The PADI Junior Open Water course is our most popular diver training programs and is a ticket to a lifetime of adventure.  Here at Dive Rutland we are running a dedicated Junior Open Water course during 2022 for students aged 10 - 14

Why dedicated, well it is nice for our youngsters to work within their peer groups, not only learning diving skills but teamwork and potentially gaining lifelong friends.

It is exactly the same course that those over 15 take, the only difference is depending on the age of the qualifying diver there will be various diving restrictions put into place until they reach 15 years old

The student will read the PADI Open Water Diver manual and watch the Open Water DVD's completing the five knowledge reviews.  Working with an instructor 'in class' to review the knowledge reviews and complete a quiz or e-learning.  This  will give the student the basic principles and essential knowledge needed for safe and enjoyable diving.

During the confined water (pool) training the student will apply the dive principles learned and practice dive procedures and skills using Oakham School Pool, Kilburn Road, Oakham

Confined water training dates are:-
26th February 2022
26th March 2022
23rd April 2022
21st May 2022
25th June 2022

All sessions need to be attended.

Complete the four open water dives at Capernwray (Jackdaw Quarry, Capernwray Rd, Carnforth LA6 1AD) an inland water site during Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd July 2022

We have a number of packages for our Open Water course but we would recommend that the package chosen for our Junior open water course is our standard package at £725.00

But if you already have a suitable mask and snorkel then the basic package is available for you to choose.

All of our packages include

• Ultimate Crewpack - includes the PADI Open water manual / DVD's / PADI Training and Dive Logbook
• Certification
• Equipment Hire

Maybe easier to say the course prices does not include the cost of travel, open water training site and accommodation.

There is always a social aspect to our Junior Open Water training weekend as our Dive Rutland club members will come along to for some fun diving and everyone is welcome to attend... more details on that will be released nearer the time.

Written by club member Tim Sleight
Pictures by Tracey Roberts

After a long day on the road ,we (myself and my buddy Nick) arrived at Porthkerris . It was early evening and pleasingly quiet, we navigated our way around the site to find our designated camping area, fittingly called The Mound.

The Mound is situated to the north west of the campsite, behind an old MOD building that was used for observing secret torpedo testing, just after the second world war. Rick and Rob had already began setting up camp, (Home for the next few days) it wasn't long before we had been joined by the rest of the group. (Tracey, Bridget and Ben).  Once camp was set in a somewhat organised fashion ,we sat down to a curry. That's right a curry we have Bridget and Rick to thank for organising this treat, after a long day on the road it was just perfect .We sat chatting and star gazing as the Perseid meteor shower was making an appearance that evening, be it a lot later than we should be stopping up. Across the bay there was a splash, everyone was up turning to see what it could be was it a shark, there has been several sightings this month. No we are safe a couple of dolphins play in the bay ,but what the perfect end to the evening .​

First dive.  As  arrival of the boat draws near, we stand kitted up ready to go. Looking out across the bay as the Celtic Kitten beaches itself and entry ramp is lowered. The divers before us walking ashore faces beaming. As they chat about their experience, last diver off  its our turn . Walking up the ramp we are greeted by the smiling skipper, Dave Brown. He clearly loves his job ,and is enthusiastic. Once everyone is aboard the ramp is raised, and The kitty backs away from the beach . Before shutting its engines down, the skipper turns and begins to talk . Firstly welcoming us aboard and giving us a safety briefing, pointing out where the oxygen is and various other equipment like Radios, depth finder, and  how the lift works. Now he says where would you like to dive this is somewhat a shock he has actually given us a choice after a short conversation we had agreed on a wreck called the SS Mohegan there was a kind of silent yesss among some of the divers of course I had no idea what to expect, well it turns out after a short 10min boat ride we are all about to find out 

BBQ - After an adventurous day of diving , what better way to bring it to an end .  Sitting around a fire pit watching the flames licking the sky . Eating excellent food and chatting about the days events . 

