Hardboat luxury at St Abbs
full range of diving equipment( scuba kit, drysuits and more) to help with the cost of diving. We are in the process of installing a club compressor in the outbuildings of a member’ s house. Our two rigid-hulled inflatable boats( Fox and Vixen) are our main platform for coastal diving. Each takes six divers and a cox’ n. They are maintained by a team of members. All members are supported to enjoy time on the helm. It also allows us to teach detailed dive planning. We do occasionally use hard boats for some weekends or weeks where RIB diving is not practical.
Where do you go diving?
We aim to run monthly trips to the coast from April to September. Popular regular locations include Plymouth, Portland, Lochaline for the Sound of Mull and, more recently, Skomer and Milford Haven. In the past year, we planned to visit some new-to-us places such as St Abbs and Anglesey, although the weather stopped us getting to Anglesey.
Most of our trips are open to all divers but we do occasionally run trips for our more experienced members and have enjoyed discovering the wrecks of
Posing at Portland
Sugar rush at Portland
Scapa Flow twice in recent years. We have plans for a trip to foreign waters, possibly Norway or Normandy alongside our usual club trips in 2027.
What is your local diving like?
Members can be found at Stoney Cove all months of the year; it’ s a great place to train new members, extend qualifications and keep our skills up to date.
What type of training is most popular?
We currently have members working towards all levels of the Diver Training Programme( DTP) although this has been the first year in a while that we have not taken on any Ocean Diver trainees. We have a new course starting in 2026 with the aim of being open-water ready for the start of the diving season.
The most popular Skill Development Course is boat handling, although this often proves tricky to run because of our distance from the sea. We are also looking at opportunities to offer coastal snorkelling trips for members and Scouts.
Tell us about your instructor team
The unit has five Open Water Instructors who regularly deliver training. We also have an Assistant Diving Instructor who supports them. Our Snorkel Instructor supports the delivery of try snorkelling and snorkel training to younger members. We also have a number of members who help with snorkel training in order to build their experience before completing a Snorkel Instructor Training Course and Assessment( SITCA). We
All smiles post-dive
Snorkelling at the Churchill Barriers, Orkney
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