Qualified divers

 

In a hurry? Here's the summary

  • We welcome women and men over 18 years of age as members, and children of members aged 14+
  • Join the club for £50 per annum plus BSAC membership
  • We welcome all divers regardless of training agency and recognise existing qualifications
  • Further your training (if you like) on Thursday evenings 8pm-10pm from £180 plus course pack fee

Dive with us!

If you are already qualified (certified) with any diver training agency, you can join Marlin Sub-Aqua Club and dive with us without doing any further training.

We welcome women and men and aim to help you achieve your diving goals and have fun!

The club meets every week and you’ll find a warm and sociable welcome at our bar in the Griff and Coton Sports Club. You will have free of charge access to the pool at Pingles Leisure Centre every other week for testing new kit, or simply going for a swim.

We have equipment for members to rent.

Our dive management team arranges diving around the coast of the British Isles and abroad. Diving with the club provides you with a cohort of like-minded people to dive with – no more pairing up with an ‘instabuddy’ on the dive boat!

Technical diving

Marlin Sub-Aqua Club is setup to welcome and support technical divers on open or closed circuit. We promote team diving and are especially keen to integrate GUE divers into the club environment.

We promote safe, adventurous diving, with efficient decompression strategies. The practical result of this is that our open circuit divers (for example) favour a standardised manifolded twinset/primary donate configuration, with helium containing breathing gases (trimix) below 40 metres, and 50% or oxygen during decompression. Uniquely in the midlands our Gas Shed can provide nitrox and trimix to members at affordable prices making this philosophy extremely easy to implement.

We do not allow solo diving within the club.

Project diving

Diving projects allows teams of divers to accomplish tasks together, and give purpose to a sequence of dives. Projects may be exploratory in nature, or may aim to monitor a site (such as a wreck) over time, or to collect marine life data through surveys.

Marlin Sub-Aqua Club flagship project:

Members have also volunteered with the following projects:

 
 

I am currently working towards my Dive Leader and Open Water Instructor qualifications. I started diving in 2018 having never considered it before, but the company I work for was offering grants to employees to take up a sport and diver training with Marlin Sub-Aqua Club was an option. I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone and so I signed up and have never looked back!

I qualified as an Ocean Diver and Sports Diver in 2019 and built up my skills with a single cylinder setup before Covid hit and everyone went on a diving hiatus. Once diving resumed, I switched my configuration to a twinset (double cylinders instead of one) so I could do longer and deeper dives, as well as be more self reliant.

I have dived mostly inland in places such as Stoney Cove and Capernwray but also in several coastal areas around the UK such as the Farne Islands, Portland and Lundy Island. I want to continue to dive at more UK coastal locations and also dive abroad. Diving makes me feel free and alive! Being able to experience a completely different world and the feeling of weightlessness you get whilst diving is pretty much incomparable to any other activity on the planet!

Jake Forster

Club Member, April 2023
 

Furthering your training

Our instructors can teach the complete British Sub-Aqua Club Diver Training Programme including Advanced Ocean Diver, Sports Diver, Dive Leader (Dive Master) and Advanced Diver qualifications. If your current qualification is not from BSAC you will be able to cross-over and continue your training at the next level up without repeating a course.

We can support your diving goals through Skills Development Courses (SDCs), including Buoyancy & Trim Workshop, Drysuit Diver, Nitrox Workshop, Wreck Diver, photography etc. We have specialist instructors who can teach courses such as Twin-set Diver, Primary Donate Workshop, Advanced Wreck Diver, Compressor Operator and Mixed Gas Blender that are not routinely offered in diving clubs.

We have written a pair of blog articles, here and here, that provide more information about our thoughts on diver progression.

