Yes. If you qualified with another organisation, you are welcome to join us. We will enroll you as a member of BSAC. You can also find out the BSAC equivalent of your qualification, by clicking HERE. Please note that club membership fees are not waived for divers who qualified elsewhere.
We have many divers who trained elsewhere and joined us.
When you first start training, we will provide you with all the kit you need. But all BSAC clubs encourage trainees to start purchasing their own kit, once they are sure the sport is for them.
We suggest that for the best experience whilst training you first buy a mask, visiting a local Dive shop to be fitted.
You can always seek advice from members and sometimes, members of the club, have kit for sale.
Members join our club and pay an initial fee to cover membership and Ocean diver training costs. We encourage members to become continual members paying monthly and our volunteer instructors will organise training through the different grades. We do not charge people to learn to dive, rather we provide training to club members, and the best experience is achieved through becoming a continual member and taking part in club dives and social events. If you want to learn to dive and not be a club member there are many local shops that will train you for a one off fee.
All divers in the UK must declare their own fitness to dive. If a diver answers “yes” to any of the conditions listed on this document, they are advised to speak to a medical referee, who will give their professional opinion on the diver’s fitness to dive. This may require an examination in person.
Divers do not need to be in tip-top physical condition to dive, but it is clear that a good level of fitness will help deal with the ordinary requirements of diving.
It usually takes 3-6 months to qualify as a BSAC Ocean Diver. We all learn at different paces and we match your pace of learning. Ocean Diver is BSAC entry diving grade.
The club has pool kit which is scuba gear including cylinders and weights as well as masks, fins and snorkels. So, no personal kit is needed initially for pool training.We suggest that you purchase a mask initially as this is a personal item, and a new well fitting mask is critical for a good experience. For open water the club has cylinders, weights, regulator sets, BCDs and strap fins. These are available to all club members and trainees. It can be expensive to purchase all your dive kit so we support members who want to buy a bit at a time and build up their kit in stages. We cannot provide drysuits, but we can direct you to hire shops.
This shouldnt affect your diving, masks are available with prescription lenses or you can wear contacts.
It can be.
As with most sports, the sky is the limit if you want to spend. If you were to buy all your equipment brand new from premium brands then you could spend £4000+ with a custom made drysuit.
There are good brands that provide better value, plus a thriving market in good secondhand equipment at a fraction of the cost.
You need to be comfortable spending at least £1000 to £1500 after you qualify as an ocean diver.
When diving, your safety is dependent on the reliability of your equipment, so it’s important to know that it’s been looked after and serviced regularly and performs well.
- Swimwear
- Towel
- Old T shirt
- Once you start training – a mask.
- £5 pool fee
We scuba dive all round the coast of the UK using our own rigid hulled inflatable boats (Rib) or on larger chartered boats. Our members regularly plan trips overseas to such destinations as the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Our members have also dived further a field in the Far East, the Pacific and the Caribbean. We don’t just scuba dive, we also have an active social calendar with regular evening functions and events such as summer BBQ’s & Xmas parties.
A new member learning to dive as an Ocean diver will pay the following:
- Blackpool Light Craft club associate membership
- Bsac membership
- Ocean diver pack
- BSAC88 tables
Total cost is £355
In addition there is a £5 per session pool fee and entry fees to open water sites.
Further training is available to all continuous members.
We then encourage members to start paying their renewal costs by standing order at £16 a month
All your training is performed in house and is part of your subs, right the way up to Advanced Diver – other than the cost of training packs, usually between £32.50 and £42.50 each. Air is free
All this is dependent upon continuous membership.
The Blackpool Light Craft Club has a bar upstairs for members. They also have a smaller room upstairs, which we use for theory lessons.
These are performed in local flooded quarries, usually either Eccleston Delph or Capernwray Quarry. Both have full first aid facilities and a safety boat. Both have a dive shop with Air.
- 6 Theory lectures with an Exam
- 6 practical pool sessions
- 4 Open water lessons (2 training dives each).
The British Sub Aqua Club is a non-profit organisation. It is a membership association, awarding internationally recognised courses in scuba diving. Almost all BSAC instructors are volunteers.
The Professional Association of Diving Instructors is a company. PADI also offers internationally recognised courses in scuba diving. Its instructors are paid; some instruct for a living.
Diving in the UK can be more challenging compared to diving in the Mediterranean, Caribbean or the Red Sea but is just, if not more rewarding. The waters around the British Isles are littered with wrecks from 2 World Wars, as well as many before and after that. There is an abundance of marine life and loads of scenic walls etc
We are based at the Blackpool Light Craft Club at the end of Squires gate lane, behind the large tramshed.
The club owns its own compressors. This allows us to offer air fills to our members for free. This is a big advantage to members as Dive shops now charge up to £10 per fill.