Over the last two Thursdays, we have had six confined open water students on two courses coming to their end and five new students starting their courses. We also had three scuba reviews, the SEAL Team and the Young Divers in as well as DSDs, plays and swims! This has put a lot of pressure on Janie to make sure we have enough kit of the right size for the evenings.
Last weekend we were at Nemes with nine students from Writtle College and three from South Essex College, completing their PADI Open Water qualifying dives over the two days. There was a great effort from team members who went down for the weekend, including Saturday boy Nick who was pumping bottles back at the dive centre, although he may not have the right idea!
Following the big weekend, there was a lot of kit to be washed, checked, dried and put back in the store. On top of the normal everyday runnings of the shop, this took us all the way through till Thursday morning, just in time for that evening's pool night! All the equipment is transported in the trailer, with hanging racks, front and rear doors, and a low threshold so it is easier to walk in and out of, which we find more adaptable than a single large van. All the equipment is loaded back onto the trailer on a Thursday night and returned to the dive centre on Friday morning to be washed and checked again before going back into the store.
At 7am Saturday morning, Gary was back at the dive centre starting to lay out kit for another weekend of training and lake cleaning, shortly followed by staff and students. The more time spent organising and preparing, means we have more time to spend with the students on dive days. This year, we have refined our dive paperwork but this is an ongoing process, with the aim of making dive days as smooth as possible. Not only do we have to complete all PADI paperwork, we have to satisfy Health & Safety Executive (HSE), as we are considered commercial divers, but we hope to minimise the amount of paper we have to store for seven years.
Ian Herbert, Joe, Andy and Daniel Herbert (no relation), were all staffing yesterday at Nemes. It was fairly quiet at Nemes this Saturday and because of this, we managed to complete qualifying dives 1, 2 and 3! Whilst this was going on, we were getting ready for today's training and a lake clearing! Ian H. and his students were back at Nemes on Sunday, with Gary working as a rescue diver. At the same time, Carol Vickers and her team were completing Lazar's open water course. As well as the open water course, Ian H. was completing Summer Harris' dry suit course too. After a very successful day, we have three new open water dives and one new dry suit diver! Well done to Lazar, Mark, Francesca and Summer for their achievements!
As this was going on, we had a team of divers at Bourne Mill millpond in Colchester, attempting to survey the bottom and clear any major items of rubbish. We will have a full story next week from Dave who headed the team. Dave was working with Cheryl, Rhonda, Tony, Janie, Brandon and Graham, with Mark Prior covering the surface support and taking pictures.
This week, Gary has a very busy week mentoring at Basildon Academy, continuing Jupiter House confined open water and giving the opportunity to Years 5 and 6 at Purleigh primary school to complete the BubbleMaker experience, and at Cold Norton primary school, we are in the Year 6 class talking about scuba diving and getting the students ready for their BubbleMaker experience.
Upcoming Events:
11th July - Gilwell UK Scout Headquarters: Offering DSDs from 6pm till 9am, as part of Gilwell 24 (24hrs of non-stop activity!)
12th July - Chepstow: Day of diving!
25th & 26th July - Stoney Cove: Deep, Wreck, Search & Recovery and SMB courses with Carol Vickers.
If you want to join one of the courses, or join us for a dive that weekend, please get in touch with the dive centre on 01268 520111 or 07960 140520.
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