Good news — there's nothing you have to do. No course, no conversion, no starting again. Join a club, bring the qualification you've already got, go diving.
You can join a BSAC club and dive on your existing qualification. That's it. That's the whole process.
If you fancy doing more later — boats, wrecks, deeper, teaching — it's all there and your training counts towards it. But that's your call!
Equally, if you need to refresh skills or are new to UK diving we can help you brush up and teach you all you need to know, that’s what we do!
Alex joined as a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver. Here's how he got on.
What your club will ask
• What is your qualification?
• When did you last dive?
• Happy with the dive we're planning, or would you rather start with something gentler?
If the honest answer to "when did you last dive" is "2019, in Egypt, and I've forgotten most of it" — they've heard that plenty of times! It's fine and they will support you to get you diving again confidently.
Where your qualification sits
Got a PADI Open Water or Advanced Open Water?
That's broadly where our Ocean Diver sits. If you ever want the next one up, it's Sports Diver — good to 40m, which opens up some fantastic UK wreck diving and about as much diving as many people want anywhere.
Got a PADI Rescue Diver?
That's around Sports Diver. Next up would be Dive Leader — the point where you can really start helping run club diving rather than just turning up for it.
Trained with someone else?
SSI, RAID, SAA, ScotSAC, NAUI, CMAS, TDI and plenty more are all recognised. See the full equivalency chart
Never dived in the UK?
Colder than you're used to, and a lot better than you're expecting. Wrecks everywhere, seals that come and say hi, kelp forests in the summer. Your club will sort you out with drysuit skills and start you somewhere sheltered. What UK diving is really like
Been a while?
That’s completely normal and easily sorted. Most clubs will get you in the pool to brush up on skills, then out somewhere easy. Getting back in the water
Already teaching?
If you have an instructor qualification with another agency and fancy teaching within a club (we’d love that!) there's a short course to get you across. Already an instructor
Come and have a look
Clubs are more than happy for you to go along to a club night, meet a few people and see whether you like the look of them! You could even try a dive with them before you commit to anything.
