Freshers and try dives
Fancy trying diving commitment free? If you’d like to register, come to our stand at freshers’ fair or just send us an email. Lifts can be offered from campus or Manor Park. We are offering free try dives as part of active freshers on:
TBC
Try dives are a great first step for anyone interested in diving, whether on the fence or not. We offer these early on in the first semester, and they are a great way to try diving out. We will get you in some scuba gear, show you the basics and you’ll get to go on a 10-20 minute dive in a swimming pool just to get a feel for diving.
Before the try dives, there are some quick medical forms you will need to go through and you of course need to bring swim wear, but that aside nothing else is required from you and you will get a good opportunity to see what it is like in the underwater world!
Learning to dive
One of the most important things we do as a club is to offer Scuba Diving as an opportunity to as many people as possible, and get as many people as possible qualified each year. There is no prior experience necessary other than demonstrating a reasonable swimming ability (notably, being able to tread water for a minute and swim 200 metres at your own pace), but we’ll try our best to explain what the training process is like.
Unfortunately, due to the time commitment of this, we can’t train everyone at any time of the year. For this reason, it’s important to consider if you’re able to commit the time to finish the training. We run pool sessions every Thursday evening and you would be expected to attend every one (unless a good reason is given).
This year we plan to train 8 people to become qualified divers, starting mid-October, then another set of 8 next semester. Due to limited spaces please don’t purchase anything until you are asked to.
What’s the training process like?
Becoming a qualified diver involves some training in a swimming pool, a series of theory lectures and finally some dives in open water
You start out learning to dive in the pool for at least 6 pool sessions. These take place on Thursday evenings and due to limited space on the course, you would be expected to attend every one (unless a good reason is given). You also learn some theory online or over a weekend, and then we take you on trips in Open Water to finish it off. This means you can end up a fully qualified diver by the end of the year!
As USSAC primarily dives in the UK (which can get a bit cold…) we also give Ocean Diver’s a Dry Suit Orientation allowing you to dive in a dry suit. This is included in the pool sessions before we take you to open water. This means we get to dive all year round!
How much will it cost?
There is no denying that Scuba Diving is one of the more expensive sports out there. Still, we take pride in offering qualifications for among the cheapest prices in the UK. Putting an exact number on the cost is difficult, but we’ll outline the main costs below:
- Full USSAC club membership – £90
- This is what the club uses to maintain all our kit and allows all our members to borrow our kit free of charge! We have everything you need to go diving and even our own compressor, so air fills are free too.
- Ocean Diver eLearning and 12-month BSAC membership – £65
- This is a special offer from BSAC for new Ocean divers joining the club.
- BSAC membership covers liability insurance and is what allows you do dive under our governing body, the British Sub-Aqua Club. This isn’t tied to the training, and all divers need to renew this each year (normally £37 alone).
- The ocean diver training pack includes the e-learning lectures required to go diving and is required for certification after you qualify.
- Sheltered water training – £80
- This covers all the costs of the sheltered water training including transport costs and hire of the swimming pool for the 4 sheltered water lessons and drysuit training. This may also be used to subsidise the Open Water training weekend trip.
- Open water training weekend ≈ £140
- To finish your training you will need 4 open water diver to develop your skills in open water. This is normally carried out over a weekend at an in-land dive site. Due to the nature of the trip, the exact cost changes and is normally around £140. However this includes transport, entry into the dive site and accommodation costs.
- These trips are typically more of a recreational activity than serious training, and we usually have a good group of people at the same time. As our instructors are volunteers, you pay for the actual costs of going on the trip and nothing else.
With the above in mind, a conservative estimate for a first qualification would be around £380.
As a reference, nearby areas or elsewhere in the UK would likely set you back at least £450. Note that this includes a year of club and BSAC membership, so after your qualified, you can come on as many trips as you like with no additional kit or membership fees!