OCEAN DIVER
The BSAC experience:
Ocean Diver stories
Five different Ocean Divers tell how their training has opened up a new world of possibilities. Interviews by Charlotte Boan
“ A lifetime of memories”
Sound engineer Chris Lane, 22, from St Austell in Cornwall qualified as an Ocean Diver a few months after joining his local BSAC club. A try dive nine years ago on holiday first sparked his interest, however, it wasn’ t until last year he took a giant stride.
“ I play guitar in a band and the singer told me he was going to learn to dive with Mid Cornwall Divers up the road,” Chris explains.“ I’ d heard about BSAC before, but I didn’ t know a great deal. I was made to feel really welcome when I went with him. Everyone is so friendly.” Chris says returning to the pool to learn skills over four weekly visits was thorough preparation and a confidence builder for his first dives in open water.
“ Training was great, as our instructor, Tony Milne, was really patient,” he says.“ I wear glasses, and every time I cleared my mask the lens insert floated out. After doing it a load of times – and thanks to Tony’ s patience – it’ s not a problem now.”
Based in Cornwall, the club has easy access to sea dives for entry-level training at weekends. Chris completed all his training at Drawna Rock at Porthkerris on the Lizard Peninsula and the Kantoeng Dredger wreck site out of Fowey.
“ I was worried it was going to be a bit cold, but it’ s a whole other world down there,” he adds.“ All the things I’ ve seen, I never thought I’ d see. I really enjoyed Kernow Dive Festival and the diving there. We also dived at Hand Deeps [ Plymouth ]. It was incredible – so many critters, so much life and so colourful. Every time I’ ve gone in, I’ ve seen something different and I love it all. Diving is infectious.”
Chris meets with club members every Wednesday and goes diving with them on the weekend. In just a few months he has advanced in his training to work towards his Sports Diver qualification to allow him to explore more sites.
“ I definitely want to do more wrecks, particularly because of all their history. Most of them are slightly deeper, so I’ ll be able to see them when I finish my Sports Diver training. In the long term, I would love to get to instructor level and get more people involved. Club diving is definitively the way forward. It’ s a safe and fun way to dive and creates a lifetime of memories.”
“ The seals were all around us!”
At 12 years old, Chloe Jowett is the youngest BSAC-qualified Ocean Diver of Abraham Moss SAC in Manchester. BSAC welcomes lots of young snorkelling members throughout the UK, with the minimum age for scuba set at 12 years.“ I’ ve always wanted to be a marine biologist,” says Chloe.“ Jeff Hickman [ the club’ s Diving Officer ] goes to the dentist
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