New to cornwall

Hi

Im an advanced diver with only 20 dives but ive just moved to cornwall, newquay actualy and im looking for a active dive club anywhere in the area... i want to dive on a weekend, even training sessions on a week night if possible. Basicly im new here so im looking to meet people with the same interests as me. I also intend to take my training further with a nice club.

So does anyone know of anywhere thats good? and has plenty of members im 32 in age so be cool to meet people to hang out with.

Thanks

Jon

I take it you mean you hold the Advanced Open Water card? Very different from being an "Advanced Diver" in the BSAC sense. Since most clubs around there will (I imagine) be BSAC based I'd just describe yourself as an early diver.

I went through exactly what you're proposing when I was a PADI Rescue Diver. It took me a while to understand why the BSAC divers I met were so disparaging. Now I'm a BSAC Advanced Diver and an Instructor, but I remember the sharp culture divide.

Hi,

yea sorry i ment im a padi advanced diver, well i have the card, also deep spec..i did it all in thailand apart from 2 dives in the waters around gibraltor, so im totaly new to uk diving. So anyway thanks for the reply.

whats it like diving around cornwall, currents etc.....also vis?

i can see there is abit of a divide between padi and bsac, but i learnt with padi and the instructors where great, carnt fault them...

thanks Jon

Diving around Cornwall is wonderful, but it's very different from Thailand. Much colder water, heavy seas, strong currents, poorer visibility. Best thing you can do is find a dive club (or maybe a dive shop) where you'll be and get some local instruction/orientation. There will be so many differences from what you're used to, both in the sea itself and in procedures and equipment used. For example, have you ever used a DSMB?

peterbj7:

Diving around Cornwall is wonderful, but it's very different from Thailand. Much colder water, heavy seas, strong currents, poorer visibility. Best thing you can do is find a dive club (or maybe a dive shop) where you'll be and get some local instruction/orientation. There will be so many differences from what you're used to, both in the sea itself and in procedures and equipment used. For example, have you ever used a DSMB?

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Again thanks for the reply..

I havent personaly used a DSMB but the whole time i was diving in Thailand with my instructor, he always used one, as there was so many dive boats at times at the surface.
I have a scubapro 5 mill wetsuit but i guess ill prob need a 7 mil semi dry here., i used a 5 mil semi dry at gibraltor and i was ok, but still abit chilly towards the end of the dive.
I understand that the diving will be alot different but theres so many intersting courses id like to do...also because im padi trained, does that mean i can still take BSAC courses. I dont want to convert from padi, so can i hold cards from both companies?

thanks

You can hold cards from both PADI and BSAC - I do - but to start with BSAC they'll need to decide what stage you enter at. Although I was a BSAC instructor I don't remember, though I do know it's been relaxed a lot in recent years - you'll no longer get the reaction that they don't recognise ANY PADI card and you'll have to start at the absolute beginning. But there's a lot more to BSAC training levels and expect to go over a lot of ground you thought was covered. Don't worry - it'll all make sense. I strongly recommend you join a club and don't just go with the new BSAC courses, as you'll learn more that way and make more new dive buddies.

You'll need to have your own DSMB (orange - I recommend the Buddy one that's inflated from a second stage) and a reel (again, I recommend the Buddy Pocket Reel). Don't get yellow as that's used for signalling emergencies.

However you start out, if you're intending doing much diving around there I strongly recommend a drysuit. I've often been out on boats from southern England with one or two divers on board with semidrys. They all did the first dive but I don't recall a single on who went on to do the second, as by then they had lost too much body heat. I have several, the best by far having been custom made by O3 at Weymouth.