unapalomablanca Posted March 2, 2013 Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 I got my padi back in 2000. I learnt in wraysbury lake in staines. I was really into it for a while and did some cornish dives and some diving in majorca. I havent been for over 10 years. I tell you what put me off, every time i wanted to dive i was constantly being 'sold' the next qualification. I was being sold, the deep dive. the navigation dive blah blah blah. I only ever wanted to dive in the ******* sea, swim and relax and look at fish etc. Whenever i was buddied up with someone i always ended up having to help them with their next qualification. The hard sell done me head in the end and i packed it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
955i Posted March 2, 2013 Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 Did mine around the same time. Went on to do Adventure, Navigation and Advanced Open Water. Used to love it but kit is just too expensive for the amount I would use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDAV Posted March 2, 2013 Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 Go to sharm mate just take a mask and flippers...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artschool Posted March 2, 2013 Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 did padi open water diver, been diving in africa, australia & a few other places. never experienced the hard sell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalconFN Posted March 2, 2013 Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 I did PADI open water when I was working in the Caribbean in 1996 and had some great dives but I always preferred the freedom of a snorkel and fins. I did enquire about local dives in the English Channel when I got home but the dive centre was full of self righteous plonkers, and it was way too cold so I've not dived since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footu Posted March 2, 2013 Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 Qualified 20 years ago to advanced level. Never did another course but lots of fun dives. Seen loads of badge collectors but it don't mean anything, as with all sport the more you do the better you get. I just dive on hols. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
officerdibble777 Posted March 2, 2013 Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 BSAC for my diving,done everything upto and including dive leader.Averaged 120 dives a year but after loosing a leg I packed in .Best diving I ever done was Scapa flow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Mongrel- Posted March 2, 2013 Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 BSAC for british diving for sure, but PADI is more widely/easily accepted abroad. I too trained to dive leader and did both British and warm water diving. I used to find that warm water got a bit 'samey' and boring after a few days, maybe I just needed the challenge of cold, murky water and strong currents!!! Never did make Scapa although it was on the list, I was actually working towards the dive depths required (60 metres) and did plenty of 40 metre plus channel diving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brown Sauce Posted March 2, 2013 Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 Three divers sat on a boat, one bsac, one naui and one padi. Suddenly the boat runs into trouble and starts to take on water and sink!! The bsac diver turns to the others, right lets suit up, perform buddy checks, drop in and fin to the nearest island, maintaining regular navigational checks. The naui diver takes his turn, ok after suiting up, let's drop down to 5 meters, get below the swell, fin to the nearest island and maintain regular navigational check. Finally the padi diver put his oar, right then lets wait 5 mins, pay £50 squid and we've ourselves a wreck dive. Boom boom. Think you'll be fine if you go back to it, most companies will make everybody undertake an orientation dive before unleashing you on local shipping. I'd say BSAC is probably your best bet, if you don't fancy badge collecting. Oh and my PADI cards stamped, open, advanced, deep, wreck, rescue, medic first aid and nitrox, etc etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marine1980 Posted March 2, 2013 Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 (edited) PADI = pay in advance die immediately! If you want to dive at a reasonable price as well as joining a club for the social side BSAC is defo the way ahead. PADI are good if you dive once a year on holiday as they will take inexperienced novices in the water for a stupidly expensive fee. BSAC on the other hand are a lot more thorough but it does take longer to learn and get in the water with them but its a year cost which is fair and most clubs organise a couple of dives a week. Royal Edited March 2, 2013 by Marine1980 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vipa Posted March 2, 2013 Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 Tast's the difference between a commercial operation and a club though... PADI want you to buy more as that is the whole purpose of their existence.. I've got Rescue Diver.. With BSAC, it is a club and so it is up to the individual with no pressuer... the big problem with that is time.. I started with BSAC many years ago and spent 2 years as a novice diver because my schedule didn't fit around others who would be training me...with PADI... you pays your money and does your courses so time wise much more efficient.. As for which is best.... they are both as good as each other... BSAC divers look down their noses at PADI mainly because of the 'apparent' short time to qualification but in reality, it is the BSAC syetem that takes too long... not the other way round! