What does it Cost
Cost of Equipment.
The club does not own or provide any personal items of diving equipment; you will be responsible for buying, or otherwise acquiring your own equipment some of which will be needed early in the training (Mask, fins, snorkel) and all of which will be needed in order to undertake open water dives. In the early lectures, we provide a lot of information on equipment and it is better to defer any purchases until after this point. It is perfectly feasible to buy second hand diving equipment provided due care is taken and advice sought. In round terms you need to budget for somewhere between £500-£1000 to fully kit yourself out for UK diving. The lower figure assumes some second hand equipment, the higher figure assumes all new equipment. As with all sports, you could spend a lot more if you have deep pockets; however, the above costs should be adequate to get you started with reasonable quality, safe equipment.
Dive Fees.
An actual days diving will also incur some costs. First you need to get yourself to the dive site; sharing transport with other members is encouraged to reduce the costs. Your bottles will need to be filled, typically this costs £2-£3 per cylinder. A launch fee will probably be required for the boat(s) as most slipways are privately or municipally owned these days. Launch fees are shared amongst those participating in the days diving. Finally, the club levies a fee for each dive done in the club boats to cover wear and tear and cost of fuel. Typically a days diving will cost you £15 to cover boat fees, launch fees and boat petrol/oil. The good news is that you are exempt from all boat fees if you tow a club boat.
Diving is not a cheap sport and you must be prepared for significant expenditure if you want to take it up seriously. However, we try to make the early days as painless as possible, deferring the heavy expenditure until you have gained some experience of underwater activity and are hooked. The good news is that the actual training costs nothing; this is provided free to all members of the Bradford on Avon club. However, you do have to join BSAC and our club!
- Membership of Bradford on Avon SAC
- Membership of BSAC
- Capital cost of diving equipment
- Dive Fees