News
Get ready for the BSAC Diving Conference at DIVE 2015

The 2015 BSAC Diving Conference will take a new tack following a survey that more than 500 members completed in March this year. Diving Officers, Training Officers, instructors and branch officers fed back that they would like to gain even more knowledge on the day, have more opportunity for meaningful discussion and get greater value from the event overall.
Despite the fact that there was a good satisfaction rate with previous conferences and many attendees do go back year after year, work is now underway to deliver an even more valuable conference for members.
BSAC Council member Brett Parker who is overseeing the event said: “We were thrilled that so many key (and no doubt very busy) volunteers took the time to complete the survey. These findings are helping us take the conference in an exciting and valuable new direction for delegates.”
As previous years, the BSAC Diving Conference will be open to all members but is most relevant for diving officers, training officers, instructors and branch officers. Save the date – Saturday 24th October 2015 (at the NEC, Birmingham).
A few things you can expect from this year’s conference…
- Back by popular demand, world-renowned authority on diving and hyperbaric medicine Dr Simon Mitchell will deliver the keynote speech to the conference.
- Hear from the new National Diving Officer
- Indepth and interactive session on the Diver Training Programme
- Incident report from BSAC’s Safety Officer
- BSAC Chairman on organisational strategy and new developments
- Breakout workshops and Q&A sessions
- Expanded open forum discussion session with Chairman, Chief Executive, National Diving Officer and more
Conference tickets will also give you free Dive Show access all weekend.
More features and sessions to be announced.
For more information visit www.bsac.com.
Gear Reviews
Gear Review: Gemini Switch Box from Lungfish (Watch Video)

In a video shot exclusively for Scubaverse.com, Jeff Goodman reviews the Gemini Switch Box from Lungfish.
For more information, visit www.lungfishdivesystems.com and www.facebook.com/divelungfish
Dive Training Blogs
Jump into… A career in diving

A career in doing something that you love… I have heard so many times that diving is just a hobby and not a career. A career by definition is ‘an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life and with opportunities for progress.’
I started diving at the age of 17. I became a PADI Divemaster and from this point progressed to an Open Water instructor, to Staff Instructor, to Master Instructor, to Course Director. Surely by definition this is a career path? The only difference (in some cases) that would dispute this matter… the controversial subject of pay!
I am 100% not going to say that no dive centres in the world pay. I myself do, and I know others that do, too. It does however seem to have become very much the norm, that the ‘because I enjoy it’ philosophy has eradicated the UK diving career path for years. Divers volunteering their help for little or no reward (again… not everyone before you stop reading). To eventually realising, that they are doing hard work, for not much to gain… even paying to carry on doing courses, and to become an instructor to work for that centre. What is all that about?!
If you are the type of person to be happy with that, that is completely fine, so long as you are happy. I was at one point… and then realised that I had invested a lot of my time and money, and when this realisation hit, started to feel undervalued. The instructor I was ‘working for’, for a free hot chocolate at the end of the day, would sit in the cafe whilst I taught in the 3 degree waters in the middle of winter. Obviously the paying customer had booked his course through this person and not me… I was happy with a hot chocolate and having fun… but aren’t all of the best careers the ones that we do not see as work. They aren’t all volunteer roles.
Those of you looking for a career in diving, don’t be put off. There are places that you can work, and a career in diving can literally take you all across the world. Those saying that there is no money in diving… ignore those guys too. There is. Obviously working for free is never going to get you there, but if you want to do it, then do it. There are plenty of places not only looking to employ scuba instructors, there are other jobs at aquariums, conservation roles, the Navy and many others for you to take a look at.
There are also grants to look at for education, the open water instructor course, or anything else after that is not exactly cheap… but still nonetheless worthwhile.
So, please do not take away the fact of diving being a career. It is. The only thing that I will leave you with (dropping a bombshell), is that if we accept the fact of ‘working for free’ then it will never change and still be hard to make a career in diving… I mean, of course there is limited need when there is still the alternate option for a business to have free labour.
Clare began Duttons Divers at just 19 years old and a short while later became one of the world’s youngest PADI Course Directors. Find out more at www.duttonsdivers.com
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