As a co-owner to a LDS, there are pros and cons in being associated to an agency. The pros and cons have been addressed above so I won’t go into that. Our shop is very small and very independent instructor friendly. Yes, we are PADI. Of course, instructors that chose to process through our shop MUST pass an audit from our lead instructor and carry their own insurance. Regardless of which agency is certifying, it is up to the individual instructor or shop to provide the HIGHEST quality of instruction. You will have good and bad instruction under all agencies. We encourage students to purchase their equipment, especially if they intend on diving on a regular basis. However, we do not guilt them into ANYTHING! We are here for THEM, whenever they are ready. Our focus is to make excellent divers. Yes, we are a business and need to sustain certain margins to continue operating. However that does not give us a right to bad mouth anyone else (instructor or shop). We distance ourselves from such practices and chose to take the high road. We do our own thing and worry only about our students. Our model is such that our clients know that we have a genuine interest in them. Word of mouth is a powerful thing.. for good and the not so good. Of course, we also focus on many marketing strategy venues and rely that once someone gets to know us, they WANT to be around us. Unfortunately, over the years, we have seen what everyone is talking about in the preceding discussions. As divers who just want to keep diving, encourage others to dive and cultivate a client base that makes us some really great friends in the process... for us.. THAT is our goal and is the reason why we have created this model. This model is impossible to carry unless you have the true heart of a diver. I’m with Greg, we want diving to be political free and wish everyone would just get along and realize that we can be one big community. Only time will tell if that will happen.