Rick's Dive 'N Travel Center Inc. was founded April 15th, 1978 by Rick Newton. After a couple of early relocations, Rick's vision continued to expand with plans on the drawing board for a State-of-the-art, Diver Training Center never seen before in Arkansas. This dream evolved in 1985 at our present location, 24th & Poplar Street in North Little Rock. This 7500 sq. ft. Dive Center has many amenities including our signature custom 14 foot deep heated indoor diver training pool, two classrooms equipped with TV/VCR/DVD, power point presentation, men & ladies showers & locker rooms, fully equipped service center, Bauer Air Compressor and air storage for immediate air fills, lots of neon inside and outside, a private customer sun deck with surround sound music, and one of the largest inventories of scuba diving equipment in the South. Rick & Robyn Newton continue to be active owner/operators of Rick's Dive 'N Travel Center Inc. today. "Our business has allowed us to escort divers to the far corners of the world and meet some of the greatest people around, but also to share our love of scuba diving and the underwater excitement with customers we are proud to call......."OUR FRIENDS" - We hope you will come by and join the fun & excitement that we have been offering customers since 1978.

We invite you to join us for a FREE introductory scuba experience in our indoor heated pool, No Gimmicks, No Pressure, just a chance to let you experience what you just may be missing! click here for details

Rick's Selected Best of the Best! Learn More...

Honored as one of the Top Ten Dive Centers in the USA!

