Progressing into planned deco dives

[Owen Wright]

Hi all,

I have a question, 2 questions really I spose, let me explain...

I am Sports Diver holding Combined / Advanced Nitrox SDC with over 70 dives, with about 30 dives below 25M and another half dozen or so below 30m. I have yet to use my Combined / Advanced Nitrox qual, as all diving so far has fallen within sports diver limits.

I am wanting to progress my diving into planned deco dives, however I can not find any members of my current club whos interests align with mine regards deco diving...

I know from experience with our club, we welcome divers from afar and are happy to take ppl out who are not members as long as they can provide current BSAC / PADI membership and can demonstrate that they are not rusty. When looking around for other clubs to join, Im finding that pretty much all clubs are not as welcoming as ours with regard to a "new face" turning up and joining in for a dive or 2 out on the boat. In fact Im struggling to find more than 2 local clubs who actually take the boat out diving at all :(

Is this the general concensus across clubs, or have i just been unlucky with my search so far. Im fully aware of clubs wanting to mininise risk wherever possible, Im not talking about clubs who say "Sure, turn up for a pool sess, or tag along on a shallow dive first", as this would make perfect sense of course. Im talking about clubs who simply seem to be uninterested in welcoming a potential new recruit along for a couple of dives to get a feel for the club.

Without naming clubs, Im in the Liverpool area and so far have found only 1 potential club who appear to be active and welcoming.

I guess my first question is :
Can anyone recommend any clubs around the liverpool area who boat dive regularly, maybe even through to November...?

The second question is Are there any divers out there looking for occasional buddies for the odd dive in the local pits such as Eccy or any reasonably easy access shore dives in Liverpool / Merseyside area.
Im determined to find a way of diving throughout the winter period and if possible not limiting myself to silty pools of water.

Cheers for reading :)

[Mike Halligan]

I am Sports Diver holding Combined / Advanced Nitrox SDC with over 70 dives, with about 30 dives below 25M and another half dozen or so below 30m. I have yet to use my Combined / Advanced Nitrox qual, as all diving so far has fallen within sports diver limits.

I am wanting to progress my diving into planned deco dives, however I can not find any members of my current club whos interests align with mine regards deco diving...

I know from experience with our club, we welcome divers from afar and are happy to take ppl out who are not members as long as they can provide current BSAC / PADI membership and can demonstrate that they are not rusty. When looking around for other clubs to join, Im finding that pretty much all clubs are not as welcoming as ours with regard to a "new face" turning up and joining in for a dive or 2 out on the boat. In fact Im struggling to find more than 2 local clubs who actually take the boat out diving at all :(

Is this the general concensus across clubs, or have i just been unlucky with my search so far. Im fully aware of clubs wanting to mininise risk wherever possible, Im not talking about clubs who say "Sure, turn up for a pool sess, or tag along on a shallow dive first", as this would make perfect sense of course. Im talking about clubs who simply seem to be uninterested in welcoming a potential new recruit along for a couple of dives to get a feel for the club.

Without naming clubs, Im in the Liverpool area and so far have found only 1 potential club who appear to be active and welcoming.

I guess my first question is :
Can anyone recommend any clubs around the liverpool area who boat dive regularly, maybe even through to November...?
We use our boats fairly regularly and we are diving at half-term (week after next)

The second question is Are there any divers out there looking for occasional buddies for the odd dive in the local pits such as Eccy or any reasonably easy access shore dives in Liverpool / Merseyside area.
We seem to fit that description, too.

Im determined to find a way of diving throughout the winter period and if possible not limiting myself to silty pools of water.

Cheers for reading :)
Looks good to me.

[PeteM]

HI am wanting to progress my diving into planned deco dives,

As you are a sports diver and nitrox qualified a more sensible route would be to start using nitrox to extended your bottom time. Saves all that hanging around on the end of a bit of string and is generally considered a safer option than compulsory deco

[MikeTickle]

I guess my first question is :
Can anyone recommend any clubs around the liverpool area who boat dive regularly, maybe even through to November...?


Not a close fit, but I've dived with the folks from Chester SAC who are not too far from you. They are a good bunch of folk and very welcoming. I think you can only dive with them as a guest so many times a year before needing to join.
They do a lot of diving in North Wales - in fact one of their members has published a couple of dive guides for that area

Some clubs are very welcoming - my buddy and I aborted a dive in Lulworth Cove which was our fall back after the charter boat we were on canned the days diving. When packing up with bumped in to some other divers who turned out to be BSAC divers from Lulworth & Winfrith Sub Aqua Club. They invited us out on their RIB for a cracking drift dive - even though they had to wait for us to get our kit back together and suits back on.

Cheers

Mike

[Owen Wright]

Thanks Mike,

You are dead right. Some clubs are really warm and welcoming but sadly even within BSAC this is sometimes limited to "The Hard Sell" where they are more than willing to take your money for annual membership, but are completely unwilling for you to dive with them first to get a feel for how they work together. I have experienced this first hand with a local club to myself. I wont name and shame publicly tho...

Happily tho I have had some really positive contacts with several other clubs up here and am now just waiting for my stupidly busy schedule to allow me to make it up to Southport BSAC, thanks to the many emails and invites from Mike Halligan. Having visited the club they seem to train regularly and are friendly enough not to scare me off :D

All i need to do now is get my act together and make it up there for some pool stuff and meet the rest of the club, maybe even indulge in a pint afterwards with them :-o

Merry Crimbo to you all :)