Learn to dive

If you’ve never dived before come and have a go!

No experience or equipment is necessary – just let one of our qualified instructors take you on the start of your underwater journey…

Warning: your life may never be the same again!

What is your availability and how do I book?

We do a try dive evening once per month. To enquire, please email Nathan, our Training Officer, on [email protected] to find out more.

I’m not a strong swimmer and/or not physically fit – does that matter?
These things help but are not required. The only thing you need is to feel comfortable in the water.

Do you do try dives for kids?

Yes – our minimum age is 10 years.

All our instructors have a current enhanced DBS check, but we do request that a parent or guardian is poolside to supervise the session.

What do I need to bring?

• Swimwear
• A towel
• Something to wear on top to stop the equipment from chafing. A shortie wetsuit is ideal but an old T-shirt would do just fine
• A small padlock for the lockers (or you can leave your bag in our clubroom)

A big smile is also recommended – but we can provide this!

Where is your clubroom?

Please refer to our Find us page.

When should I arrive and how long does it last?

We suggest you arrive between 8 and 8:15 – though you’re very welcome to come any time from 7 if you wish.

After you’ve showered, dried and changed it will probably be 10:15 or so. You are then welcome, if you wish, to join the club members in a local pub to share your experience and talk about diving.

What should I expect from the session?

Your instructor will greet you and get to know you a bit. You will choose and set up the equipment together and then take it to the poolside. You can then change and have a briefing about how to use the equipment – but don’t worry the instructor will be with you to help you every step of the way both above and below the water.

You will start nice and easy, gradually get used to the sensation of using the breathing apparatus out of the water and then floating on the top, until the point when you are comfortable enough to have your first few breaths under the water.

You are then off on your first ever dive!

We have the pool for an hour and your instructor will try to use this to give you a fun and rewarding experience.

After the pool session we debrief, dissemble the equipment, shower and change.

Hopefully you enjoyed your dive and consider doing a beginners’ course.

My friend/partner would like to do it as well – could we do it together?

Yes of course – just let us know and we’ll book you both in for the same night.

We’ll give each of you your own instructor just to make sure that you are both safe and happy in the water.

The start of the journey!

Our beginners’ course provides the essential knowledge and skills needed to prepare for open water diving in the UK.

Theory lessons and swimming pool lessons build the skills required for a series of sheltered water training dives where we gradually build experience, confidence and depth progression to a maximum depth of 20m. More detail on what is included in this course is provided on the BSAC website (here).

What will I be able to do when I’m qualified?

• Dive anywhere in the world on the vast majority of commercially advertised itineraries with your internationally recognised qualification
• Dive on nearly all our club trips (only a couple each year are for Sports Divers and above)
• Dive to a maximum depth of 20 meters
• Dive in a dry suit
• Dive breathing Nitrox as a way of improving safety margins
• Basic rescue skills
• Dive in buddy pairs without needing a dive guide in the water

How long does the course take?

It depends on the student – we go at your pace and we don’t progress faster than your own comfort and confidence. We typically start in the Autumn and qualify students before Easter so they are ready for the start of the UK dive season.

Why should I do this rather than e.g. PADI Open Water?

PADI OW only qualifies you to dive to to 18m and doesn’t include dry suit, nitrox or rescue skills – which you have to pay a lot extra for. You don’t even get these if you do PADI Advanced Open Water – which, despite being their second level qualification, is in many ways a lesser qualification than BSAC Ocean Diver.

In addition PADI courses are run on a fixed timetable which means many students find themselves rushed through the syllabus and qualified before they have developed confidence in the skills they are learning. That’s because PADI want your money while we want a new friend and club member who can be our buddy when we go diving.

If you already have a level 1 diving qualification such as Ocean Diver, PADI Open Water or PADI Advanced Open Water then the BSAC Sports Diver course is for you!

This will extend your knowledge to give you all the skills you need for independent UK and worldwide diving. More detail is provided on the BSAC website (here).

If you’ve never dived in the UK before this course will also provide you with a dry-suit diving qualification and experience.

