Learning to Dive

Course Details
The first course you will undertake as a trainee diver is the BSAC Ocean Diver course.  This will teach you all the core diving skills, plus how to use the BSAC decompression tables, and how to perform a basic rescue. BSAC club training is thorough and gives you excellent diving skills, but it takes place mainly in the evenings and weekends, and the instructors give their time for free, so it takes longer than with some other agencies. This means you generally have a lot more experience by the time you become qualified.

We start pool and theory sessions in the autumn/winter so that they are out of the way by the time the spring comes, and you start open water training in the spring. There are 7 classroom sessions and about the same number of pool sessions, then a theory and pool assessment, and several open water lessons before you are fully qualified. It takes a minimum of 12 weeks to achieve the grade of Ocean Diver, but the training will be taken at your pace, (it can be done quicker and slower as required) and training will take as long as it takes to get you confident and happy in the open sea…!

Costs?
Learning to dive with a BSAC club is one of the cheapest ways to learn to dive, but this is not a cheap sport and it will involve spending some money!

BSAC Membership - £47

PSAC Membership - £96                    Total cost £220

Training Manuals - £32

Training supplement - £45

Although we have equipment for use in pool training most trainees opt to purchase their own set of basic kit (mask, fins, and snorkel) as it is important these fit well - these will cost about £50. Please ask us if you’re not sure what to get or where to go - we have good relationships with a few of the local dive shops and we’re always willing to give advice or come along to the shop if you need help.

You will need basic swimming kit (plus a t shirt if you tend to get cold), plus mask, fins, and snorkel for pool sessions. We use club kit (buoyancy compensator, regulators and cylinder) for pool training (included in training fees) and these are available for hire for use in open water at a cost of £2.50/item. Alternatively you may decide to buy your own set of SCUBA equipment at this point (from £300 to £1000).

We ask trainees to buy their own semi-dry wetsuit or drysuit at the point where you are moving into open water training. This is to make sure that SCUBA diving is really for you before you buy a suit, as suits are one of the more expensive purchases (£150-600).  Unfortunately it’s impractical for us to have enough suits to fit all trainees as there’s a large variety of sizes and shapes! It is important that these fit correctly - again please ask for advice if you’re not sure.

Occasionally members have secondhand suits/equipment available for sale - check the newsletter for adverts.

What you get?
At the end of the training, you will end up with an internationally recognised qualification to dive to 20m, with other qualified divers, under the supervision of a dive marshal. Your initial payment also includes club membership of the British Sub Aqua Club, and Peninsula Sub Aqua Club, for 1 year. Membership of the British Sub Aqua Club gives you third party insurance for diving and club activities, as well as a monthly copy of “Dive” magazine.

Medical
You will be required to fill in a self certification of fitness to dive before commencing training. There are a few medical conditions which might mean you have to have a medical with a diving doctor before taking up SCUBA diving, some of which might exclude you from diving altogether.  If in any doubt we will ask for a medical with a diving doctor, before starting open water training.

Any other questions?
Contact the Chairman for general queries
Contact the Diving Officer for diving/training related queries.
Contact the Equipment Officer for equipment related queries.
Contact the Treasurer/Membership Secretary for details of fees/costs.