Gypsy Divers was founded by Margie Rhodes and Dave Farrar in 1984. Dave started teaching SCUBA in the Triangle area in 1982. When Margie earned her instructor rating in 1984, they decided they needed to make it a business and it needed a name. Since both of them enjoyed traveling to exotic destinations to dive, and neither one of them seemed capable of holding a serious job at the time, “Gypsy Divers” seemed an apt choice.
Both were also serious educators, so they worked hard to develop programs that gave the people who chose to learn with them a real chance at becoming comfortable enough with their SCUBA skills to want to make diving a life-long hobby. They also made sure, by developing and maintaining a robust group travel calendar, that divers had plenty of opportunities to exercise their skills in nearly all of the waters of the world.
In 2011, Dave took a chance and hired a young banker from his local Wachovia, bringing him on as weekend help. With his summers spent in his grandfather’s dive shop, Billy had plenty of experience as a diver and a salesman.
Over the next eight years, Dave taught Billy the invaluable skills of running the businesses, knowledge that only comes from decades in the industries. Luckily, he groomed Billy so well, he convinced the young manager to buy the whole thing to carry on the Gypsy legacy. Lucky for us, Dave still stops by or picks up the phone for consultations, helping to keep us on the path to success.