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Apologies to all our customers who have been directed here by Google or Yahoo. This site has somehow been put at the top of their search engines.
For the Dive Wimbledon, Dive Putney, Dive Kingston and Dive Balham main website please click on the link below.
Apologies for any inconvenience,
Roger Hirst
Dive Wimbledon
15 Balfour Road
South Wimbledon
London
SW19 1JU
02085406874
www.divewimbledon.com
Scuba diving at Stoney Cove in the sunshine can be quite a treat.
This weekend we had a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course to complete. Sue and Brent were the students and on the Sunday we went up to Stoney Cove for the Deep and Multi level dives.
For those of you who don't know it Stoney Cove is a flooded Quarrey near Leicester. It is about 2 hours away from London so quite a drive. We had students coming from Southfields, Wimbledon, Kingston, Surbiton, Earlsfield and Putney. We all got their bright and early ready to dive.
The weather was fantastic and the sunshine penetrated deeper than normal so it was very light on the bottom. Sue, Brent and Daron were completing their Enriched Air Specialty courses at the same time which made it perfect for the deep dive.
On the deep dive we all descended along the old road into the quarrey to 28 metres where Sue completed her timed problem and Brent checked the colour changes. On the way back up we took a bit of a diversion so we could have a look at the bus. We were the first divers of the day to see it so the visibility was fantastic. The dive went really well and I am sure the divers are all competent to dive 30 metres in the future.
The second dive was on the Stanegarth, an 18 metre long tugboat. We were lucky as we were the only divers on the site. It was a lot of fun swimming around the wreck but time past quickly and it was time for us to swim a bit ahallower. We swum around in the shallows for a while and visited the Personnell carrier as well as the Nautalis and swam under the pub for awhile.
It was a fabulous dive and as we completed the paperwork the others all went for a third dive.
A tiring trip back to London but a lot of fun!!!!!
Another weekend of scuba diving in Putney, London is coming and we have the biggest Open Water Referral group we have ever had.
There are 16 students signed up for scuba diving this weekend. I will be teaching a class of 10 with 4 certfied Assistants, though we will seperate it into two classes in the pool to make sure evrybody gets the attention they deserve. Nathan will be teaching the other class and has 6 students along with two certified Divemasters assisting him.
This time last year Jane and I never imagined things would take off in the way that they have. It seems that paying attention to detail and providing a very high degree of public service is paying off with so many students coming recommended by friends.
Scuba diving is a safe and easy sport if taught correctly and professionally.
Another weekend and another day of scuba diving.
Yesterday morning I was up and on the road out of London and 3.30am on my way to Stoney Cove. I stopped to pick up my divemaster Shaun on the way. The roads were really quiet and we made good time getting to Stoney at 5.30am. I was quite pleased as the van was loaded down with scuba diving equipment for 13 people.
We sat in the queue until 7am when we got directed into the coveted car park down by the water. Everybody slowly turned up until the whole Dive Wimbledon gang had arrived: David, Peter, Phillipa, Mandy, Howard, Ross, Wendy, Rob, Paul, Liz and Arne.
Shaun took half the group on a fun dive starting at the Wreck of the Stanegarth while I took the rest for a combination of the Advanced deep dive along with the Enriched Air specialty course. It was a little cold but not as bad as expected as we swam down the old quarrey road to 28 metres.
There must have been at least 500 people scuba diving but it didn't seem to crowded. They have added a personnel carrier to the list of attractions which we saw including the plane cockpit and nautilis submarine.
During the surface interval we indulged in the traditional bacon butties!! Not bad!!!
The second dive for us was on the wreck while Shaun's group checked out the Wessex helicopter. Considering how many people had been scuba diving on the wreck we were very lucky to have such good visibility.
The pub was pretty empty as we completed the certification process and filled in log books but everybody had had a good time. The ladies were all talking about buying neoprene drysuits from O'Three so they can dive a bit more often and I was starting to think about where our next trip could be too.
A long trip home, particularly with Arne's knowledge of the 'Rat runs' of North West London!! Just kidding Arne!!
30 April - 1 May
Scuba diving is associated with warmer weather and we do start to get busier!!!
This weekend we had 6 students for the PADI Open Water Referral course. They were all really good in the water and a pleasure to teach. Congratulations to Stuart Taggart, Azita Qadri, Ian Bullock, Laura Towers and Sean Ramsey. Good luck with your qualifying dives in Egypt!! Stuart will be completing his Open Water scuba dives with Dive Wimbledon at Wraysbury next weekend. Onur was also completing the course but missed a bit of the theory so will be completing that this Wednesday evening.
On Saturday Andy and Arne played in the pool again.
On Sunday Marion, Andrew and their son Angus completed a Discover Scuba Diving course with Bob Millar. Kiwi Cherie Finlay completed a pool refresher with Dave while ex- Referral students Jill and Phil had a practise .
Finally the sun is shining and London scuba divers can head out to enjoy the diving the UK has to offer. When the wind dies and the sea has a chance to settle we'll be able to get some good visibility.
