Joe’s Scuba

Congrats to our new SDI Open Water Scuba Divers having a great time this weekend finishing up their certs! Mark Weninger really knows how to make a great experience for our students with personal attention and even grilling up some lunch! Join us this year for your initial cert or continue with more advanced classes and take your diving to the next level! We are finally getting to comfortable water temps and every weekend it’s a little warmer. Today was 69F.

We have officially crossed the 1 million cuft of compressor operations. That is a lot of tanks filled!! When I was doing my filter change today I noticed we had passed that point earlier this month. I couldn’t have done this without my awesome team supporting me and helping me keep this a fun place to spread the joy of diving. Here’s to the next million!

Final touches on the Summerville remote fill station almost complete! Very soon we will have an additional 4500 cuft of o2 clean air on tap!

Little upgrade to the fill station here. Getting ready for the dive season and we can now fill 6 tanks at once and are banking up to 24k cuft of O2 Clean Air and 11k cuft of 32% Nitrox. Cant wait to get back to underwater!!

Had a great time building the cascade system for my Alma mater The Citadel with Jamie Newman. It is fully functional now and I fully filled the cascades from the shop before bringing them over so the Citadel dive club can use it right away. Just a few more finishing touches to service the compressor and hook it up as well.

Last chance to join our Florida trip this coming weekend 1/24-25. Escape the cold and enjoy crystal clear water and a high of 78F showing of Saturday right now!

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We did something super exciting here. All new student wetsuits in 7mm hooded, 7mm, and 5mm. I ordered plenty of extra to be able to offer these to all of you as well! I have sizes from XS to 3XL in both men’s and women’s! Let me know what you need so you stay warm this winter! Gonna take me a minute to unbox 11 boxes of wetsuits!

Sorting through all our rental wetsuits and liquidating almost all of them. We bought brand new wetsuits this past week and we are letting all the rental gear go for $50-100 a wetsuit depending on if 3mm-7mm and condition. Give me a call or message and get them while the getting is good!! 843-849-4868

Hey scuba peeps! After talking with many professionals in the area and getting all positive feedback, I want to share a letter I sent to all the local dive organizations and professionals I had email addresses for. This is the letter I sent about a week ago:

Hello fellow dive shop owners and dive professionals in the Charleston area,

I’m Joe Laposta, and I am reaching out to you all today with one simple goal: to connect and see if we can work toward a more cooperative, professional environment to promote and grow diving in Charleston.

Like many of you, I fell in love with diving over two decades ago, and that shared joy is what brought us all here. Unfortunately, the local dive landscape in Charleston can sometimes feel disheartening. When our few local dive organizations can’t seem to get along, I fear it turns potential divers away from continuing in the sport. The competition we should be focusing on is with other outdoor activities like boating and kiteboarding, not with each other.

To move forward, I propose a new approach rooted in professionalism and shared growth:
Our Proposal for Professional Collaboration
Acknowledge Distinct Markets: We are all very different businesses—from Dive Locker’s full-service center, to Omar's low-cost retail at One More Chance/Blue Line Scuba, to Joe’s Scuba’s focus on small-group instruction. We cater to distinct markets and should view scuba as a non-zero-sum game. When one of us gains a student, it does not mean another has lost one; it means diving in Charleston is growing.
Focus on Shared Growth: The more we collectively promote diving and make it a welcoming, drama-free hobby, the more everyone benefits.
Support Each Other: I actively encourage my own students to take classes at other shops like Dive Locker and Blue Line Scuba to gain diverse instruction. We must also support local services like charters (Dive Locker and Whole Other World Scuba) to keep divers on the water.
Commit to No Negative Talk: I have a policy in my instructor contract to not speak negatively about any other organization, and I promise to hold myself and my team to this standard. I sincerely hope that all of us can do the same.
I acknowledge I have made mistakes in the past, including issues with Jeff at Dive Locker and Omar at One More Chance, and I apologize for those missteps. My decisions have always been guided by making the student and diver experience the best it can be. As I run Joe’s Scuba more as a dive club—a hobby where I can prioritize the experience over revenue—I feel uniquely positioned to advocate for this positive change.

The ultimate goal for all of us must be sharing the joy of diving and making the sport a positive, welcoming, and fun experience for everyone in Charleston. If every customer interaction with any of our organizations is positive, we will only grow diving to its fullest potential.

I offer an open door for dialogue and feedback and welcome anyone to reach out directly.

Sincerely,

Joe Laposta
Joe's Scuba