Scuba Dive Shop For Sale – Sold

Invest in a SCUBA Shop and get paid for seeing the world!

Tired of paying for expensive vacations that are too infrequent?  Every day you work hard so that you can do the things you love, like traveling and SCUBA diving, but you don’t get to do them often enough, and you have to pay big money to do it.  Now you can get paid to see the world, above water and underwater, by owning your own dive shop!

By owning your own dive shop, you get to vacation and dive as much as you want.  Previous owners went on 7 – 8 trips per year to places like Fiji, Galapagos Islands, Bikini, Cozumel, Hawaii, Jamaica, Maldives, Tahiti, Africa (including safari), Egypt, Indonesia, Thailand, and more!

This business is great for someone who loves SCUBA and likes not only to get the write-off trip and SCUBA expenses, but likes to get paid for going to exotic places while trying out the latest dive gear.  One of the other benefits of owning a dive shop is you meet a lot of people and make a lot of friends in a hurry, so this is definitely an opportunity for someone who likes social interaction.

The advantage of buying a business versus starting your own is that it eliminates all the time and money required to get established; count on five years or more.  In that time, you don’t get to enjoy the business because you’re busy marketing and getting established; people who don’t have exceptional marketing skills frequently don’t make it.  During the time when you’re getting established, you’re also pouring a lot of money into the business and covering your own salary. Add up five years of your salary to see what that’s worth. Let’s face it, you’d rather be teaching, diving, and traveling for 5 years than marketing a new business.  When you buy a company that is already established, that initial ramp up is already done, so you can immediately enjoy benefits of a successful business in scuba diving, teaching and adventure travel.

Here is what the Scuba Center offers:

• Retail center with SCUBA inventory
• Classes: SCUBA Diver, Advanced SCUBA, Rescue Diver, Divemaster, Assistant Instructor, and Nitrox
• Dive Travel
• Services: Airfills, Equipment Repair & Maintenance, and Rentals

The company has been in business since 1987 with an excellent reputation for safety, quality, and service.  The present location is also a valuable asset with visibility from Highway 1 in Santa Cruz, California, on the way to Monterey, Carmel, and Point Lobos.  We believe so much in the company that we invested last month in a new Bauer air compressor!

-John Houghton

— Update 9/25/13 —

Passing The Torch

News travels fast, and many of you may already know that Aqua Safaris is now under new ownership!  On behalf of the Houghton Family, both past and present, I would like to extend a warm and heartfelt thanks to the dive community of Santa Cruz and the many patrons of Aqua Safaris who encouraged and supported us through the difficult period following the loss of the shop’s owners, David and DeDe Houghton, in July 2011.  Since then our primary goal has been to sustain the diving enterprise launched by David in I987 and to provide excellent service to the regional diving community.  I have very much enjoyed getting to know many of you and being a part of this community of great folks united by a passion for diving.  Among all of us, the dedicated members of our staff and loyal patrons, the continuation of Aqua Safaris has truly been a community effort and a fitting memorial to our shared vision.  We made it, Aqua Safaris will continue, and we couldn’t have come to this point without you!  Thank you!  We are happy to entrust the enterprise to the experienced leadership and hands of Charlie Cooper, who brings an ideal combination of backgrounds in business, marine biology, and most importantly, a life-long enthusiasm for diving!  He has been diving for more than forty years and draws on a broad range of experience in instruction as a PADI Master Instructor.  While he shares the Aqua Safaris commitments to competence, quality, and integrity, the new energy and changes are already visible at the shop. Be sure to stop by to check it out, say hello, and stay tuned for exciting plans, new equipment lines, and expanded programs of both instruction and travel.  In the well known words of David and DeDe,

“Let’s go Diving!”

- Cathryn Houghton

http://www.aquasafaris.com