of nice weather in the New River Valley and the February groundhog’s predictions of an early spring have residents looking for warm weather and warm places. Anyone looking to escape the cold, and even the effects of gravity, should consider learning to scuba dive. Now, a new scuba shop in Christiansburg is ready to give you a reason to learn this fun activity and take the plunge.
For more information visit Submergedscuba.com
