The Pros and Cons of starting to scuba dive in England Today (Diving in UK in general)

Member Name: matttt44

Product:	Diving in UK in general
Date:	30/01/02 (110 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun , Amazing experience, you have to do it at least once

Disadvantages: Expensive, can be a bit dangerous

If you have ever decided to join a specific and unusual sport, you'll know from experience that the people running it are always ready to help you and make you feel welcome. Well generally. Diving is certainly no exception. Before I started to dive in England I had undertaken a course with my buddy in malta and became a PADI open water diver. When I got home, I couldn’t wait to get back into the water. So I searched for a local dive club on the Internet through the PADI web site and within a week I was signed up and 3 metres down in a pool with my dive buddy.

The instructors of the club gave me loads of advice and made me feel very welcome. I have a friend who started diving in a different part of the country and he had the same experience. Friendliness and helpfulness. What I am trying to say here is that diving in the UK is something that everyone can get into. The instructors will go out of their way to help you. They will offer you advice and have a huge list of dive sites where you and your buddy and can discover a new world underwater.

The only downside that I can possibly see is the immense cost of buying equipment.Scuba diving and the costs evolved. Ok so say you have been toying with the idea for a while and thought maybe yeah I can o this, it might be fun. And yes you would be very right in saying so. But unfortunately there are huge costs evolved in doing so. When I first started diving in Malta these initial costs were almost undetectable, as all the gear that you needed was included into the training that I undertook. The course that I took to get me from nothing to a respectable open-water diver through the PADI organisation in 4 days and cost around £180 including kit hire and dives. Which you might think is reasonable and I would be inclined to agree with you as I did get a qualification out of it. But when I got back home to England I found that getting into diving was going to be a very expensive thing to do
. I found out a local club and before I could get into the water I had to sign up for the clubs years membership which cost £35 and then take out diving insurance which cost about the same again. Then I was advised to hire kit, as a full kit would cost me anything from about £1000 upwards! This was going to cost me £10 a week which I paid as and when I needed the kit. For hygiene’s sack I was recommended that I purchased my own mask, snorkel, fins and regulator! Ok they have a point here put this was going to cost me a lot of pennies. Masks cost anything from about £35 upto £100 and fins the same. Snorkels were luckily fairly cheap costing about £5 to £20 depending on what you wanted. The regulator though was going to cost me a fortune! The cheapest one that I found was £90 and to be honest I didn’t really want to buy something that was cheap because at the end of the day that think is going to keep you alive and so you don’t want it failing at all! So a moderately priced one would cost me about £200.

Ok so that’s the basics. Now you need a BCD which is an inflatable jacket to control you buoyancy in the water. These on average cost about £350. Then you need a wet suit for warm water which would cost you about £80 and then after that you would need a dry suit which could cost you about £400+. Then you need a spare regulator for your dive buddy to use in out of air emergencies which would cost you about £100. And I think that’s about it. So is diving really something you can afford to do eh. Good news for students at universities though. I have a friend who attends Uni. and she pays £30 a year and from that gets any kit she wants goes diving every week an also gets free training. I don’t know what Uni. she goes to but she gets a pretty good deal I can tell you.

There are also very serious dangers in scuba diving. Most accidents occur when people panic and rush upto the surface from depths without undertaking vi
tally important decompression (or safety) stops. Believe me this would most likely do you a lot of damage, and you are most likely to get decompression sickness from this. This only adds to the expense of diving as you really must take out insurance against such accidents. Being decompressed in a specialised chamber can cost anything upto £100,000. So the insurance is definitely a must have! But Its not all doom and gloom! It’s a great sport and everyone should have a go.

Dont get me wrong though, I think that scuba diving is brillient. And if you are 12 years or older in the Uk then give it a go. There are plenty of laces where you can go on a try dive. I think that even if you dont think its something that you want to do long term, you should still definitely give it a go. Theres a whole new world out there and we dont need rockets to get there! 70% of our lanet is covered by water and its just waiting to be explored. So if your still not convinced picture this. A silent world where everything is calm and free of people. A place where nature is allowed to take its course undisturbed. Just you and the fishes!


Remember that Scuba diving is definitely not just a warm water thing. There is technology around today that means you can stay warm in even the most extreme conditions. So go on take your PADI open water or equivalent today!!! This entry-level course is ideal for the holiday maker, enabling you to obtain your first full certification and qualification as a scuba diver. Or if you just want to try it out most scuba clubs offer a try dive or 1 days diving where you can get a taster of what its like. But I must warn you, if you try it I can guarantee you'll love it.

So explore the unexplored today, what are you waiting for!!

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