What will I be able to do when I’m qualified?

• Dive on any commercially advertised dive holiday – and expect to be one of the most competent and highly qualified divers on the boat!
• Go on any club trip
• Dive to a max depth of 40m
• Plan and conduct dives requiring decompression stops
• Use all the toys needed for UK diving such as SMBs, DSMBs, distance lines, compasses
• Use nitrox to extend maximum dive times
• More advanced rescue and life saving skills
• Get more involved with the management of diving on club trips by assisting the dive manager
• Start the technical training programme if you want to dive with twinsets, rebreathers etc
• Start the instructor training programme if you want to introduce the next generation to our sport

How long does the course take?

In addition to the theory and practical sessions the course requires a build up of diving experience in a range of conditions. As with Ocean Diver we don’t move faster than the student’s confidence and ability level is developing. Keen and able students can get through it all in 4 months or so, but some students need longer.

Already an experienced and competent diver? What’s next?

How about pushing yourself to become highly competent diver above and below water and a highly valued and respected club member?

As a BSAC Dive Leader all the doors are unlocked and the sky is the limit!

More information is provided on the BSAC website (here).

What will I be able to do when I’m qualified?

• Plan and run club dive trips to any of our familiar destinations (which for our club is pretty much anywhere!)
• Advanced personal diving skills including using lift bags and doing mid-water DSMB deployments
• Advanced rescue and life saving skills including coordinating and managing rescue efforts
• Able to lead any diver on a dive – including unqualified divers (so long as they are within their previous experience)
• Able to extend the experience of less qualified divers by leading them on new types of dives
• Become an Open Water Instructor
• Move on to more advanced technical training

How long does the course take?

Dive Leader requires a high level of personal commitment and motivation to complete. While it is technically possible to complete the course within a year, 2 years would be a very good effort and some students take significantly longer. There is no upper limit! It’s a lot to take on and anyone successfully completing can be truly proud of their achievement.

Want to join the elite few who make it to the top level of club diving?

Want to do super-adventurous diving and organise challenging diving expeditions that will extend yourself and other club members?

Almost nobody gets this far… can you?

More information is included on the BSAC website (here).

What will I be able to do when I’m qualified?

• Plan diving expeditions to unknown and unfamiliar places taking into account all the associated logistics and risk management.
• Plan and conduct a wide range of advanced diving including decompression trapezes, search-and-recovery dives and much more
• More advanced seamanship, chartwork and position fixing
• Become a BSAC Advanced Instructor
• Start thinking about the ultimate… First Class Diver

How long does the course take?

This course is much less about formal lessons and more about the structured broadening of experience. Developing good judgement and a high level of organisation and leadership qualities takes time – as of course does building experience by running lots of dive trips and logging lots of dives in a broad range of conditions. Typically students get there in around 3-4 years, but there is no upper limit.

We can offer most of BSAC’s skills development courses within the branch including:

Accelerated Decompression Procedures, Boat Handling, Buoyancy and Trim, Chartwork and Position Fixing, Dive Planning and Management, Dry suit, First Aid for Divers, Lifesaver (+Advanced), Marine Life Appreciation, Nitrox, O2 Administration, Primary Donate, Practical Rescue Management, Search and Recovery, Sidemount, Twinset, Underwater Photography, Underwater Surveyor, Wreck Appreciation, Wreck Diver (+Advanced).

Courses are run as and when members request them assuming there is sufficient uptake and instructor availability. Please enquire for pricing and availability.

Not dived for a while? Going on a dive trip soon? Why not get your skills back up to scratch with one of our refreshers?

What skills do you cover?

We can cover any skills you like based on your current qualification. If there’s something you’d particularly like to work on just let us know and we’ll tailor the session to you.

