History Of Planet Scuba

After Brad’s first diving lesson, he was hooked. A year later he had finished his Dive Instructor certification. He originally thought he’d like to earn a living in the tropics, however, after some travelling he realized that many of the dive masters and instructors in the tropics were only making minimum wage. His solution was to make the best of both worlds – live at home and travel the world taking people on tropical vacations.

Brad started running his business right after he finished his four month dive training course at PADI Canada College. He opened his first dive store as a part of the service station that his father owned (Johnson’s Service Ltd.) on Victoria Avenue East while doing dive instruction contract work summers in Newfoundland. When his father retired from the service station business, the business was divided into two separate businesses; Johnson’s Service (automotive) and Johnson’s Scuba Services (diving) on the 1400 block of Fluery Street. In 2004, having outgrown the small space on Fleury Street, Brad opened “Planet Scuba” beside its current location at 1174 Albert St. In 2006, because of the tremendous success that Planet Scuba had achieved, the next store front (1172 Albert St) was also added. In May 2016 we began our move to our current location at 1125 Rose St.

Over the 20+ years that Brad taught people how to dive, he has certified over 1000 individuals. He started by taking people on trips to Cozumel, Mexico every winter, but now Planet Scuba offers trips year round to exotic places around the world. Most years our trip calendar includes: The Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cozumel and various other additions. With a variety of live-aboard cruises and land-based trips we are taking people on trips every month or two!

We head to the pool every Friday night. Certified divers can come to practice skills or advance their training and training divers can get their skills done!

At Planet Scuba, we sell all the equipment you need (and want) in order to snorkel or scuba dive or just to enjoy the water. We believe that people are safer (and more hygienic) when they use their own equipment, and we have tried to package our gear in such a way to make it easy for someone to come in and get everything they need all in one package deal, which includes your training!

We also provide manufacturer authorized scuba equipment service and regularly tested breathing quality air fills (CGA G-7.1-2004 Grade E Gas Quality Specification) for companies requiring specific testing, as well as for divers.
Winter is our busiest season because it’s the time that most people want to travel to a warmer climate. Although we take people to do their open water dives during weekends at the lake during the summer, it is in the fall (when people are trying to get their dives done before the lake freezes over) that our weekend lake dives have the most people. For this reason, many people choose to train at home and wait until they are on their tropical vacation to do their open water dives required for their certification.