New Zealand BSAC Club?

[force]

Hey there! I may be moving Hamilton in New Zealand next year. Are there any BSAC clubs there? I've checked on the internet and searched this forum and havn't found anything... maybe there are none? Please help :confused:

[Adrian Kelland]

This list (http://www.bsac.org/branches/row.htm) doesn't show any either.

Adrian

[JamesW]

Hi I know of a BSAC diver when he left the army he was a dive leader and he has been there in NZ for 13/14 years now and he still dives
Thanks

[force]

Hi Adrian, I had a look at that list earlier and couldn't find any either >_<

James, do you know if he dives in a club? I'm much more used to a club setting rather than paying a commercial organisation that just wants my money >_< (then again I've had no experience with them lol)

[JamesW]

I will have a look for his email address
Thanks

[JamesW]

Have a look at these clubs

http://www.aquanaut.com/clubs/index.html

Thanks

[Mike Halligan]

Have a look here. http://divenewzealand.com/operators.asp?sid=dive_clubs

No knowledge of any listed under Mid North Island, but I do know Auckland City Dive Club, which is fantastic. Hope this helps,

Mike

[force]

Thanks James. They weren't bsac but they were clubs so I'm not complaining :)

[force]

Thanks Mike. I'll check em out :)

[Adrian Kelland]

Thanks Mike. I'll check em out :)
You could always try to start one :)

[JamesW]

I think there are CMAS clubs and what Adrian said start your own its easy to do.
Thanks

[force]

Thanks for the help everyone. The schools there have diving clubs from what I've heard so I'll probably check that out too.

Thanks :)

[sfre033]

Just registered when I saw this thread...

My friends and I have been running a club here in Auckland, New Zealand for 3 years or so now. We are the Auckland University dive club, and run things cheap and cheerfully, remaining completely non-profit. We usually manage to run trips at around 50% of retail, mainly due to the profiteering nature of the diving industry in NZ. Basically, we were a bunch of students with a penchant for getting cold/wet/narked and we have continued the club after we graduated a couple of years ago. The club's still run for the university, so most of our 160 or so members are local or exchange students keen for some dives around places like the Poor Knights, although there are more exciting places to dive around here. Check out our website www.akunidive.com (somewhat out of date..) and ask us any questions if you don't mind diving with a bunch of 20~30something-year-olds...

[force]

Thanks so much for that! I'll definetly get in touch when I'm over there :) I usually dive with 20-30 yr olds so no problem there lol

[sfre033]

Oh yeah and I forgot to mention some of us like deeeep diving (although helium is too expensive around here so not that deep).. We'd love to hear from some BSAC divers in NZ who are into this type of thing.

[Stu Cannon]

Hi there,

As far as I'm aware there are no clubs in New Zealand. We have had a few people ask for branch formation packs but nothing has happened. I'll go through my old paperwork and try to locate details.

Cheers

Stu

[Mike Halligan]

Hi there,

As far as I'm aware there are no clubs in New Zealand. We have had a few people ask for branch formation packs but nothing has happened. I'll go through my old paperwork and try to locate details.

Cheers

Stu

Stu,

I believe that you're both right in sentiment and wrong in fact. There are probably no BSAC branches in NZ. At least, I neither saw nor heard evidence of one whilst speaking to divers and operators across the country. However, there are clubs everywhere. Members-unincorporated associations still thrive. For example, the RSA (equivalent to Royal British Legion), rugby, cricket, swimming and (game) fishing clubs cover the country like a rash.

Amongst the NZ diving population, there seem to be almost as many BSAC-trained Kiwis as there are BSAC-trained Poms and just as many clubs as here. In a country influenced by Japan heavily then US, Aussie and Pom roughly equally, affiliations are loose where they exist at all, but there are most certainly scuba diving clubs.

BSAC's influence in NZ waned rapidly from 1972, when UK politicians (of all parties) decided to join the EU and failed to support Commonwealth preference. It died around the time of the "Let's model ourselves on and compete with PADI" debacle. When you're over 12,000 miles from HQ and there's all that bickering, it must seem unrealistic to stay in touch - a bit like "What did the Romans ever do for us?", I guess.

Never mind, eh, the quality of the diving is unaffected.

Mike

[Chris aka divingchef]

HI

The guy who taught me is a BSAC instructor and last I heard he emigrated to NZ, dont know if anybody knows of Pete Frost ex owner of Barracuda, Notts.
Hed be a good contact.
Good luck