This is an optional intermediate course between the Ocean Diver and Sports Diver courses, which qualifies divers to thirty metres. It includes nitrox and drysuit qualifications. If you complete this course you can upgrade to Sports Diver later on without repeating the modules you have already done. A typical training schedule is shown below:

ID Title Type Location
AOR Refresher/orientation (optional) Open water Stoney Cove
AOT1 Introduction to deep diving Classroom Griff & Coton
AOT2 Equipment and techniques Classroom Griff & Coton
AOO1 Use of SMB Open water Stoney Cove
AOO2 DSMB deployment Open water Stoney Cove
AOO3 Compass navigation Open water Stoney Cove
AOT4 Breathing gas systems Classroom Griff & Coton
AOX25 Depth progression to 22-25m Open water Stoney Cove
AOX30 Depth progression to 27-30m Open water Stoney Cove

This course qualifies divers to thirty-five metres with mandatory decompression stops. It includes nitrox and drysuit qualifications. A typical training schedule is shown below, after which experience dives are required:

ID Title Type Location
ST1 Sport diving Classroom Griff & Coton
ST2 Diver rescue Classroom Griff & Coton
SP1 Basic life support (BLS) Dry practical Griff & Coton
SS1 Rescue skills Sheltered water Pingles
ST3 Equipment and techniques Classroom Griff & Coton
ST4 Deeper diving Classroom Griff & Coton
ST5 Breathing gas systems Classroom Griff & Coton
ST6 Going diving Classroom Griff & Coton
SP2 Assistant dive manager Dry practical Griff & Coton
SO1 Diver rescue Sheltered water Pingles
SO1 Use of SMB Open water Stoney Cove
SO2 Simulated decompression dive Open water Stoney Cove
SO3 Compass navigation / DSMB deployment Open water Stoney Cove
SO4 Dive leading / basic skills review Open water Stoney Cove

This course qualifies divers to manage groups of divers at sites that are well known to the club or unknown sites if using a professional boat skipper. It includes oxygen administration and practical rescue management qualifications. A typical training schedule is shown below, after which experience dives are required:

ID Title Type Location
DT1 The role of the Dive Leader Classroom Griff & Coton
DO1 DSMB use Open water Stoney Cove
DO1 Dive leading demonstration Open water Stoney Cove
DO3 Dive leading practice Open water Stoney Cove
DT2 Basic life support Classroom Griff & Coton
DT3 Oxygen and diving incidents Classroom Griff & Coton
DT4 Casualty assessment Classroom Griff & Coton
DT5 Oxygen administration equipment Classroom Griff & Coton
DT6 Oxygen administration in practice Classroom Griff & Coton
DT7 Use of oxygen administration equipment Classroom Griff & Coton
DT8 Dive planning Classroom Griff & Coton
DO4 Shot recovery by simple lift Open water Stoney Cove
DT9 Rescue management – part 1 Classroom Griff & Coton
DO5 Rescue management scenarios Open water Stoney Cove
DT10 Helicopter operations Classroom Griff & Coton
DT11 Rescue management – part 2 Classroom Griff & Coton
DO6 Diving and rescue skills review Open water Stoney Cove
DO7 Rescue skills review Open water Stoney Cove
DT12 Dive management Classroom Griff & Coton
DP1a Dive management Dry practical Griff & Coton
DP1b Dive management Dry practical Boat dive

This course qualifies divers to manage groups of divers at unknown sites. A typical training schedule is shown below, after which experience dives are required:

ID Title Type Location
AT1 The role of the Advanced Diver Classroom Griff & Coton
AT2 Advanced diving Classroom Griff & Coton
AT3 Organising diving from different platforms Classroom Griff & Coton
AP1 Expedition planning Dry practical Griff & Coton
AT4 Review of diving conditions and on-site first aid Classroom Griff & Coton
AO1 Diving and rescue skills review Open water Stoney Cove
AO2 Rescue skills and management review Open water Stoney Cove
AP2 Dive planning and management Dry practical Griff & Coton

Frequently asked questions

Join Marlin Sub-Aqua Club online at bsac.com

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