Dive 4 final dive - Rock Island Bridge.  As always its good practice to make the second dive if the day shallower so we had all agreed on the final dive being rock island bridge the waters much calmer now myself and Bridget took a giant stride into the water one after the other and ready to descend slowly working our way down to 10 meters this was a really easy wreck to dive my eyes where everywhere scanning the pipe work and wreckage suddenly came across the tail of a fish dark in colour and wiggling inside a pipe straight away I knew this has to be an eel I had just found my first conger Bridget must have thought I had gone mad pointing and trying to get her to take pictures I've no camera a few fin kicks and repositioned at the head end of this beast a conger eel hiding inside this pipe he must have been maybe a good 3 or 4 foot in length (water dose tend to make things look bigger) but I was so excited and I can admit I was like a child inside don't really know why its only an eel right backing slowly away as we started to move around other parts of the wreck this old ship had so much structure you could drop a little lower and find yourself looking right inside .

​Pointing my light inside I was fascinated actually naturally inquisitive to what might be found inside of course I am not allowed inside (YET) but I think its inevitable after spending such a short time looking around the out side finding so much life that I would think about what's actually inside some of the wrecks we moved along side and rising across the wreck we came into a shoal of smaller fish this was amazing sadly time to go air running low and the cold had set in a little smb launched safety stop complete surface and back on the boat you might say I rushed that bit but you know the drill by now the difference this time is it had just sunk in this is what its all about a small glimpse of what is going on in UK waters has made all the early (really early mornings) and poor visibility at Stoney Cove worthwhile in fact more than worth while non of this would be possible without the instructors, staff, and club members, and those that give there free time at Dive Rutland .​

This was my first club trip maybe some people just want to train to go off on holiday or seek clear warm waters, but its my advice get yourself a drysuit spec get yourselves evolved find something in our UK waters ,and go dive it . Porthkerris is a beautiful place it has so much to offer, from shore diving to boat diving they really go the extra mile to make sure your stay/time is worth while . Don t become fixated on warm clear water although the draw must be overwhelming. There is a lot your missing in UK waters.  My feeling is that taking trips with your dive club builds friendships and buddy pairs to the next level. I know I will be making sure I spend many more hours below the surface with Dive Rutland ,sure you don't get 10 meters of visibility everyday, and you might need a coffee or tea after .  But its not all about how far you can see, or how cold it might be. Think more what you might see ,and how good the coffee tea ,and company is going to be .​

​May 2021. After 15 months in lockdown we’re finally permitted to (carefully!) resume human contact in small groups indoors. Almost a year after deciding “I might want to have a crack at this diving lark,” I arrived in the dive centre; swimmies in one hand, nine months’ worth of excitement and apprehension in the other.

​As it turns out, I could have left the apprehension at home. We had a short batch of introductions, both to the instructors (shout out to Tracey and Nathan!) and to my new buddy, Oscar (top lad!) then straight on to building our equipment ready to head into the pool. No time for nerves to build up as we got kitted up and descended below the surface. That first session was taken up with learning how to control our buoyancy, including getting correctly weighted so we could perform skills floating in mid water instead of kneeling on the bottom, clearing water out of our masks (not goggles!), and the thing I was dreading the most, taking out the regulator, dropping it, and having to recover it. Needn’t have worried though, the recovery part didn’t take long, and neither did the rest of the dive! It felt like about ten minutes in the pool, though it had been over an hour of various skills and just getting used to swimming with fins (not flippers!) on your feet and a big metal weight on your back!

​The following four weeks were spent in the pool each Saturday evening, adding new skills and developing existing ones (partial mask clearing to full mask clearing to mask removal and replacement up to swimming without a mask, for example) all the while practicing maintaining our buoyancy, lots of finning around the pool, and working on our buddy skills (so we didn’t swim off in different directions…) Each session finished with a debrief, so we could highlight anything we struggled with, ask any questions that we couldn’t underwater (because communication is another skill that needs working on, unless you happen to be fluent in sign language before you start!), and discuss what was coming up in the next session. The pool sessions concluded with a drysuit orientation, which added another layer of complexity on top of everything else we had learnt, but once we had masteredgrasped what to do in some potential emergency situations, we were ready to take our new found skills out into the chilly (compared to the pool…) waters of Stoney Cove.

