ilovescubadiving.co.uk

Blue Lagoon Diving & Leisure Dive Site Review

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:04:12 +0000

I recently went up to Blue Lagoon (Darrington) to practice some Rescue Diver Skills. The place is really easy to find and you can see from entering that it is a popular place to visit.
It costs £10 per day and an additional £5 membership – you get your picture taken and a fancy card (you have been warned).
There are a couple of training platforms along with 2 boat wrecks, a howitzer field gun, sabre light tank and a hawker hunter jet plane in addition to the possible sighting of some aquatic friends such as sterlets, roach, tench, carp, newts, frogs, toads and the new addition of sturgeon.
The water was warm enough when there (13degrees) but due to it being an old limestone quarry, it get’s pretty murky, pretty quickly!
There were quite a number of people training when I was there, which when doing surface rescue skills almost got us into trouble a few times as people were finning underneath us!
It’s a nice dive site, which is going through loads of improvements to the roadways and with creating a new ‘beach’ – It’s super near to home, so I’ll be visiting again for sure!

Shop Of The Week – 6 Fathoms

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 18:15:05 +0000

This week I have chosen the lovely peeps at 6 Fathoms DiveWear to be shop of the week. I love their gear! Although they are small at the moment, they are one to watch! They produce hard wearing, high quality scuba clothing and accessories. They also support SharkTrust (a worth cause)

I am big time digging their hoodies – perfect after a dive in less than tropical waters!

TUSA Visio Tri-Ex Max Review

admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 11:09:46 +0000

I purchased the TUSA Visio Tri-Ex mask some time ago now, in the flourescent yellow of course. Until recently I have only used it on pool dives and it’s been a great companion in the water. It does exactly what it says on the tin. It has a great field of vision, nothing gets in your way at all. It’s brilliant in that respect. It’s also really comfortable, not too heavy so you almost feel like it isn’t really there. It’s also fab for doing skills in as it’s dead easy to get on and off your head along with some easy places to put your fingers for clearing.
TUSA have spent some time on this mask ensuring it has a superb field of vision, which when diving is kind of important for enjoyment and safety. They have totally eliminated the inner frame that usually you find on a mask blocking the field of vision. They also came up with a super slim frame, again for excellent vision but to also make it nice and lightweight.

There is one problem though, and actually it’s a fairly substantial problem… The nose part is sunk quite far back so as soon as you add in your gloves on a colder water dive – you can’t equalise without some struggling. I have worked out the technique now, and thats to grab my nose from my lips rather than straight on. But still – I would have thought TUSA would have tested this out!

That being said, for those who only dive in the pool or warmer waters (and I know there are a fair few of you) It’s the perfect mask! I bought it as part of a package from Simply Scuba, and for that, it’s really worth while and a cheaper alternative. It’s a decent price – check it out here.

Capernwray Dive Site Review

admin — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:08:05 +0000

I’ve been lucky enough to dive Capernwray a few times now. It’s set in the gorgeous countryside of Lancashire, just off the M6 (near Morecambe) on the edge of the Lake District. A re-claimed quarry, capers has been open to divers since 1995, and is a popular spot for experienced divers along with trainee’s.
The site itself gets pretty busy at the weekends, so it’s well worth setting off early to get a decent spot in the car park!
Apart from the massive fish, there are a number of sites to see including sunken helicopters, boats, horses and even a ‘gnome garden’ making any of the dives you do full of things to look at apart from the floor of the quarry!
The site boasts a a range of changing and showering facilities along with a club house and shop for a warm cup of tea after the dives!
The website http://www.dive-site.co.uk/ has all the up to date information you need on water temperature and visibility, so it’s well worth checking it before you set off to get a feel for what gear you’ll need! They also provide a handy map of the dive site with descriptions of some of the key things you’ll see. (Watch out for Thunderbird 4)

Photo thanks to Tim from DiveNut

The New Site Is Live!

admin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:39:14 +0000

Just a quick note to say how pleased I am that the new site is now up and running. It still has a few bugs here and there that me and the team are trying to iron out – but I think you’ll agree it’s looking great!

I’ll be adding more product reviews and dive site reviews over the coming weeks and months, but if you have anything you’d like to see added in – just shout!