London scuba diving schools Dive Wimbledon, Dive Putney, Dive Kingston and Dive Balham will be taking there first group of PADI Open Water students out for their qualifying dives on the weekend of 7 -8 May. The water should have warmed up a little by then and the students should really enjoy themselves. Hopefully we will also be certifying our first group of Rescue divers for 2005. We have 6 students still waiting to complete their dives but most seem quite keen to wait until the water has warmed up a lot. We'll see.
Dive Kingston was at Putney Leisure Centre again this Wednesday evening and things went really well. A couple of people were taking courses and a few were just along for the practise. Petrea had completed her pool sessions for the Open Water course at the weekend and took advantage of the opportunity to practise her buoyancy before heading off to Tioman Island in Malaysia today to complete her dives. Have a nice trip Petrea!!
It's finally starting to warm up and our London scuba diving students are getting keen to head off to Wraysbury to get qualified. I am still trying to talk them out of it as it is very cold still.
Last weekend one of my Rescue Diver studtents completed a course at Wraysbury. He was in a dry suit but he said he was extremely cold. The instructor did his best to keep things moving and they got through everything okay but it is definately better to wait until things are warmer. 9 degrees celcius is still too cold.
At least the pool at Putney Leisure Centre is warm and we have been their teaching 3 nights in the last week.
Why Whale Sharks? At the weekend I was talking to one of our customers down and Putney Leisure Centre. He had previously done all his scuba diving in Kingston Upon Thames and had decided to change schools. He had found us under Dive Kingston and thought go for it... Anyway I'm waffling!!
This guy had done over eighty dives around the world and had never seen a shark and was starting to get annoyed. It reminded me of Whale sharks... I got into scuba diving in 1994 in one of the world's Mecca's for Whale Sharks; Utila in the Bay Islands of Honduras. I lived there for 27 months(970 dives) and never saw a one.
Two years later I worked in another Mecca for Whalesharks, Koh Tao in Thailand, and... you guessed it, never saw a Whaleshark. I was constantly getting emails from friends around the world who were of course seeing Whale Sharks and I was starting to think I would never see one, but of course I was wrong. I'd just had bad luck.
In 1999 I went back to Utila, Honduras to work again for Cross Creek Dive Centre and my luck changed. Every day we went diving the boat captain, Stirling, would take the long route to the dive sites by heading off shore to circle the island. Boy did my luck change!!! I saw 10 whalesharks in the space of a couple of months. Beautiful creatures.. so graceful and awe inspiring...and yeah, pretty bloody big!!
The most amazing sight was when one came up under the boat and tentatively nudged the bottom before swimming away beneath me. I was the only one in the water and got to see the whole thing as a private show...
Anyway, I haven't seen a Whale Shark for 4 years now but I'm sure I will see plenty more in the future.
London scuba diving schools Dive Wimbledon, Dive Putney, Dive Kingston and Dive Balham are planning a school and club holiday to Dahab on the Sinai Peninsula of the Egyptian Red Sea in May this year.
Dahab is a quiet and friendly Bedouin township an hour from Sharm El-Sheik. Although it is becoming more popular it hasn't turned into a tourist town in the way that many Red Sea places have.
Dahab is perfect for beginners and advanced divers with a variety of sites to suit all. It is probably best known for the Canyon and the Blue Hole.
Like all dive sites in Dahab the Canyon starts off with a gentle stroll into the water. Once you are deep enough to submerge you gently fin through a shallow lagoon until you make your way though a cut in the coral and out onto the reef. After swimming north east for awhile across coral bommies you come to a crack in the coral and the canyon beckons below. As you glide down the colour of the water changes slowly to a deeper blue until you reach the bottom and look up and see your bubbles floating up towards the surface, occasionally bouncing off protrusions on their way up. Heading up the canyon it starts to close in a little until you reach a swim through leading into the light. Swim through it and you are in the goldfish bowl. A spherical chamber full of small glass fish with the lights rays flickering through the many holes. It is one of nature?s perfect creations. As you swim out through the exit you know you will come back. This is an advanced dive though Open Water students can also swim into the goldfish bowl.
For more information about this holiday please click on the 'Dive Wimbledon School Site' on the external links to your right.
Not quite the glamorous dive site but it is where I spend 70% of the time I spend underwater.
Dive Wimbledon/ Putney is at the Putney Leisure Centre every second weekend for a variety of courses. The reason we use the pool is for it's size. There are six 33 metre long lanes and at the end to the left it extends into a 4 metre deep diving pit. Most pools I have been to in South London don't have the deeper section. The leisure centre was also refurbished a couple of years ago so the suroundings are nicer and the pool isn't worn out like so many.
With beginners we start off in the shallow water developing their new skills while the more experienced divers giant stride into the diving pit and play with the Toypedos.
As the season develops we will start to increase our bookings and may also come on the occasional Tuesday or Wednesday night.
After diving we of course slip around the corner to the local pub for a quiet one. It's not a boozy session as everybody has to work on the Monday but it's a nice way to end the weekend and prepare for the following weekend.
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