Rick's Guests of Honor

	1981 - Jerry Cavaneau - Arkansas Razorback Hall of fame member certified at Rick's
	1982 - Bob Russell & family - Owner of Russell Chevrolet in North Little Rock certified divers at Ricks
	1983 - Dr. Dale Colclasure Dentistry and family were certified at Ricks
	1985 - Democrat Gazette picture photo of Rick's "Ground Breaking" - current location
	1986 - Rick’s Dive ‘N Travel Center sponsored Mr. Jack McKinney, a free lance underwater cameraman, top side cameraman, writer & photographer to discuss his work on the Andrea Doria to a filled gymnasium at Northeast High school with Seaview
	1987 – Mrs. Marty Dunwoody, student certified Open Water & Advanced Open Water at Rick’s Dive ‘N Travel Center before going on to set the ladies worlds’ Deep Diving Record over 500’
	1987 - Democrat Gazette newspaper article of Rick's hosting an underwater wedding for a Sherwood couple, builder Jon & Karen Young who met in diving classes at Rick's
	1988 – Lynn Dickey - Razorback football all star and all conference certified with his family at Rick’s Dive ‘N Travel Center
	1990 - Rick's was selected as one of the worlds best designed dive centers by "Diving World" magazine
	1990 – Rick's wife, Robyn Newton designed several styles of men's and women's wet suits for a well known National wet suit company
	1990 - Rick’s sponsored Ocean activist Mrs. Dee Scar in "Touch the Sea" program at the Arkansas Repertory Theater in Little Rock
	1992 - Rick's feature article in the Conway Log Cabin Democrat Newspaper, March 8th
	1992 - Rick’s certified the honorable North Little Rock Mayor Hays
	1992 - Rick’s certified Senator Cliff Hoofman
	1992 - Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones from NLR son's Steve & Jeryl certified at Rick's
	1993 - Rick's Dive 'N Travel Center selected by PADI as one of their top retailers
	1993 - Rick's led dive group that was featured in a 20 minute segment on National Television with NBC Dateline during our Coco's Island dive adventure with reporter John Scott (footage on file)
	1993 - Radio  & TV Sports personality Craig O’Neill certified at Rick’s
	1993 - Peter Kumpe with the Lion's World Services for the Blind was certified at Rick's
	1994 - Rick’s hosted the band - Little Texas for a meet & greet session before performing in Little Rocks Barton Coliseum
	1995 - Rick's was honored to host world renowned underwater photographer, Chris Newbert "In A Sea of Dreams" at the Little Rock, Hilton to a packed house
	1997 - Rick's has been voted "Best of the Best" - Dive Center by the readers of the Arkansas Democrat/Gazette newspaper every year since it's inception 1997 thru 2007 - Thank You Arkansas!  "We Do It Right The First Time"
	1998 - NLR Market – Ricks won the Most Original booth display at Fisher Armory
	1999 - Rick's staff of professional Instructors escorted one of the largest diving groups ever, by a single dive center during the Millennium celebration to Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles - 120 divers & participants mainly from Arkansas (see photo's on our "Take A Dive" page)
	2000 - Rick & Robyn featured photo in the Arkansas Democrat/Gazette, October issue
	2000 - Rick's featured on the front page of the Arkansas Business Weekly, May Issue
	2001 - Rick's featured article in the Arkansas Times newspaper May Issue
	2001 - Rick’s Dive ‘N Travel Center received recognition for 25 years of outstanding service member since 2001 - May 1978 presented by PADI worldwide at Rick’s Dive ‘N Travel Center by our PADI Regional Representative.
	2003 - Rick’s Dive ‘N Travel Center is proud to have certified the FIRST- Jr. Master Scuba Diver in the State of - Arkansas (verified with PADI Headquarters)
	2004 - Rick served on the Advisory Committee of the PADI International Resort & Retailer Associations (PIRRA)
	2004 - Selected as one of the "TOP TEN" dive centers in America by DEMA, Diving Equipment Marketing Association in California
	2004 - Featured in an online magazine article by Dive Retailing.Com - click here to read article
	2004 - Rick's staff honored in the PADI Undersea Journal Edition, worldwide publication
	2004 - PADI Partners – Underwater Journal article & photo with PADI representative, Pete Treloar along with Rick’s Educational Director, Sandy Carroll, along with owners Robyn & Rick Newton honored with the PADI Five Star 25 year membership award 1978 after having certified more than 8000 students
	2005 - PADI Undersea Journal  - Rick's Selected as a model dive center, "one of only three" in the U.S., to participate in a photo shoot for PADI's Continuing Education Workshops & promotional materials - Pictured article (PADI)
	2006- KARK 4 TV – Jeff Whatley – Assistant News Director – certified at Rick’s
	2006 - Rick's twenty year plus staff member & PADI Course Director, Sandy Carroll appeared in the latest revision of the PADI Recreational Diving Encyclopedia, worldwide publication - page - 1-4
	2006 - KARK TV Co-Anchor Jancey Sheats – certified at Rick's
	2006 - Rick, "You publish the best E-newsletter that I have ever seen". Congratulations - Mark Young - Dive Center Business Magazine Owner/Writer for the diving industry
	2006 - Owner Rick Newton and a store photo in the PADI 4th Quarter 2006, Undersea Journal article, page 64 - "Communicating Expectations" with our Master Scuba Program
	2006 - Ricks received a DEMA Award for recognition our outstanding contributions to the Diving industry
	2006 - Dive Evaluation Report from (C.O.R.E.) The Council on Retail Excellence (see below)*
	2007 KARK 4 TV– Aaron Nolan – Sportscaster certified at Ricks
	2007 KARK 4 TV – Jeff Whatley – Assistant News Director – Advanced Open Water
	2007 - Rick’s honored to have Mr. Scott T. Ford, President & CEO of Alltel and his children in our scuba program
	2007 - Rick’s interviewed by Elizabeth Sharp of Central Arkansas’ Sync Weekly magazine
	2007 - Ricks is honored to have certified the Dr. Steven Clift Family from North Little Rock whose son Dean Clift used to be our webmaster & his sister Zoie Clift has had articles published in several magazine publications including SCUBA Diving Magazine 2007, page 27 article about Lake Ouachita recently in Scuba Diving Magazine by Zoie Clift – Lake Ouachita, Arkansas
	2007 - Rick's interview on streaming video in conjunction with PADI's  - "GO PRO CHALLENGE"
	2007 - Rick is interviewed by Jancey Sheats with KARK 4 about Diving in Arkansas news segment. You can click the links here to see the video: Scuba Diving 101: Testing the Waters Part 1 and Scuba Diving 101: Testing the Waters Part 2 (Large downloads please account for extra time for the video to start)