E.F.R Instructor Course – Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire

admin2 — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 13:36:37 +0000

If you are looking to increase your first aid skills or want to show others how to potentially save lives, then the E.F.R Instructor course is a must attend!

View more details here = E.F.R Instructor Course Details

The New Simply Scuba Store

admin2 — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:47:21 +0000

Simply Scuba aims to keep continue improving its offering to both its new and loyal customers in 2012 by staying in touch with the latest technological innovations and improving on its already exceptional customer service. In late September last year, Simply Scuba launched their new website. It appears that the site has gone down well in the dive community and ongoing enhancements are always being made to ensure that the best possible customer experience is always achieved.

The new site has led to increased engagement with our fans and we are pleased to announce that profits were up at the end of 2011. The new site is complimented by Simply Scuba’s smart phone apps (with the iphone app featuring in Diver magazine) and a fully optimised mobile site which allows you to order everything you need while you’re on the move and have the items delivered to your door, you can use Paypal saving you the inconvenience of using your credit card whilst out and about.

As well as keeping up to date with the technology, Simply Scuba has also added to its already buzzing online community by adding some intimacy through the use of social networks. Our Facebook fan page, twitter, blog and now Google plus pages are really adding another dimension to the business, keeping loyal fans engaged and rewarding their support with great discount deals, competitions and up to date industry news.

To round off another good year for Simply Scuba, we’re pleased to announce the opening of our new dive shop, located in Faversham, Kent. The new store has been popular with local diverswith a wide range of equipment on display. If you can’t find what you’re looking for in store, we have a whole warehouse full of equipment to choose from, simply use the touch screen terminals or ask our friendly staff who are more than happy to help.

Dive School Review – EmKa Divers – Sharm El Sheikh & Dahab, South Sinai, Egypt

admin2 — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:23:36 +0000

Tell Us About The Company And The Staff
EmKa Divers was established early 2011 by a group of Experienced PADI Diving Instructors with more than 20 years of experience aiming to gather all our efforts and experiences to provide the best quality of diving services with best prices.
Our mission is to fulfill the market needs by providing our services with the best quality to promote new professional divers to the field of diving.
We cover all diving sites in Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab and Sinai Protected Areas (Ras Mohamed, Nabq, Ras Abu Galum).
Three languages are spoken to satisfy the needs/requirements of our customers and to make communication easier.
Languages spoken are Arabic, English and French.

What Diving Qualifications Do You Teach?
1.PADI Diving Courses
•Scuba Diver Course
•Open Water Diver Course
•Advanced Open Water Diver Course
•Emergency First Response
•Rescue Diver Course
•Dive master Course

2.PADI Diving Courses to become professional
•This is a package of courses from Open Water Diver Course till Dive master Course in 1 Month. The Course prepares you to become a professional Diver able to work in the diving field in 30 days.

3.Diving Programs
•Bubblemaker for Children
•Check Dives
•Discover Scuba Diving
•Guided Dives
•Introduction Dives
•Night Diving
•Scuba Review

4. Diving Safari Trips
•Boat Safari
•Camel Diving Safari

Favourite Diving Spot In The World
South Sinai, including Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab and Sinai Protected Areas (Ras Mohamed, Nabq, Ras Abu Galum), Marsa Alam

Contact
Emilia Shehata
Location: Sharm El Sheikh & Dahab, South Sinai, Egypt
Mobile: +2 0100 431 5475
E-mail: info@emkadivers.com
Skype: emka.divers
Twitter: @EmKaDivers
YouTube: EmKadivers
Website: www.emkadivers.com

Dive School Review – Sussex Scuba – East Grinstead – Sussex

admin2 — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 18:17:23 +0000

Tell us about the company and the staff
Sussex Scuba is run by Derek and Denise Lancaster who are both PADI Staff instructors. We are both very passionate about diving in general and we are particularly passionate when it comes to teaching people to dive, and teaching people to enjoy safe diving. Our philosophy is that we want to provide our students with a very high standard of teaching that will provide them with a high level of skill and confidence. Best of all we try hard to ensure they enjoy the course. All our class sizes are kept small with most Open Water courses split into groups of 4. Each group will have an instructor and a minimum of one assistant – We do not run the school as a “production line”. All of our staff are committed to our philosophy and everyone is prepared to go “the extra mile” to ensure a student’s success. We won’t give up on a student who is having problems.

