The sea is relatively calm over the weekend, with around a 3ft swell expected along the South Wales coast. The bigger issue is the previous days swell and the wind picking up and the effect that is going to have on the visibility for any dive along Wales' South coast. If you head to some of the more sheltered bays early on Saturday then the wind may still be gentle enough however it is due to start picking up from Saturday lunch time so from Saturday afternoon onwards the visibility is going to be blown out of the water.
You can always head to an inland dive site where the weather has less effect on the visibility. Chepstow and Vobster Quay are both options for the weekend and you'll be almost guaranteed a dive at those sites.
We'll be down at Chepstow this weekend running the PADI Advanced Open Water course. This involves 5 guided dives over the 2 days and allows the students to really focus on improving their general diving skills in a controlled environment with support from our instructors.
We've also got a charity pool diving session coming up soon, so check back or follow us on Facebook for more information on that. It will be running in early December and we'll be announcing the charity we're supporting soon. Let us know if you'd be interested in attending, it would be great to see you there!
Two big things we'll be contending with this weekend for Scuba Diving in South Wales; swell and visibility. The swell on Friday afternoon will be up around the 8ft mark and that continues into Saturday. As the swell dies down, the visibility will need a period of calm to settle down and improve.
Much the same as last week, the best bet is to head West to Pembrokshire to the North facing beaches and bays. Martins Haven and St Brides would be good areas to look at but there is a lot of adverse weather in the Atlantic at the moment and you could find visibility is poor there too. You could also head to an inland training site, such as Chepstow in South Wales or Vobster Quay in Sommerset.
We're in the pool in Hebron Hall, Cardiff this weekend for the first two parts of the PADI Open Water Diver course. The students will spend the morning in the pool, learning the practical skills required before learning the required theory in the afternoon. We're one of the only Scuba Diving Centres in the country to offer the PADI Open Water Diver referral in a single day plus some self study.
Next week we'll be taking the students to Chepstow to complete the open water part of the PADI Open Water Diver course and the following weekend we'll be back up at Chepstow running PADI Advanced Open Water course. As always, checkout our Facebook page for all the latest going ons.
High winds, big swells, big tides, limited visibility pretty much somes up the conditions for the scuba diving across South Wales including the Cardiff, Bridgend, Swansea area's. We need a period of calm for the diving conditions to clear and bring the visibility to an acceptable level. Conditions are looking the same for the next few days so there will not be change across the region for some time.
Best option is to hed for the sheltered North facing beaches in Pembrokeshire including Martins Haven and St Brides, the other option as always is to go inland to the training sites in Chepstow and Somerset, but even they are getting poor viability due to the adverse conditions. and heavy rainfall.
PADI Scuba Diving Training and Courses in Cardiff, Swansea and across South Wales
Next weekend we will be running the PADI Open Water Diver Course, the PADI Scuba Diver course and the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course. The courses will be run in the pool at Hebron Hall in Cardiff with people attending from all over South Wales, Cardiff, Newport, Bridgend and Swansea. The courses will consist of swimming pool practical training and theory tests to establish the students ability to scuba dive in the Open Water anywhere in the world.
We shall keep you upto date with all the training as we progress over the next few weeks. Also check out the facebook site for course dates and details.
It has been a very strange diving season in 2017, high winds, heavy rain, cold, damp, blustery conditions and this has continued into September and into October usually two of our better diving months. The conditions at the moment are not good for scuba diving in the South Wales region especially Cardiff and Swansea areas. The surf and swell is huge and constant at the moment, an after thought of the hurricanes out west.
Best option is to hed for the sheltered North facing beaches in Pembrokeshire including Martins Haven and St Brides, the other option as always is to go inland to the training sites in Chepstow and Somerset, but even they are getting poor viability due to the adverse conditions.
PADI Scuba Diving Training and Courses in Cardiff, Swansea and across South Wales
We are now coming into one of our main seasons for dive training and courses especially with the PADI Open Water Diver Course, PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course and the PADI Rescue Diver Course. The pool sessions are initially being held on a day long session in Hebron Hall in Dinas Powys and then in a preferred Open Water Training site.
The courses will consist of Theory and exams as well as confined water training and Open Water Diving to achieve the PADI level of Scuba Diver Training and competency.
Summer seemed to forget South Wales this week and we've had some very interesting weather throughout. One minute bright sunshine, the next torrential rain followed by more sunshine! There's also been a fair bit of strong wind, all of which means visibility is going to be pretty poor along the whole of the South Wales coast for any Scuba Diving.
Swell on Saturday will also be pretty big and make any shore entries / exits very challenging, although both the swell and wind drop on Sunday. Our advice is to either look further west in Wales or find yourself a last minute flight to sunnier climbs along Europes Southern coast.
Your last option for a bit of Scuba Diving in South Wales this weekend is to head to the inland site at Chepstow which will offer you almost guaranteed diving as it less affected by the conditions; although again you may get some reduced visibility due to the run off of rain water over the last couple of days.
We're up at Chepstow, South Wales this weekend with a number of students completing their PADI Open Water Diver course open water dives; the final step in achieving their PADI Open Water Diver certification which will allow them to dive anywhere in the world up to 18m. This is the first step in their Scuba Diving adventure and will open the door to a number of other courses and certifications, including the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver and a number of specialities.
Our usual venue for the PADI Open Water Referral course, Hebron Hall in Cardiff, is closed in September for maintenance and upgrades so they'll be no course running this September but we'll be back in the pool in October.
