Best way to start diving in uk

[Marcs]

hi everyone,
i'm looking for some advice, over the last two years while on holiday i done my OW & AOW in the dominican republic. Now however i'm looking to start diving in the UK. Firstly whats the best way to start as i have no experiance in uk water. Also what equipment other than the BCD,Wetsuit etc. should i purchase to be a safe diver in uk waters.

 

[spectrum]

I would sugest that you start bu purchasing a refresher course with alocal instructor. This will give you an orientation to local diving conditions. It will also let you try some gear in a controlled class supplied or rental setting.

Pete

 

[Mike7]

First you would need to do a Drysuit course this can be tied in with a refresher course if needed. Check out http://www.dive-site.co.uk/frame.htm (Capernwray) quarry its 20m deep with lots of wreaks and all sorts like horses! and its very well set out with a dive shop, eating area ect theirs a few other quarry type places as well. Depends what area you are based in.

 

[KOMPRESSOR]

Check out http://www.dive-site.co.uk/frame.htm (Capernwray) quarry its 20m deep with lots of wreaks and all sorts like horses! and its very well set out with a dive shop, eating area ect theirs a few other quarry type places as well. Depends what area you are based in.

I'm amased!

 

[Mike7]

I'm amased!

Why because we have horses in our quarry?

You should see my photo of the huge spider!

 

[Scubakevdm]

Firstly whats the best way to start

The giant stride is popular!

 

[Diver0001]

hi everyone,
i'm looking for some advice, over the last two years while on holiday i done my OW & AOW in the dominican republic. Now however i'm looking to start diving in the UK. Firstly whats the best way to start as i have no experiance in uk water. Also what equipment other than the BCD,Wetsuit etc. should i purchase to be a safe diver in uk waters.

I'm not an authority on UK diving but the way I see it, there are two popular agencies in the UK, the BSAC and PADI.

the BSAC is based on CMAS standards and involves a "club" system. You generally pay dues to the the club but training is either included in the dues or at least the lay-out is easier to digest (from what I've heard--this is 2nd hand information). The advantages are numerous. Having built in dive buddies, extensive local knowledge and training that is tailored to conditions in the UK. The BSAC is also a widely respected agency and cross over is relatively painless. The strength is also its downside. Training can get dragged out. Some clubs will exercise considerable influence over your development as a diver (for better or worse) and due to the (natural) arrogance of the BSAC with respect to PADI may close some options to you unless you have the strength of personality to tell them where they can stick it.

PADI, in contrast, does not have a club system, which I personally find to be an advantage. Training is .... compact (ie. tempo is high), which leaves some of the responsibility for perfecting skills in the hands of the diver .... and because PADI was more or less developed in California and/or the Caymen islands, the approach is not applicable to UK diving unless you find an instructor with enough "vision" to make the material work in the local context. My experience is that these instructors are out there in large numbers but the PADI standards are more generic and do not address local UK conditions as well as BSAC standards do. The upside to this that the you are left with a lot of freedom to do and/or develop as you wish.

Making contact either way just involves making a few phone calls.

Does that help?

R..

 

[KOMPRESSOR]

I'm not an authority on UK diving but the way I see it, there are two popular agencies in the UK, the BSAC and PADI.

the BSAC is based on CMAS standards and involves a "club" system. You generally pay dues to the the club but training is either included in the dues or at least the lay-out is easier to digest (from what I've heard--this is 2nd hand information). The advantages are numerous. Having built in dive buddies, extensive local knowledge and training that is tailored to conditions in the UK. The BSAC is also a widely respected agency and cross over is relatively painless. The strength is also its downside. Training can get dragged out. Some clubs will exercise considerable influence over your development as a diver (for better or worse) and due to the (natural) arrogance of the BSAC with respect to PADI may close some options to you unless you have the strength of personality to tell them where they can stick it.

PADI, in contrast, does not have a club system, which I personally find to be an advantage. Training is .... compact (ie. tempo is high), which leaves some of the responsibility for perfecting skills in the hands of the diver .... and because PADI was more or less developed in California and/or the Caymen islands, the approach is not applicable to UK diving unless you find an instructor with enough "vision" to make the material work in the local context. My experience is that these instructors are out there in large numbers but the PADI standards are more generic and do not address local UK conditions as well as BSAC standards do. The upside to this that the you are left with a lot of freedom to do and/or develop as you wish.