​Well, now that was another kettle of fish entirely (fish pun not intended… honestly). “Vis” is not something you need to consider in a pool, but in June / July in Stoney, the visibility (or more accurately, lack thereof,) can make life a little tricky! For us however (Oscar and I), the combination of practicing buddy skills and attentive instructors meant we were never at risk of getting lost or separated, and each dive (5 in total, over two consecutive Sundays) was more enjoyable than the last. Initially that early apprehension tried to creep back in, but as we methodically went through everything we had trained for, it rapidly dissipated as each challenge was overcome and we became more and more comfortable in the depths of the quarry. Speaking of the “depths” there’s quite a lot in there to see – it’s not just a boring old gravel pit! There’s a Vickers Viscount cockpit and a Westland Wessex helicopter for the aircraft afficionados, an Elizabethan merchant ship wreck for the history buffs, and a submarine! (ok, it’s not a real submarine, but it looks cool!) All inhabited by plenty of fish to spot, and the occasional white clawed crayfish. A pike even came and casually swam through our little group while we were demonstrated our hovering skills – she clearly didn’t care about my excited waving though!

​So, that was 5 qualifying dives complete (4 for Open Water, 1 for Drysuit Specialisation), and we were both signed off and ready to start our adventures as independent divers! For me that was signing straight up to the next trip Dive Rutland was offering (a weekend diving out of Porthkerris on Cornwall), before realising that the UK doesn’t have much in the way of shallow diving (besides shore dives) so if I wanted to get some boat diving in I would need to step it up a notch and get my Advanced Open Water course under my belt too. 

​That wasn’t a problem though, having already snuck a Nitrox course in, I only needed three dives for my AOW, which I could complete in one day back at Stoney, and luckily there was time to slot it in before Porthkerris, so got that booked straight in too! Fast forward a few weeks and I’m back at Stoney, meeting a new buddy for today, Rae, and ready to get these slightly more challenging dives undertaken. First was the deep dive, where we got a touch disoriented (trixy visibility again), but ultimately succeeded in our objectives. Then came the wreck dive, diving the Stanegarth (1910 tug boat) was super cool, and a school of baby perch on the way back were pretty cute. Finally the navigation dive was very difficult in the poor visibility, but at only 5 meters depth there was plenty of time to relax and get it right – Bridget and Greg were very patient!

​Now, ten dives in, I’m feeling ready to start the next adventure, heading out into the North Sea this weekend if the weather holds, or the English Channel a week later if not! 

​Then, who knows?

​Wish me luck!

Written By Ben Green

Here in the UK all Dive Centres and Dive professionals must work under the Training Frameworks of their chosen training agencies as well as the Health and Safety Executive 

The Health and Safety – Diving at Work Regulations 1997, approved Code of Practise and Guidance.  This document covers both the instruction and guiding of people diving for recreational purposes where at least one person taking part is at work, for example as an instructor 

This regulation applies to all recreational diving projects within the 12-mile limit of territorial waters adjacent to Great Britain.

It applies to us here at Dive Rutland and is fully embedded into EVERYTHING we do.

Where Surface Support is concerned, The Health and Safety Executive say that when a dive professional is working in open water and in the water, that the minimum training dive team should be three, consisting of Surface Support, The Instructor and a Certified Assistant. 

The definition of Surface Support is A person who does not have to be diver but should be familiar with the Dive plan and the arrangements for obtaining assistance in the event of an emergency

This person should be present throughout the time that an instructional team is in the water and ready and able to raise the alarm, if required OR assist with managing any dive incident.

• Is a core member of the Dive Rutland team contributing to the onsite Risk Assessment undertaken at the beginning of each training dive day;
• Keeps assessing and updating the Risk Assessment throughout the Dive Day, reporting to the on-site Dive Rutland in charge instructor if things change;
• Assists with divers whilst they are kitting up and at the end of the day de-kitting, entering and exiting the water;
• Logs divers in and out of the water.  Is the person that EVERY dive team reports to – including dive time and the overall dive plan and then on exiting the water they are met by Surface Support and report back providing all information which is then recorded on the Dive Log;
• Is easily identifiable as they wear the Orange Dive Rutland Surface Support Vest
• Stays at the water’s edge whilst dive teams are in the water so they can provide ANY support to the in-water team as required including actioning the Emergency Action Plan;
• Holds an in-date Emergency Primary and Secondary First Aid Certificate.

Just one more GREAT reason you should learn and train with us here at Dive Rutland, your safety and comfort is important to us

As a working Dive Professional here in the UK you have to be aware of so much more than your agencies training standards, we are bound by the rules and regulations of other bodies such as Swim England and Health and Safety.
 
The Health and Safety – Diving at Work Regulations 1997, approved Code of Practise and Guidance.  This document covers both the instruction and guiding of people diving for recreational purposes where at least one person taking part is at work, for example as an instructor 

This regulation applies to all recreational diving projects within the 12-mile limit of territorial waters adjacent to Great Britain.

