Throughout some of our previous blogs we have stated how diving can take you to many wonderful and unique places, where you can experience a wide variety of new, exotic things. Today I would like to give you an example of one of these experiences. In June next year we will be taking 26 students from the local university in Cardiff, to a protected environmental sight in Spain. The 26 students will be staying in a villa next to the marina, where they will be volunteering on the protected diving sight for a week. This will give them experience within the discipline of their study, providing them with amazing experiance in their future field of work. This will involve maintaining the site as well as diving the area and studying the wildlife.

6 of the students will then stay on for a month as part of a volunteer course. They will be staying in a small house, in the middle of the forestry area 4 kilometers away from the marina. This will be an amazing experience as the house, although relatively close to the neighbouring town, has a feeling of isolation as it is amidst the trees, by itself in the forestry.

None of this would be possible without them first completing the PADI Open water course which set on the path to further developing their skills. They all took the course in the South Wales area near Cardiff, Swansea and Newport. These basic skills allowed them to develop and engage with opportunities such as the experience they will soon undertake.

Christmas is slowly creeping up on us, and we are getting more and more individuals wishing to learn how to dive before they spend the festive season in a warm sunny country, exploring its deep waters. What a great gift it would be to give someone the ability to explore the ocean. It would be the perfect Christmas present for those struggling to think of something. We're always looking for more, enthusiastic, individuals to teach our trade to.

The ability to dive will take you all across the world, from Sharm el-sheikh in Egypt, which has waters teaming with Wildlife, to the Grenadines in the Caribbean, or even right on your very doorstep in Britain at places like Fishguard. What would you do if you knew the skills required to dive? Would you dive wrecks, exploring the relics of the past? Or perhaps search for wildlife, trying to see as many species as possible? Or maybe you would just like to relax, hovering in the ocean and just enjoying the scenery?

Diving opens up a vast array of new things for one to experience and it is relatively easy to gain these skills. The PADI Open Water course consists of one day in the pool with a theory exam after and then just four open water dives. This certifies you to dive anywhere in the world, although it is advised to take a dive master wherever you go, just in case. The Open Water qualification is not all however, individuals that have a love of the ocean can also undertake the PADI Advanced Diver course to expand their array of skills and reach greater depths. All of these skills are taught in the South Wales area near Cardiff, Swansea and Newport. So for many it's very close to home.

Many people in the UK tend to only come to us to learn diving because they're going on holiday and which to dive abroad. This is completely fine and we here at Ocean Quest do that often, for instance, were going to the Grenadines soon to dive at some sites there. However, there are also many dive sites in Britain itself. It may be colder, but that's what the wet suits (or dry suits!) are for.

The UK is an island. We are completely surrounded by the sea, which provides us with a plethora of places to dive within a relativity short distance. An example of this would be Fishguard in north Wales, which is home to some wrecks raring to be explored. The style of diving known as wreck diving is looked at in the PADI Advanced Diver course we teach in Cardiff, which will help you acclimatize to the cold environment of British diving.

The Advanced Course builds upon the fundamental skills that are taught during the PADI Open Water Diver Course. The site we use to teach the course has many ares to explore, from a sunken jeep to sunken planes. The area is full of aquatic life of many shapes and sizes, even though it is done in a controlled environment. With the PADI Open Water qualification you will be taught the skills to dive anywhere in the world and the Advanced diver builds on this to reach deeper depths.

Where will diving take you?

I can already feel the hot Mediterranean sun as out trip to Spain is now booked! In June we will be visiting a protected dive site with students from Cardiff University. This will allow them to gain experience in the field, giving them an edge when applying for work after their studies. It gives them experience working on an active environmental diving sight through volunteer work, that will aid the local community.

The cohort of students have all completed their PADI Advanced Diver and are now ready to dive in the protected site. All that was required to reach this level of skill was the complete their PADI Open Water qualification, consisting of a theory exam, one pool session and four open water dives. The PADI Advanced diver was also completed which consists of five open water dives using an increased skill range, such as navigation and buoyancy skills.  All qualifications are taught locally in the Cardiff, Swansea and South Wales area allowing us to use multiple dive sites.

We are also embarking on a trip to the Grenadines in the coming months where we will dive multiple sites. The water is so warm there wet suits will be unnecessary, a commodity that is unheard of in the UK.

The skill of diving unlocks a whole new world of adventure for anyone who wishes to learn it and with this skill set anyone is able to venture into the depths of the great blue, and experience the wonders that preside there.

