How much does it cost?
The initial cost is in the region of £340. This covers both Mid Lancs and BSAC membership for 1 year and also your Ocean Diver training pack. During training, you will have full use of club equipment, the only other thing you would need to pay for is entrance fees to dive sites (around £15-£20 /day) and air fills for the cylinders you use. (around £6-£8 per fill)
It’s worth noting that the Ocean Diver course includes teaching you how to dive in a dry suit, some agencies charge extra for this as a ‘specialty course’. A dry suit is essential for diving in UK waters due to the cool water temperature.
Once qualified, you will still have access to club equipment for a small service charge.
Ongoing membership fees from year 2 are around £220.
Dive trips costs vary a lot, a day dash to Anglesey can be in the region of £50 plus your own travel costs. Chartered boats tend to be around £60-80 a day. A week in the Red Sea will be around £1500. It just depends what kind of diving you want to do.
How fit do I need to be?
As with all sports, scuba diving can be physically demanding, so you need to be reasonably fit. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a candidate for the Olympic squad. The vast majority of people are more than fit enough to take part.
What happens once I'm a qualified diver?
Once you’re qualified, you can start to enjoy scuba diving as a hobby and join some of the diving days and trips organised by Mid Lancs members.
You can also start to work on further diving qualifications. Sports Diver will increase your knowledge and skills and, after qualifying dives, gives you a qualification to 40m. After that, it’s Dive Leader which will add skills such as rescue management and oxygen administration.
Most of our divers will work towards their Sports Diver and Dive Leader qualifications steadily. You’ll want to enjoy the hobby rather than being under constant tuition and it’s important to build your experience and confidence before moving onto deeper and more advanced diving.
In time, you may want to play a role in training new divers and become an instructor yourself.
What else can I learn?
There are a range of other courses that are run by both Mid Lancs and BSAC including Rescue Management, First Aid & CPR, Boat Handling, Search & Recovery, Oxygen Administration and many more.
Do I need my own equipment?
Not to start with, Mid Lancs has a large amount of diving kit which can be used by its members. During your training, you will have use of everything you need. Once you're qualified you can still use club equipment for a small service charge.
Most new divers will start to buy their own equipment gradually once qualified.
