Author Archives: Angela @ Ocean View

PADI Drysuit Diver course March / April 2025

Extend your diving season! If you want to stay warm and toasty, feeling comfortable in cooler water, you will want to dive in a dry suit.

We will be running the PADI Drysuit Diver course in March / April 2025
Pool Orientation session – Saturday 29th March (9:30am start)
Lake Dives –  Sunday 13th April

Unlike a wetsuit, a Drysuit seals you off from the outside water, this keeps you much warmer, even in surprisingly cold water. This will greatly extend your diving season here in the UK, meaning you can make the most of the autumn, and with the correct undersuit, you could dive throughout the winter.
Using a drysuit will allow you to comfortably go and play with the Seals off of Lundy Island or the Farnes!

You will need to do a small amount of home study before the course, this is all now done with the digital PADI home study eLearning material. You don’t need to come to the shop to get the course arranged and access your digital home study, this part of the course can all be arranged via email, the course can be paid for via BACS or credit card, we will then send you the code for your home study, with instructions how to do this, of course however it would be great to see you before hand, so you can always pop into the centre before the course to arrange it all.

You will need to fill out a short Medical Questionnaire, along with some other standard paperwork,  you can do this via email or in person.

The pool orientation is where you will get to grips with using the drysuit, for this you only need to wear tracksuit bottoms and a long sleeve top, as the thermal undersuit would be too hot in our warm pool. We then get you to the lake to carry out your two qualifying dives in an open water environment.

Find out more about this course…

PADI Drysuit Diver Course in March / April 2025

Enriched Air Nitrox Course February 2025

We will be running the next Enriched Air Nitrox course on Sunday 23rd February 2025

Scuba diving with enriched air nitrox gives you more no decompression dive time. This means more time underwater, especially on repetitive scuba dives.

We all want to stay longer on that reef or wreck, it isn’t always our breathing rate that brings us up before we want to, often we still have plenty of air left but our No Decompression Limit (NDL) brings us back up.

Learn how diving with air that has higher oxygen and lower nitrogen content gives you more bottom time, you’ll learn that there are equipment considerations when using EANx. The PADI Enriched Air EANx Certification course gives the knowledge and skills to dive with Enriched Air mixes up to 40% O2, within recreational scuba limits.

During your classroom session you will:

• Discuss managing oxygen exposure
• Practice analysing O2 content in your tank
• Set your computer for diving with enriched air nitrox

You will need to do a small amount of home study before the course, this is all now done with the digital PADI home study eLearning material. The time spent with us in the classroom will be going over the practical part of the analysis procedure of using Enriched Air for diving.

Learn how diving with air that has higher oxygen and lower nitrogen content can give you more available dive time, you’ll learn that there are equipment considerations when using EANx. The PADI Enriched Air EANx Certification course gives the knowledge and skills to dive with Enriched Air mixes up to 40% O2, within recreational scuba limits.

Find out more about this course…

Enriched Air Nitrox Course February 2025

Peak Performance Buoyancy Course April 2025

We will be running the PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy Diver course on Sunday 13th April.

Mastering neutral buoyancy means controlling where you are in the water. You glide effortlessly over coral reefs, taking in the beautiful aquatic life whilst ensuring that you don’t disturb or damage it. Buoyancy control means longer dive time due to reduced air consumption.

Streamlining your equipment, getting your weight requirement correct, and the positioning of your weight makes a huge difference. Learn about this on your Peak Performance Buoyancy course.

You will need to fill out a short Medical Questionnaire, along with some other standard paperwork, you can do this via email or in person.

There is  a small amount of home study required before the course, this is all now done with the digital PADI home study eLearning material. You don’t need to come to the shop to get the course arranged and access your digital home study, this part of the course can all be arranged via email or phone. The course can be paid for via BACS or credit card, we will then send you the code for your home study. Of course it would be great to see you, so you can drop into the centre to arrange the course as well.

The water temperature in April is about 6-7 degrees. Due to this will need to be done in a Drysuit. If you are already Drysuit trained great, please feel free to join this course, if not we recommend either taking the Drysuit course this month and then taking the Peak Performance Buoyancy course at a later date. If you do not want to take the Drysuit course, leave this until later in the season when the water temperature warms up. The Peak Performance course requires a fair amount of staying still hovering, which means you are likely to get a lot colder than courses that require swimming.

Find out more about this course…

Peak Performance Buoyancy Course April 2025

PADI Advanced Open Water course May 2025

Take the next step on from your Open Water course, move forward with the PADI Advanced Open Water certification.

This will be split over two dates in May.

SUNDAY 11th May – Wraysbury

We will be doing the Navigation Dive, the Peak Performance Buoyancy Dive and the D.S.M.B Dive.

Saturday 17th May –  Stoney Cove 

We will be doing the Deep Dive and the Wreck Dive.

You will need to do a small amount of home study before the course, this is all now done with the digital PADI home study eLearning material. You don’t need to come to the shop to get the course arranged and access your digital home study, we can arrange it over the phone or via email, the course can be paid for via BACS or credit card, we will then send you the code for your home study, with instructions on how to do this. Of course you can pop into the centre to book this and sort out all of your paperwork.

Due to water temperatures in Stoney Cove or Vobster all year round at depth, we strongly advise you to be drysuit trained for the Deeper dives, where it can drop to 8 degrees at 30m. However if you want to do the deeper dives in a wetsuit, it is your choice, but you will start to get cold at depth, please accept we may stop your course if we think you are too cold to continue. The shallow dives at Wraysbury can be done in either a wetsuit or drysuit.

Stoney Cove or Vobster requires that we book your entry tickets into the site, we (Ocean View) will need to do this ahead of time if it is Vobster, we will request the lake entry fee be paid by either cash or bank transfer only to us. If Stoney Cove, it will be bookable by yourself. Please note that the entry fee costs are not included in your course fees.

Required equipment: a torch for the deeper dives, and a slate for the Wreck Dives, and preferably your own DSMB and reel for the DSMB dive.

Find out more about this course…

PADI Advanced Open Water course May 2025

PADI Basic Freediver March 2025

We will be running the Basic Freediver course on Saturday 15th March 2025.

Freediving is about inward power, discipline and control. If you’ve always wanted to enter the underwater world quietly, on your own terms, and staying as long as your breath allows, then freediving is for you. Taking the Basic Freediver course is your first step toward discovering why freediving is becoming a popular way to explore beneath the waves.

The PADI Basic Freediver course is a subset of the PADI Freediver course. Basic Freedivers only complete the knowledge development and confined water sessions.

It’s a great first step for developing solid freediving skills. You learn basic freediving principles and focus on practicing breathhold techniques in our warm comfortable pool.

To enroll in the course you must be 12 years old or older. You need adequate swimming skills and need to be in good physical health. No prior experience with snorkeling, skin diving or freediving is required.

You will need to fill out some basic paperwork before the course, including a standard medical questionniare, and complete the Digital Home study materials before attending the class and pool session.

The course includes:

• Knowledge development about freediving principles through independent study with PADI Freediver eLearning.
• Confined water session to learn breathhold techniques as well as static and dynamic apnea.
  Required skills completion for certification – static apnea of 90 seconds and dynamic apnea of 25 metres.

Find out more about this course…

PADI Basic Freediver Saturday 15th March 2025