One of the rules is about the size of the dive team, so today we thought we would look at one of those specific roles – Surface Support or Surface Cover

​The regulations states that the absolute minimum team size for a dive using recreational techniques is three, one person on the surface and two in the water, so if you are working and do not have this then you AND the Diving Contractor are working outside of HSE.

The Diving Contractor is the Dive Centre OR the independent working instructor.
 
The Diving supervisor is an individual or individual(s) appointed by the Diving Contractor and should be in writing and covering that they are responsible for including but not limited to: -

• To ensure dive goes properly
• Legal
• All requirements of Dive Centre owner are implemented and adhered to
• Dives are logged properly
• Equipment is safe to use
• Ran within training agency standards

The definition of Surface Support is A person who does not have to be diver but should be familiar with the Dive plan and the arrangements for obtaining assistance in the event of an emergency

Your Surface Support should be present throughout the time that an instructional team is in the water and ready and able to raise the alarm, if required OR assist with managing any dive incident.  
 
This means they should be 

• Waterside for the entire time you have divers in the water – not wandering off for a cup of tea or coffee – eyes should be waterfront at all times.
• Log divers in and out of the water via whatever logging system you choose
• Have the means to raise the alarm in the event of an emergency
• Know what the dive time and dive plan are
• Hold some level of First aid qualification

 
How about making your students’ lives easier and provide some good quality customer care and have them assist your divers with

• Kitting up waterside
• Helping divers enter and exit the water

This is a common response when professionals are questioned about not having surface support.   Even as a volunteer, if anyone is being paid by the student then you are 'at work' and HSE rules apply

​Yes, you do, our inland quarries generally supply an emergency evacuation process for divers within their quarries but that is NOT surface support, and they are not obliged to offer an emergency service.

First, congratulations on becoming a PADI Professional! Now, are you ready for the next challenge? YES?! 

Why did you choose to become a Divemaster?  Was it the personal challenge? Was it that you have a career in mind? Whatever the reason, it is  "Well Done and go for it", here at Dive Rutland,  we wish you well and are here if you want any help or guidance.

Below we have given you just a few ideas of what you could do moving forward, there are many more.

That is the most common way of using your newly acquired dive skills. Whether it’s a part-time job , seasonal adventure in the tropics, or a full-time position in a dive center, your main focus is to give an underwater tour to already certified divers or help instructors with the logistics and student's supervision. 

Here in the UK an instructor can not work without a certified assistant as we work under Health and Safety Exec.

You could do your Discover Scuba Diver Leader uplift or take the step to Assistant Instructor or straight to Instructor.  Here at Dive Rutland with our Professional staff and Course Director you can take any step you like.

Taking those next steps increases your chances of employment and gives you many more options.  In many popular dive destinations (like Indonesia, Maldives, Honduras, Thailand) you need a special visa to be able to work and those are mostly granted to instructors. ​

Many organisations will look for skilled, experienced divers just like you. This way you can progress your diving, gain further knowledge about marine life, and contribute to ocean conservation. Often you get food, accommodation, and of course, diving included. 

In the last decade the growth of the ‘superyacht industry’ increased positions for Divemasters and Instructors. However, these jobs often require additional boating qualifications like the STCW95 and can involve 80 percent deckhand/cleaning/maintenance work to 20 percent diving-related work. On a plus side, it will probably be the best-paid divemaster job ever and tax-free.

With the increased power of social media, there is a massive demand for underwater photographers. We don’t know a dive center that doesn’t have one. It’s a great source of income and the minimum required certification for that position is usually Divemaster

​While it might not be a dream come true for a newly graduated and excited Divemaster, you will still be surrounded by incredible marine life. It is a great option if you are still studying at university, need additional income, or are stuck in a landlocked location craving to blow some bubbles and we have instructors who have gone on to work at Aquariums such as Bear Grylls at Birmingham

​As a Divemaster, you are way more experienced than most recreational divers therefore you can provide others with your expertise on dive equipment, dive trips, and dive courses. 

​It’s sort of like a tour leader but for divers. By the time you’ve done your training, you should have an idea, how to run and supervise a dive trip. A great way to earn some extra cash and travel to top diving destinations is by organising dive trips for a group of certified divers. 

Get in touch and talk with us, let us know what it is you are trying to achieve and we will map out a training plan for YOU,