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Bb Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 PADI always used to be referred to as Put Another Dollar In. I did BSAC, accepted all over Europe & my card showed an internarional qualification (CMAS?). Trained in the cold, dark waters of UK, dived for pleasure only in warm, clear waters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROY Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 I am padi advanced open wanter with nitrox and a few others have been desperate to find a decent club was thinking of joining bsac but most of my local clubs seem just to want to do deep tec stuff. Mainly dive on holiday but when i qualified my dad had a couple of boats so bought all the uk kit which mainly sits in me garage gathering dust since me dad died. If any of you guys fancy it i would love to get back in the uk waters. Theres a couple of companies that do some reasonable shallow dives. http://www.mutiny-diving.com/ http://www.mulberrydivers.co.uk/ Maybe we could have a meet up for a jump in a lake i am sure some of the more experienced / qualified divers would be happy to help some of us less experienced out. I also have a mate who is an instructor and i am sure he would be happy to do the scuba review with a small group for a reasonable cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deker Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 Tast's the difference between a commercial operation and a club though... PADI want you to buy more as that is the whole purpose of their existence.. I've got Rescue Diver.. With BSAC, it is a club and so it is up to the individual with no pressuer... the big problem with that is time.. I started with BSAC many years ago and spent 2 years as a novice diver because my schedule didn't fit around others who would be training me...with PADI... you pays your money and does your courses so time wise much more efficient.. As for which is best.... they are both as good as each other... BSAC divers look down their noses at PADI mainly because of the 'apparent' short time to qualification but in reality, it is the BSAC syetem that takes too long... not the other way round! That's my experience with BSAC too, I joined a local club (already had PADI but it was a BSAC club), started the training with them but had so many cancellations off them that my years membership was up before I'd got a qualification, they wanted another years membership to off me before I could complete the training! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Mongrel- Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 (edited) On the flip side, the BSAC clubs tend to organise diving which is generally pretty cheap, if PADI do the same thay are always having to add on their costs. If you have the time, pick your club carefully and do the training with BSAC. In my opinion you will end up a more rounded diver and have a decent circle of diving buddies with the opportunities that and being in a club brings. You can take as long as you need over the training and not be under pressure to qualify or pay again. If you are in a hurry, or only really do resort diving, PADI all the way. I will add that I was diving with Bromley BSAC (Branch 26) and quailified as the equivalent of the current Ocean Diver easily within the year. I was also diving every weekend with the club through the summer. Edited March 3, 2013 by -Mongrel- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Essex Hunter Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 Did all the above… Became an instructor and worked in Egypt which was good fun.. Did loads of UK diving but got fed up with the cancelled dives or skippers who wanted to take you out in a storm!! Ended up down the TDI route with a few 100 metre dives and plenty around the 75 metre range…However the most fun were 20 meter UK dives with my 3ft 316 stainless crab hook and a hand spike for the flat fish…. I did dabble in trying to snare conger but nobody wanted to help! Twin sets, stage tanks, helium and 02 tanks are cluttering up the work shop but the 350 bar compressor get fired up for a couple of air gunners.. TEH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Mongrel- Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 (edited) However the most fun were 20 meter UK dives with my 3ft 316 stainless crab hook and a hand spike for the flat fish…. I did dabble in trying to snare conger but nobody wanted to help! TEH Ain't that the truth! 20 metre or less summer drift dives, filling the goodie bag with scallops, lobsters, crabs and flatties! Happy days! Not overly surprised about the lack of helpers with the congers though! I honestly thought a 2lb crab was going to kill me one dive, I reached in under a rock ledge to hoik it out, got my hand over its claw, which it promptly clamped against its body and then locked itself into its nook!!!! 3 people were trying to lever the ****** out, but it was looking as though I'd run out of air before the crab did! Eventually we decided to give it 5 minutes left alone, while I tried to keep calm, and I swear it was at 4:59 it finally decided to relax and move forward enough to allow me to rip my hand free!!! Happy days again!!! Hit the top with under 10 bar! Edited March 3, 2013 by -Mongrel- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beeredup Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 Yeah i did the P.A.D.I open water years ago and did loads of diving and never got the hard sell from the dive shop/club it was always a good laugh and the social side of it was always good we used to train in a hotel pool in Blackpool and 8/10 it usually ended up with a load of us hitting the town for a few beers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogc Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 BSAC all the way. Nothing wrong with PADI apart from the fact that every hour spent training is another pound in their pocket. To be honest I have seen some pretty C**P padi advanced divers, with no buoyancy control (how did they ever pass). At the end of the day PADI is a commercial operation, the more time they spend training for a fixed fee the less profit they get. I am a BSAC instructor / BSAC advanced diver, we could train an ocean diver in 3 months, PADI 2 weekends, sports another 3 months, dive leader probably 6 months and Advanced another 6. All for the price of club / lake fees, Having said that we have a number of good PADI clubs in the area, who organise a lot of dive trips. I gave up UK diving a couple of years ago, living in Kent, the sea is always murky. There are some really excellent UK dive sites, Pembrokshire was one of my favourites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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