Unfortunately conditions for Scuba Diving on the South Wales coast aren't particularly good this weekend. Friday and Saturday sees strong winds and reasonable swell along the whole of the coast. This will make conditions incredibly difficult before, during and after the dive. Although conditions will improve on Sunday with the wind dropping right down and the swell a little smaller the effect of the previous weeks conditions on visibility will not have cleared.
Your two options for a dive this weekend are; book a ticket and head somewhere warm, calm and pretty (Southern Europe can be reached in a couple of hours) or head to one of the inland dive sites in South Wales are close by. Chepstow is the deepest inland dive site in the UK and Vobster Quay in Sommerset also offers you the chance to dive without being so affected by weather conditions.
Last weekend saw us back in the swimming pool in Hebron Hall, Cardiff running our PADI Open Water Referral course. It was a very busy day as a number of people look to get their PADI diving qualifications before they head off on their summer holidays. Whilst the training is on hold this weekend a number of the students will be up at Chepstow next week to complete the PADI Open Water Diver course and become qualified to dive anywhere in the world and join this wonderful community.
The beginning of the week was bright sunshine here in South Wales however things are changing in the backend of the week, with heavy rain due Friday as well as strong winds. The actual conditions on the weekend may be acceptable for Scuba Diving, with our sheltered bays being your best option. Swell will be around 3ft - 5ft over both days and whilst there will be a moderate wind, bays such as Oxwich Bay or Caswell Bay in Swansea will provide a level of protection from this.
One of the biggest issues will be visibility. On Thursday and Friday we've got bigger swell, at around 6ft to 7ft and strong, gusting winds. These things combined will create a lot of water movement and likely create some turbid water along the South Wales coast. Whilst this doesn't mean a dive cannot go ahead, you do need to factor the reduced visibility into your dive plans. You should also ensure you are only diving with a dive lead who knows the dive site well.
South Wales is blessed with the deepest inland dive site in the UK, about a 30 minute drive from Cardiff and an hour from Swansea, so you always have the option of heading to Chepstow to have a more certain chance of a dive. Whilst the wind does have an effect on the visibility here, you're not also contending with the swell and tidal water movement, so the effects are normally less severe.
The final option is to pack up your Scuba gear and head abroad to somewhere warmer, although with summer holidays no upon us finding those value deals will be much harder.
No training sessions for us this weekend. After all of the schools training we've been running, not just in Cardiff but across the UK they're all headed off on their trips now. The first weekend in August will see us back in the pool in Cardiff running the PADI Open Water Referral course. Following that, the middle of August we'll be heading to Chepstow to complete the Open Water dives part of the PADI Open Water Diver course, seeing our students become qualified to dive to 18m anywhere in the world and begin their Scuba Diving journey.
We run courses virtually throughout the year, so if you're thinking of getting your PADI Open Water Diver qualification then give Lee a call and he'll be happy to discuss the details, options and timeframes with you.
The weather is a little dull here in South Wales across this weekend but we could still see some acceptable conditions for diving along the coast, particularly in the more sheltered areas. The swell is relatively low, at around 2ft - 4ft and on Sunday in particular the wind is set to drop, with a few strong gusts. We're on a neap tide along the South Wales coast, so high tide is a relatively low (for the Bristol Channel), 8.5m. This could effect your usual dive plans, so make sure you review and re-plan where required.
We've had relatively calm waters across the week and the wind has been quite gentle too which means you should have acceptable visibility for an enjoyable dive, particularly in areas with more shelter from the wind.
As always there is the option of the inland dive sites, which will always offer more settled conditions - particularly useful if you are training or doing your first dive in a little while to get back into things. Obviously, if it's been longer than 6 months we recommend you have a refresher course before doing any diving.
We're really busy this weekend! We've got our usual session running at Hebron Hall in Cardiff, where a number of students will be completing their PADI Open Water Referral course. This is the first part of the full PADI Open Water Diver course and we're one of the few places in South Wales that enable you to complete this with home study and a single days instructor led training.
On top of that, we're also running the PADI Open Water Referral course across the Saturday and Sunday for pupils at Alleyen's School in Dulwich. Again we are one of the few companies that can organise these course at your location, reducing costs of travelling and the difficulty in arranging the trip. If this is something you think could benefit your school, company or club, give Lee a call and he can run through all of the different options available.
Well after the beautiful weather of last weekend, it's taken a bit of a downward turn this weekend. The wind is due to pick up to around 15 knots, gusting to over 20 knots and the swell is also bigger than last weekend, likely to be around 4ft. This will lead to some very tricky conditions for Scuba Diving along the South Wales coast, although you may find the most sheltered bays provide an option. You will need to ensure you have a detailed dive plan and also ensure you dive with people who know the coast line very well and have the correct level of experience and training.
The inland sites are open as always, such as Chepstow and Vobster Quay in Sommerset, although keep in mind this weekend is Glastonbury so the traffic in that area is going to be extremely busy. It's also not too late to book yourself a last minute getaway before the school holidays kick in and try some diving in Europe or further afield. Just make sure you properly research any dive centre you plan on diving with.
Theres no diving courses this weekend but we are still busy preparing for next weekends PADI Open Water Referral course we're running in London for a school before their trip. These courses are always good fun but certainly keep us all on our toes. We'll also be running the PADI Open Water course in Hebron Hall, Cardiff next weekend, so all our instructors and divemasters are going to be extremely busy.
Our courses run every month, so there is still time to get booked on to one of our PADI courses before your holiday.