Kaizen?

What does Kaizen mean? Why did you call your shop Kaizen? These are the first questions most people ask and the answers come back to who exactly we (Dora and Robin) are and what we do.

In addition to being scuba divers and scuba instructors, we are both long time martial artists and instructors of Japanese martial arts. While we by no means consider ourselves experts in Japanese culture of language, we have had more than a little exposure to both. When we wanted a unique name for our shop, it seemed natural to look along the lines of that same knowledge and skill.

So what does Kaizen mean? Kaizen with this kanji – 改善, literally means “change to become good” and is translated as improvement. The business concept based on the usually written カイゼン or in English (Kaizen) is usually defined as continuous improvement. The kanji of Kai and Zen can take other forms as well with other meanings. Kai can mean sea ( 海), sea shell (貝), association or join (会), wonder (怪), or delight (快). Zen can mean before (前), right or good (善), or complete (全). That makes a lot of good combinations for Kaizen as a scuba shop, but we like 全 complete, Complete Sea, (海 全) or Complete Delight (快 全) what is more delightful than a good dive?

So Kaizen Scuba, your complete scuba shop. We are always working to improve: improve our service to you, improve our skills and knowledge, and help you improve.

S.C.U.B.A.

Every diver with a C-card knows what SCUBA stands for – Self contained underwater breathing apparatus. It is so common an acronym that it has become a word in the dictionary! Perhaps it is a little too cute, but in a fit of fun we have changed the scuba acronym in our name:

          S – Santa Fe

          C – Center for

          U – Underwater

          B – Breathing

          A – Adventures

Now you know all about, Kaizen SCUBA. Come and tell us what you think.

Diving in the High Desert

“You are opening a scuba shop where?”  

            “You are scuba diving in New Mexico?” 

                        “Where the heck can you dive in the desert?” 

Yeah, it is true, everyone thinks we are a little nuts for planning a dive shop in the high desert. The truth of it is, there is a lot of places to dive in New Mexico, 20 different lakes and springs by our research. Are they all good places to dive? We don’t know yet, we haven’t had the chance to dive them all – yet. But we are looking forward to trying all of them and determining which are the best. Most divers are aware of Blue Hole in Santa Rosa, Lea Lake at the Bottomless Lakes near Roswell, Elephant Butte Lake, Conchas Lake, and Ute Lake.  Which are your favorites? Which do you think have the best diving?

In addition, we are not far (by our travel standards) from a lot of interesting dive sites in Utah, Arizona, Texas, and even Mexico – all within a days drive. So the plan for Kaizen Scuba is to train and check out divers locally during the warmer weather, then plan dive trips to the Caribbean, Mexico, and Asia during the colder months. Where do you want to dive this year? Whats your favorite dive destination?

About Dora and Robin

Dora started scuba as a junior diver in Texas. Life took her away to other pursuits, including college and martial arts, before she and Robin met. Robin followed a life long interest in aquatic activities with diving in the early 2000’s when she and her daughter got certified before heading to Hawaii on a trip with their extended family. She continued diving through several moves until she finally landed in Kansas and met Dora. After training together in martial arts, Dora and Robin discovered a mutual interest in scuba which resulted in their training as dive instructors and now Kaizen Scuba.