Hi SD fans, and welcome back to the channel.
In a previous video I talked about diving in cold water, or more specifically, here in the UK. And
a neat follow-on from that is ‘should I learn to dive here or abroad’, so in this episode, I will
be looking at the options open to people wanting to make that first step into the world of diving.
This month’s videos are sponsored by Seiko, who have been producing quality dive watches
since 1965, and many of their innovations are still seen today across other brands.
‘Where should I learn to dive?’ is one of the questions I am asked most often,
and there is no straightforward answer, as that depends on multiple factors.
First and foremost, where do they live? If someone resides in Florida, for instance,
or is lucky enough to call some sun-kissed island in the Caribbean ‘home’,
then I will just point them in the direction of their nearest dive centre.
Job done. However, what about if someone lives right here in the UK, or some other location
that is blessed with cold water on the doorstep? Then it is not such a simple answer.
Now here in this country, I often hear ‘if you learn here, you can dive anywhere’,
and I totally understand the thinking behind this rather-sweeping statement.
Diving in the UK is naturally more challenging than diving in, say, the Caribbean, because of
the amount of exposure protection you need to wear to be able to dive comfortably in
sometimes single-digit water temperatures, and the somewhat limited visibility and
other variable underwater and surface conditions because of our changeable weather patterns. So
divers who have done their training in UK waters are more used to dealing with less-than-perfect
conditions and so theoretically should be well suited to diving in warm, clear waters.
However, I have seen some downright lousy divers while on assignment abroad who had previously
only ever dived in the UK, so you simply cannot say that everyone who learns in this
country is going to be a better, more-rounded diver than someone who learned in warm water.
Whatever entry-level diving course you go for, regardless of the training agency,
will only teach you the core essentials of scuba diving. There is an argument that certain agencies
might go into more depth, ‘scuse the pun, than others, but that discussion is for another time,
and to a large extent, the quality of the course revolves more around the individual instructor
than it does the agency. At the end of the day, there is only so much you can learn and digest
in four or five days. Yes, some entry-level courses take several months when taught
through a club system, but there is the argument that an hour in the pool here, and a day there,
offers no real advantage over an intensive course over a period of four or five days.
So, back to diving in the UK. As discussed in my previous video, cold-water diving
has much to recommend it, but let’s be honest, it isn’t for everyone. For every person I
tempt into local waters, I encounter five whose ideal diving scenario is slipping into bath-tub
warm waters in a swimsuit, rash vest and board shorts or maybe a thin wetsuit, swimming around
in crystal-clear waters for an hour, and then relaxing with a cocktail on the beach afterwards.
So when I am asked ‘should I learn to dive here or abroad’ by someone who resides in the UK,
my first endeavour is to find out what they plan to do with their diving.
If a person has their heart set on diving the wrecks of Scapa Flow in Scotland,
or playing with seals off Lundy Island in Devon, then my advice to them would be to
complete their dive courses right here in the UK. You will learn to deal with the conditions
in which you are going to be diving, and if you do head off to warmer waters down the line,
you will be well prepared. If, however, the person is
only wanting to get qualified to be able to dive somewhere like the Egyptian Red Sea,
or some similar warm-water destination, then I tend to give them a few options to consider.
Yes, they could do their entire course in our cold waters, but at the end of the day,
why? If they are never planning on diving in the UK, why go through all the rigmarole
of donning all that exposure protection and dealing with our unpredictable conditions?
I have seen people sign up for a dive course over here in readiness for a forthcoming trip abroad,
only to jack it all in because they couldn’t deal with the hassles of UK diving.
I’d sooner keep people in diving rather than see them as another drop-out statistic.
Now, these people could do their entire course once they arrive at their chosen holiday
destination, and that is certainly something I tell them to consider, but I usually counsel
why should they lose a couple of days of their hard-earned vacation time in the classroom or pool
when if they did a referral with a local centre or club in this country, they can then just get
stuck into the actual open water diving once they get abroad. They could then have their basic dive
cert in their hand by the end of the second dive day in some circumstances, meaning they
have more time to actually put their new-found skills into use for the rest of their holiday.
If down the line, these people who either learned completely abroad, or went the referral route,
decide they fancy trying out cold-water diving, then it is perfectly feasible, it just takes
a bit more effort and dedication to go from warm water to cold, than the other way around.
I am talking about this ‘where to learn to dive’ scenario from a mainly UK perspective,
but with reference to the cold-water side of things, it is equally applicable
to any other more-temperate water locations. The other great thing about the referral route
is that it shares your course monies between a local dive centre and a centre in your holiday
destination, and as we come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, every little helps.
Where did you learn to dive? What are some of your hints or advice for someone looking to
get into the sport? Leave your comments below, and if you have query, fire away
– if we can’t answer, someone in our growing community might be able to help you out.
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As always, stay safe – and if you are going diving, enjoy!