Making contact either way just involves making a few phone calls.

Does that help?

R..

CMAS has never been "easier" for sure. And to be a member of an -up and running- dive club has never been a disadvantage to me, although I took the easy route at first and took PADI OW+Adv. I think PADI can be well adapted to cold water diving if the instructor is up to it. In my club we're just about 50/50 PADI and CMAS, with a clear partition in age. Today I'm sorry most new divers go through PADI and doesn't leave CMAS a chance, since CMAS*/** "takes too much time" for most young people. And sadly, most new divers who are not involved in a dive club from the beginning never is, and quit diving all together in a year or two. Most active divers who stick to our great hobby for years do so as members of a club. It's like that here anyway.

For the threadstarter my advice is to seek up the nearest active dive club and start from there, and not decide upon which "system" before you contact a club. It doesn't really matter anyway. Diving do, and the more diving the better for you!

 

[Diver0001]

CMAS has never been "easier" for sure. And to be a member of an -up and running- dive club has never been a disadvantage to me, although I took the easy route at first and took PADI OW+Adv. I think PADI can be well adapted to cold water diving if the instructor is up to it. In my club we're just about 50/50 PADI and CMAS, with a clear partition in age. Today I'm sorry most new divers go through PADI and doesn't leave CMAS a chance, since CMAS*/** "takes too much time" for most young people. And sadly, most new divers who are not involved in a dive club from the beginning never is, and quit diving all together in a year or two. Most active divers who stick to our great hobby for years do so as members of a club. It's like that here anyway.

For the threadstarter my advice is to seek up the nearest active dive club and start from there, and not decide upon which "system" before you contact a club. It doesn't really matter anyway. Diving do, and the more diving the better for you!

What's the Norwegian affiliate of CMAS called?

In Holland we used to see a lot of divers crossing over from NOB to PADI because of the tempo thing. In some NOB clubs it was taking divers 2 years to go from * to ** and it was frustrating them. The NOB has recently revamped the training to conform to new European guidlines and the tempo is now a lot faster. You might think that's an advantage but it created some pretty dangerous situations for a while because the NOB instructors were having trouble adjusting to the tempo. At least that's my take on it.

I don't know if other CMAS affiliates followed the EU decision but it's quite possible that the BSAC is being affected too. I haven't heard anything about this though but I'd be curious to know if it's happening.

R..

 

[KOMPRESSOR]

What's the Norwegian affiliate of CMAS called?

In Holland we used to see a lot of divers crossing over from NOB to PADI because of the tempo thing. In some NOB clubs it was taking divers 2 years to go from * to ** and it was frustrating them. The NOB has recently revamped the training to conform to new European guidlines and the tempo is now a lot faster. You might think that's an advantage but it created some pretty dangerous situations for a while because the NOB instructors were having trouble adjusting to the tempo. At least that's my take on it.

I don't know if other CMAS affiliates followed the EU decision but it's quite possible that the BSAC is being affected too. I haven't heard anything about this though but I'd be curious to know if it's happening.

R..

The Norwegian Diving Federation (Norges Dykkeforbund, www.ndf.no) is member of CMAS (World Underwater Federation). NDF organizes almost all active diving clubs in Norway, and in the past CMAS was the only "accepted" diver education. Then PADI grew bigger than CMAS, and NDF saw they weren't reaching through to new divers due to their conservative approach to education within CMAS. We had more or less "battles" between PADI and CMAS divers in the clubs, and many CMAS divers (in particular) wouldn't even consider diving with PADI educated divers, since they couldn't possibly be safe with such a quick and easy education! This is of course in the past, but one can certainly still see the remains of the struggle as bad climate in SOME clubs... (No names! But I know a few...)

Today most divers go through PADI education at professional dive centers. Unfortunately diving clubs are still not able to recruit as many as I would like to see as club members, since there is no longer a connection between the educator and the clubs. As a semi-pro operator I can certainly testify that club divers are much easier to organize on our trips than "stand alone" divers not used to rules for their diving. But in a day or two they too are aclimatized to our safety standards and regulations. We follow the general guidelines from NDF to the clubs on our dive trips since we find it very satisfying and it's an easy way to accomplish the safety standards we seek.