A standard refresher for a diver with an entry level qualification would cover the following:

• Time before the session to go over any theory requested by the student
• Assemble kit
• Pre-dive equipment check
• Buddy check
• Buddy communication and signals
• Deep water entry
• Snorkel and regulator exchange
• Safe descent procedure
• Proper weighting
• Neutral buoyancy (hovering)
• Finning technique (scissor kick and frog kick)
• Remove and replace mask
• Dealing with a free-flowing regulator
• Switching between regulators
• Regulator recovery
• Alternate air source ascent
• Quick release weights
• Safe ascent method
• Remove equipment in the water (deep water exit)
• Dissemble kit

How much does it cost?

Free for members or please see our fees section below for the latest prices.

What is your availability and how do I book?

We can do a refresher on most Tuesday evenings. To enquire, please email Nathan, our Training Officer, on [email protected] to find out more.

What do I need to bring?

• Swimwear
• A towel
• Something to wear on top to stop the equipment from chafing. A shortie wetsuit is ideal but an old T-shirt would do just fine
• A small padlock for the lockers (or you can leave your bag in our clubroom)

If you have any of your own equipment that you’d like to test in the pool then do bring it along. You don’t need to bring any equipment though – we can provide everything.

Where is your clubroom?

Please go to the Find us page.

When should I arrive and how long does it last?

We suggest you arrive between 8 and 8:15, but you’re very welcome to join us any time from 7.

After you’ve showered, dried and changed it will probably be 10:15 or so. You are then welcome, if you wish, to join the club members in a local pub to share your experience and talk about diving.

Do you issue PADI refresher certificates/stamps

No – as we aren’t a PADI centre, we’re a BSAC club.

We have a club stamp which we’re happy to apply to your logbook and we can issue an unofficial certificate if you like.

While we thoroughly recommend refreshing skills before diving, you won’t actually need to show any evidence of having done a refresher to go on a dive holiday. They’ll just ask you how many dives you’ve done and the date of your most recent dive. I’ve dived all over the world and I’ve literally never had anyone ask to see my logbook.

Membership Benefits

Our membership fees are different from other organisations as we are a club run by the members, for the members, on a not-for-profit basis. We charge members an annual fee which gives you:

• BSAC & club membership.
• Free use of the pool on Tuesday nights including free use of all our kit and air
• A variety of training from our experienced and qualified instructors most of which is run free or at a loss by the club
• Ability to book onto our club dive trips
• A monthly national magazine “Scuba” posted to your home address.
• Third party dive insurance.
• Access to a variety of dive experts and instructors across the whole of BSAC

2025 Fees

Full Year Membership Fees

You need to be both a BSAC member and a member of our branch. A BSAC member can be a member of multiple branches.

BSAC membership:
Latest fees for club membership (ignore the “Direct” fees) are on the BSAC website here. For the year commencing 1st March 2025 these are:
Full – £68.50
Junior / Student – £37
Joint – £59.50 (living in the same house as a full member and sharing a copy of the magazine)
NB BSAC offer £10 off your first year if you pay by (or switch to) direct debit. There are also discounts for OWIs (and above) and for ADs (and above).

Branch membership:
Full – £191
Junior – £97.50
Student – £1 (Only for already-qualified BSAC divers who are undergrad students or on their first year out of university)

Training Fees For Members

These prices incl all theory, pool and open water training and free use of club equipment throughout (including in open water). They don’t include the cost of the BSAC training pack (as students buy this directly from BSAC).

There is no set course schedule – we will go at your pace! We move only when you are confident and competent in a skill.

Refreshers: Free for members
Ocean Diver: £267.80
Sports Diver: £208.00
Dive Leader: £18.80
Advanced Diver: free

NB – in all cases you have to be a current BSAC member and a current branch member
NB – in all cases you need to also buy a BSAC training pack. These can be bought directly from BSAC (or we can do it for you). They generally cost £40.50. Speak to the training officer before buying a pack to check on course availability.

Training Fees For Non-members

Try dive – adult: £40
Try dive – under 18: £20
Refreshers: £70

The above fees are all half price for Westminster residents.
They are also 100% refundable if you join straight away, and 50% refundable if you join within a year. But please be aware that we only run beginners’ course once per year starting the Autumn.