My SCUBA Diary

I decided to learn to dive in one rash moment standing at the side of Dosthill Quarry in Tamworth! I’d been assisting a friend prepare for their first open water dive and so had a instant crash course in diving equipment, and that’s what did it…

You see I’m a sucker for technical stuff, gadgets, engineering and the like, and SCUBA kit is real nest of hoses, valves and compressed air, lots to interest a technical mind.

I think I was very fortunate to have been influenced by some experienced divers in my choice of exactly how to go about learning to dive. I think that many people first experience diving whilst on holiday when they take a try-dive with a local dive school and then do an open-water sea dive at the end of a weeks learning in a swimming pool. I had the benefit of more experienced divers pointing out to me just how risky that first experience could really be.

The skills learnt in diving are largely about staying alive in an environment that is seriously hazardous to health, and by the far the most important things to learn are what to do if things go wrong. Knowing what to do when things go wrong is one thing, having the prescense of mind to remember what to do in the heat of the moment is quite another. That requires more than just knowledge and skill, it also requires confidence and experience.

I quickly realised that I was hardly likely to build up much confidence and experience during a one week crash course followed by an ocean dive. Even though I’m absolutely sure that the dive instructor would keep things safe and manageable it makes more sense to me that I learn over a long period and experience more time in the water in a safe environment.

With a bit of research I quickly discovered clubs in 3 dive organisations in my area:

PADI – Professional Association of Diving Instructors

BSAC – British Sub Aqua Club

SAA – Sub Aqua Association

Each of these has their own dive courses and standards, it’s worth checking them all out to see which suits you best. Personally I was looking for a dive club that was local and affordable.

I settled on an SAA club called Stourport Divers in Worcestershire, it was local, the fees are very reasonable and I was able to borrow equipment from the club to go through my elementary diver training. Being able to borrow equipment is a huge bonus because the kit is fairly expensive and you can’t be sure at the outset whether diving will be your thing or not. Buying a load of expensive kit and then deciding you don’t fancy it after all is always going to be a pain on the pocket!

So thats it, I was ready to begin learning to dive!