There’s no greater adventure than diving. Your mind will be mesmerised by the colourful and most beautiful sea creatures, your curiosity raised by the mysterious remains of sunken ships, or perhaps your creativity is awakened by the art of underwater photography. Your diving interests may range from simply a casual pastime pursued on vacations to a constant passion, or even as a career.
When you discover scuba diving, you discover freedom, serenity, adventure and fun. You discover the new feeling of weightlessness and the exhilaration of breathing underwater. You will learn new skills, new knowledge, meet new friends and go to new and exotic places. Nothing compares to the freedom and peace of scuba diving – it really is a completely new sensation.
Virtually anyone in good health, who is reasonably fit and comfortable in the water, can learn to dive. Once you discover how easy and fun scuba diving can be, you’ll want to share it with friends and family.
The diving around the coastline of County Cork, and into Kerry, is amongst the best in western Europe. We are fortunate to benefit from clear oceanic waters and spectacular, colourful, underwater reefs. There is the possibility of seeing lobsters, conger eels, and even the giant basking shark, the second largest fish in the world. In addition to the natural wonders, there are many wrecks around our local coasts including many within diving depths. These include the huge Kowloon Bridge near Baltimore, one of the largest wrecks in the world, the historic Aud near Cork Harbour, and two German U-Boats.
Every December we host an open-night to present the club’s social and diving activities and to introduce you to the dive sport. Experienced divers will be available to answer any query you may have. In the month of January we hold a try-a-dive in a pool in Cork city, to give you a little taster of what diving feels like. Based upon the interest we set out a training program that covers 7 to 10 pool sessions and 1 Saturday of theory. This once-a-year course starts at the end of January and finishes somewhere in March. The theory lectures cover topics such as dive physics, dive tables, hypothermia and more. In the pool you will be taught the basic scuba skills, such as buoyancy control, proper finning technique, mask clearing and of course how to use your breathing apparatus (i.e regulator), etc. After successfully completing the pool sessions, all these newly learned skills will have to be to practised. Usually on one weekend, you will be asked to perform shore dives. Those dives are the last part of your dive course, in order to get your CMAS 1 star qualification. This internationally recognised certification allows you to dive with an experienced buddy to a depth of 20 meters and provides the starting point for all further diving qualifications.
Cork SAC has a large number of experienced and committed dive instructors that obtained their qualifications diving with our club. They are more than eager to pass on not only the necessary skills, but also their passion for diving.
For the pool sessions, the club members will give you a loan of their personal equipment (regulator, buoyancy control device, tank and weight belt). You will have to purchase your own mask, snorkel and fins. You will have to rent full scuba gear for the weekend of the shore dives.
What is the cost?
€100 membership to CFT (primarily insurance cover)
€100 training cost (to cover the rent of the pool)
€35 for the purchase of your CFT logbook
€100 contribution to the club
€335 total
Joining the club allows you to benefit from the use of our club equipment, including two purpose built RIB boats, plus access to the wealth of knowledge and experience of our diving instructors and the other experienced divers within the club. It is an excellent environment in which to further develop your diving skills and experience. If you decide to join the club after your training is complete, then it will be necessary to pay the full club membership fee. In this case, the club contribution as listed above (€100) will be deducted from the club membership fee, which for 2012 is €320 (or €290 if paid before end of February). The membership fee covers items such as insurance and maintenance of the RIBs and trailers and upkeep of all necessary safety equipment.
I hope to meet you on our open-night or in the pool and join us to discover the wonderful underwater world.
Joost Vanmuysen
Training Officer
