Divemaster in London

[davidpfitz]

Howdy folks!

My wife has given me a gift of doing a PADI Divemaster course - she didn't book anywhere specific becasue she knew I'd want to choose.

However, I'm a bit lost as to where might be suitable.

I'm a busy man during the day, and my work schedule means I don't really know where I'm going to be for any stretch of time. So, I need something that's flexible.

I know a number of schools offer internship schemes, where they charge less but you work for them on the weekends assisting. I'd like to do the bare minumum here - I don't have the time, and frankly I do have the money ... I don't need to work off part of my tuition.

Lastly, a number of places I've looked into require ownership of a dry suit. I don't really fancy this, as I don't really dive in cold waters if I can avoid it so don't really want to own one myself.

I live in N1, London ... so anywhere vaguely central London is no bother to me.

Has anyone completed any courses with schools in London - would you recommend them?

Thanks,
D.

 

[billmosel]

Check out ocean devotion divers in Dartford. oceandevotiondiving.co.uk. They are very good.

 

[emoe1973]

Theres a good school that cater for everything including PADI tec-rec diving, and do a brilliant Divemaster. Its a touch further north on the A1 but its called HYDRO ACTIVE, based in stevenage, and they have their own classrooms, pool pub! yes their own pub! look them up on the net, theyre really good, and drysuit ownership isnt a requirement!

Besides, you can dive in the UK down to 5 degrees in a decent 7mm semidry. (i know i do it!)

 

[cog]

On a similar note, can anyone recommend anything more in central london? I've always been a bit of a holiday diver (don't like the cold!) but was thinking of getting involved in the UK - but I don't drive so need to find somewhere that's easy on public transport from central london.
thanks!

 

[johnohuk]

you could always get the train to Wraysbury lake, might be a bit cold but u can hire kit/find a buddy down there... they organise trips...

I think its on the Waterloo line...

Wraysbury Dive Centre - PADI 5*

or have u tried a bsac club nearby ? u might have to join BSAC but would certainly welcome u...

 

[sylpha]

[
or have u tried a bsac club nearby ? u might have to join BSAC but would certainly welcome u...[/QUOTE]

I would certainly recommend talking to the London clubs, I've met quite a few people who belong to various clubs up there & they seem lovely people. There seems to be a reluctance for PADI divers to approach BSAC, some kind of rumour that they will be looked down upon, I'm a BSAC diver & I wouldn't join a club which played those games - life's too short.

There are differences in qualifications mainly concerned with depths (possibly the translation between feet & meters). Some clubs ask the PADI diver to do a short cross over course to put everyone on an equal footing & avoid confusion, others ask them to monitor themselves and dive within the limits of their own training body. Each club is different, choose one where you think the people are more like you.

Don't let it put you off, we are all divers and you could be missing some great dives & some good buddies or even just some good nights in the pub talking about diving.

 

[cog]

Thanks guys - may just have to look into the bsac thing!!

 

[davidpfitz]

Thanks guys - may just have to look into the bsac thing!!

Hi Cog,

I originally posted this question some time ago, and although I never really got an answer here that helped all that much I ended up finding a great Master Instructor in London called Mike Hamilton - he runs an outfit called City Divers. Mike's really easy to learn under as he knows that your London types have plenty of time constraints, so I'n doing it at my pace. So far, I'm about half way through my D/M training with him and looking to finish it off in the next couple of months. We do the pool work in Covent Garden on weekend mornings, so it works perfectly for me.

I hope this helps - perhaps we'll meet up sometime training with Mike?

PS. Rather than chilling my ar*e off in some quarry in England, I'm going to head out to Sharm el Sheikh with Mike and other students (Open Water) for a long weekend to do that part of the course. If you, like me, have a bit of an aversion to diving in the UK then City Divers will be perfect for you.

D.