To many the prospect of diving is exiting and adventurous. It is the reason that many people learn to dive and use the skills that they learn their entire lives. However, many may fear going beyond the conventional depths of recreational diving (12-40 meters) and learn to deep sea dive (40m+). Even though more technical knowledge is required it is possible to safely reach these depths. One of the ways in which this is done is thought reducing the oxygen in the compressed air mixture from 21% to 10%. This is done to reduce the concentration of oxygen that enters the body at higher depths. As you descend in the ocean pressure increases at a rate of 1 atm (atmosphere) every 10 meters. Surface pressure is 1 atm so at a depth of 60 meters the pressure exerted on a diver would be 7 atm. Every time the pressure is increased by 1 atm the volume of the tank is effectively halved, however no gas is lost and thus the same amount of gas is taking up a smaller space due to pressure. So per breath more elements are entering your body. Returning the the 60 meter example, at this depth there is a pressure of 7 atm being exhibited and as such per breath 64x the amount of air will enter your body. Thus 64x the normal amount of oxygen would be taken in per breath, which is a harmful amount, so to reduce this effect and and keep you safe, the mixture is reduced to 10%. This allows you to reach these amazing depths and see the side of the ocean only few have ever seen. See what lives in the deepest depths of the planet. The PADI Open Water Course is the first step you must take, from there the PADI Advanced Diver and PADI Rescue Diver will set you up to become a Divemaster (after experience is gained) and the technical knowledge of this amazing, professional will be available to you.

The PADI courses are taught in Cardiff, Swansea and the South Wales area throughout the year, all equipment is provided and the Open Water course only requires one pool session, a theory exam which is done on the same day and 4 open water dives done over a weekend. Come and experience the most beautiful and rewarding aspect of our world.

This week seems to have flown by and with the end of the week brings another group that has passed they're PADI Open Water course. As per usual all participants passed with flying colours and have now earn't themselves a fundamental diving qualification. This will set them up nicely to continue perusing  further experience and knowledge around the skill of diving, and if they so wish attain further qualifications such as the PADI Advanced Open Water and the PADI Rescue Diver qualifications.

Although they are renowned qualifications this does not mean that they are hard to attain. Anyone can learn to dive and in a relatively short space of time. All qualifications are run in South Wales. The Open Water Course is primarily taught in a pool session in Hebron Hall, Cardiff, and this session will aim to teach you the fundamental skills for diving. As it is in a controlled pool environment there is no risk to your safety during training. The pool skills and theory test are all done on one day so the process is not dragged out, in case you wanted to learn before a holiday. The final skills examination is then done in another area of South Wales, near Newport, where over a weekend you will complete four open water dives. Its just that simple.

The PADI Advanced Open Water course is an extension of the initial PADI Open Water Course which is meant to hone your skills of navigation and buoyancy so that you have a more professional knowledge of how to dive. The pool session is not necessary for this qualification and merely consists of 6 open water dives over a weekend.

The Rescue Diver course will then focus on what to do if trouble were to occur and gives you a knowledge of first aid so that you and whoever you are diving with is more protected. This higher qualification requires individuals to partake in a comprehensive rescue theory test and two days of open water rescue diver training.

These skills are what allows us to do the things we do, as well as being commercial we are also a research diving company currently investigation the effect of sea grass on global warming. This is coming from both a biological standpoint through a marine biologist within the company and a chemistry perspective through a chemist currently studying in York. The next blog will go more in depth as to what we are currently finding with our research.

Well the weather has definitely changed again here in South Wales, the last couple of days have been quite sunny and warm with little wind, however that is all about to change. The winds are coming in from a Southerly direction at quite a rate. Big Southerly winds will mean all southern facing beaches across the area including Cardiff, Swansea, Newport and Porthcawl will be completely blown out.

With such big winds I cant see anywhere being sheltered, and if they are sheltered the vis will be non existent throughout the region, the best place to dive is inland at either Vobster Quay or Chepstow.

We are running the PADI Open Water Scuba Diver Course and the PADI Open Water Rescue course this weekend with Daniel, Alef and Reuben all eager to get in the water, we are heading to chepstow and the water temperature is still reasonable at 12-14 Degrees.

Well in a word NO!

Huge Tides

Huge Swell

Huge Wind

No Vis

Learn to Surf or go to the pub.

There has been very rough weather over the last few days, in fact for the whole of September, really not good for diving in general, high southerly winds, big sea swells, huge tides making all the coastal sights across South Wales from Cardiff to St Davids undiveable. Even the rain will bring the visibility down in the inland sights, maybe a good idea to start your Christmas shopping.#

We have the PADI Open Water Diver Course and the PADI Rescue Diver Course running next weekend so hopefully conditions will b e better.

This week the students from Cardiff University completed the PADI Open Water Referral Course, gaining  an immensely valuable qualification that will undoubtedly help in furthering their careers after they complete their respective degrees. They will now be able to continue onto more advanced courses from the PADI Advanced Open Water course, PADI Rescue Diver course, and then continuing to becoming a PADI Divemaster, allowing them to gain the skills necessary to do research within the water itself! We have enjoyed teaching them and hope that they use they're new found skills to further progress our scientific knowledge of marine life through they're degrees.

The PADI Open Water Course, which is taught in Cardiff, Swansea and South Wales, gives individuals the fundamental skills  to progress in this profession. In the Open Water course, the basics such as mask and equipment skills are taught. All that is required to pass is a days worth of pool sessions, a theory exam and four open water dives which are executed within a controlled environment. The courses after however, focus on more advanced techniques such as precise navigation underwater, buoyancy (which allows you to hover at any depth underwater giving you a feeling of weightlessness) and for the Rescue Diver course, rescue skills.

As the season progresses we still have many more PADI courses to teach. More and more people are wishing to discover the vast blue depths for themselves and we are delighted to allow them to follow these dreams by teaching them the skills required to stay safe while doing so.