Because of our approach to teaching children (away from adults with all lessons be broken down into smaller digestible chunks) we seem to teach many family groups. Denise also enjoys teaching kids Project Aware and is committed to trying to get as many children involved in learning about the ocean as possible. The school also tries to help with the environment and one of the things we do is to carry out a beach clean up every year for Project Aware.

What diving Qualifications do you teach?
We teach the full range of PADI courses from bubble maker to instructor level, along with specialties in:
Deep
Navigation
Wreck
Search and recovery
Night
DPV
Drift Diver
Peak Performance
Project aware
Multilevel Diver
Digital photography
Dry suit
Enriched Air
Gas Blender

In addition we teach all the EFR courses including the HSE First Aid at Work, and instructor level courses.
We also offer the full range of DAN Courses i.e.
Oxygen Provider
Advanced Oxygen Provider
Hazardous Marine Life Injuries
AED

Favourite Diving Spot in the World
Denise – my favourite place overseas has to be “muck diving” in Lembah straits. I will never forget dropping down into the water seeing a barren looking black bottom gradually revealing the most amazing creatures imaginable – many do not exist anywhere else in the world!!! What a sight and what a privilege. For the UK it has to Pembrokeshire. This area includes almost everything that can be seen on all the rest of the dive sites in the UK – wrecks, colourful reefs, extensive and varied fish life, and best of all playful seals.

Funniest Dive Moment
I suppose it has be when one of our dive master’s was forced to “relieve himself” whilst in a dry suit!!! That in itself was just unfortunate – the stupidity came when he confided in Derek!! Within seconds all the staff knew and he has never lived it down.

Favourite Dive Gear
Denise – my VT3 computer I love it.

Derek his metal sub torch, he won’t go without it on a UK dive.

In summary we are a very busy, dive school and club offering high quality training across the entire range of courses. As well as an excellent school and fully stocked dive shop, we also run an active and thriving dive club that arranges several UK and Overseas dive trips a year as well as monthly hard boat and RIB dives.
If you would like to learn more about us please look at our website www.sussexscuba.co.uk or give us a call on 01342 312622.

Contact

Sussex Scuba at Mike’s Waterfront Warehouse

122, Queens Road,
East Grinstead,
West Sussex.
RH19 1BD
Tel: 01342 312622
Ask For Denise or Derek
email: info@sussexscuba.co.uk

Dive School Review – Scuba Adventures – Brentwood, Essex

admin2 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:20:31 +0000

At Scuba Adventures we are committed to offer to you the best scuba diving education available, and to advise you in a friendly relaxed environment.

Scuba Adventures was founded by our two PADI Instructors Bob & Gill Botwright about 12 years ago and is Essex based.
Bob & Gill have more than 18 years of experience and the qualifications to take you from your first breath underwater to your training as a professional scuba diver.
Our instructors are patient and friendly and work with an experienced team of divers to make your learning experience fun and enjoyable.

Scuba Adventures is a Scuba Diving School not a retail outlet we concentrate on teaching scuba diving to PADI’s exacting standards at all levels.

I asked the owner to tell me a little more about the company;

Tell Us About The Company And The Staff
1. Scuba Adventures has been around now since 1999. Two experienced instructors. 1 male,
1 female, teaching scuba since 1991. 2 part time Divemasters. 1 TDM.

What Diving Qualifications Do You Teach
2. Teach all Padi courses from DSD to Instructor plus 22 Specialties. IANTD Advanced Nitrox Instructor +
DAN O2 1st Aid Instructor.

Favourite Diving Spot In The World
3. Solomon Islands & Truk Lagoon.

Funniest Diving Moment
4. Backward roll off the boat without fins in front of students who kindly threw them at me…….
Telling students to replace snorkel with reg………… then finding at three metres……..

Favourite Piece Of Dive Gear
5. Dive computer/Sea Marshall SOS AU unit.

Contact
BOB and GILL BOTWRIGHT SCUBA ADVENTURES
We are conveniently based in
Brentwood Essex
to cover the whole of South Essex
Please contact us by phone
or email to bobbotwright@aol.com
01277 823581

If you know the guys at Scuba Adventures why not post a comment and tell us all how great they are?