Hello from Bristol, UK

[vlxm]

Hi everyone.

I am now living in Bristol, UK, and looking forward to progressing my diving this year with more practice and skills. So far, AOWD with just over 100 dives, nearly all in warm waters abroad.

Would you recommend BSAC Sport Diver (I initially trained as Ocean Diver) or PADI Rescue Diver (I am AOWD)? I do have a feel for PADI vs BSAC, having trained with both in the past, but the two courses don't seem quite the same in terms of content. Anyone who has experience of both to compare them? Any other agency/course?

Also any suggestions for an active club around Bristol, that could help break my shyness of UK cold waters?

 

[Graeme Fraser]

Hi everyone.

I am now living in Bristol, UK, and looking forward to progressing my diving this year with more practice and skills. So far, AOWD with just over 100 dives, nearly all in warm waters abroad.

Would you recommend BSAC Sport Diver (I initially trained as Ocean Diver) or PADI Rescue Diver (I am AOWD)? I do have a feel for PADI vs BSAC, having trained with both in the past, but the two courses don't seem quite the same in terms of content. Anyone who has experience of both to compare them? Any other agency/course?

Also any suggestions for an active club around Bristol, that could help break my shyness of UK cold waters?

Welcome, from a fellow non-native Bristolian (well, about 10 miles SW of the city).

With regards to your future training path, a lot depends on your aims. If you’re set on UK diving, then joining BSAC and continuing your education with a local club is the way to go. You’ve got a few options near you including Severnside and Clifton.

Concerning training, the core curriculum is pretty similar to PADI, with a few extras including Nitrox and some additional rescue skills up to, and including, Sports Diver.

If further training and mentorship is important to you, I’d suggest speaking to these clubs and seeing how active their training programs are. One issue in the past was that it can take a long time to pursue training due to instructor and facility availability. However, recently BSAC has partnered up with some commercially run diver training organisations to alleviate some of the pressure on clubs.

As you’ve mentioned, the key thing for you is the introduction to diving in colder climes. Realistically, if you want to enjoy UK diving for more than just the summer months, you need to get comfortable using a drysuit. The good news is, with the right guidance / training and a few dives, it isn’t hard and will transform your enjoyment of the sport, expanding the dive season from 3 to 12 months.

Luckily, you’ve got an excellent inland site about 45 minutes south called Vobster Quay. This is great for training and meeting up with friends for a casual bimble when the sea gods aren’t playing nice!

Anyway, welcome to UK Diving and hope to see you out there some day.

 

[Edward3c]

Hi everyone.

I am now living in Bristol, UK, and looking forward to progressing my diving this year with more practice and skills. So far, AOWD with just over 100 dives, nearly all in warm waters abroad.

Would you recommend BSAC Sport Diver (I initially trained as Ocean Diver) or PADI Rescue Diver (I am AOWD)? I do have a feel for PADI vs BSAC, having trained with both in the past, but the two courses don't seem quite the same in terms of content. Anyone who has experience of both to compare them? Any other agency/course?

Also any suggestions for an active club around Bristol, that could help break my shyness of UK cold waters?

Welcome to U.K. diving. It fantastic.

The BSAC find it tool, here, shows a number of BSAC clubs in and around Bristol. Not all clubs are the same, so visit a few and see if they do the type of diving you want. Some are deep wreck on CCR with Trimix, others just dive overseas.

Any questions just message me.

 

[KenGordon]

Sports Diver includes deco. You will want that for British diving.

 

[Jacob BV]

Hi @vlxm and welcome!

As others have touched on, if you are looking to include SCUBA as a hobby in the UK I would reccomend joining a BSAC club and doing your Sports diver. Above Rescue diver it includes dive management stuff to make you a more useful club member on trips, nitrox, and decompression dives (although most people don't do a lot of this until they have an independent gas source).

Have fun with it!

 

[TimPB]

BSAC Sport Diver.

I crossed over as a sport diver having done PADI rescue. When I came to do Dive Leader I found there were significant bits missing which I had to go back and cover.

Also joining a club was a great way to give me the opportunity to do a lot more diving in places other than just the usual places.

Not all clubs are the same, so talk to a few about the diving they do and see if you can find one that suits you.

 

[Fabian_E]

Hello from further north

Hoping to visit your local waters next year and see what's around.

Happy diving!

 

[BlueTrin]

Welcome, if you are in Bristol you’ll have access to many U.K. dive sites, including one of the most friendly inland site (Vobster Quay)

I’d visit a few local bsac clubs, and select one that matches your interest. The advantage of a BSAC club is that many of them will organise local trips and/or have members who dive a lot locally so you will have local buddies to dive with.

Find a club or centre

Find a scuba diving club near you with BSAC's Find It Tool. We have 100s of scuba diving and snorkelling clubs ready to welcome you. Book a Try Dive Today!

www.bsac.com