Why take this course?
Are you ready to take others on an adventure? If you want to manage challenging diving activities and expeditions in places you haven’t been before, then Advanced Diver is the course for you.
Advanced Divers are role models in BSAC clubs, able to lead groups in new situations, which can be remote and require detailed planning backed up by a huge amount of experience.
As an Advanced Diver, my diving and planning skills have been extended and I can now confidently plan and manage adventurous expeditions. It also enables me to support others in my club as we explore new dive sites.
- Helen Mitchem, University of Nottingham SAC
Advanced Diver training is essential for Dive Leaders who want to organise diving to places they’ve not been before, or Open Water Instructors who want to become Advanced Instructors.
To enrol on an Advanced Diver course you must have already successfully completed a BSAC Dive Leader course (or have equivalent certification from another recognised training agency) and you must be at least 14 years old.
During Advanced Diver training you can extend your diving knowledge to include techniques and emerging technologies involved in underwater search techniques, diving involving no clear surface (either cavern, wreck penetration or ice diving), open-circuit or closed-circuit mixed gas diving, advanced decompression diving and finding and diving an unknown site.
You will further your skills in rescue management and seamanship – using small boats as diving platforms, doing your own chartwork and navigation – and developing your leadership qualities and dive organisation skills.
The course includes relatively few formal lessons, just four, and is heavily based on a structured broadening of your diving experience, particularly in dive planning and management. There are two open-water training dives and two dry practical sessions.
It’s a continually assessed course, so after your classroom and in-water training and a theory exam, you’ll just need to log 20 open-water experience dives (which may include your training dives), and 600 minutes of underwater time, in a range of conditions, since qualifying as a Dive Leader. You’ll have been Dive Leader on at least 10 of your 20 qualifying dives and Dive Manager on at least five.
What you’ll qualify to do
Qualifying as an Advanced Diver means you have built up the skills and experience to manage and supervise all aspects of a wide range of challenging, adventurous club diving activities.
If you are an Open Water Instructor, once you are an Advanced Diver you can take your instructing with BSAC to another level.
What diving experiences will this open up for me?
After qualifying as an Advanced Diver you will be able to expand the horizons of your club, by leading expeditions to unfamiliar locations and by encouraging activities using new technologies.
You can sign up to do the Advanced Diver course by joining a BSAC club. Find a club
Training at your local BSAC club allows you to learn at your own pace, spreading your training sessions over several weeks. You’ll be taught by highly trained volunteers who are keen divers, and will attend club training sessions with other BSAC members. Your BSAC Region could also assist in elements in Advanced Diver training.
You’ll receive a training pack when you sign up, which contains all the learning materials you’ll need. You can view other products to go with the Advanced Diver course, such as Seamanship: A guide for divers and diver safety products in the BSAC shop. You probably already have all the diving equipment that you’ll need for the course.
Your next steps – developing your skills
By qualifying as an Advanced Diver you will join the more experienced divers in your club, and can get involved in organising more of the club’s diving activities.
- Advanced Divers can further their diver training by working towards First Class Diver, which is the highest grade in BSAC’s Diver Training Programme.
- BSAC Advanced Divers can also further their diving development by planning and leading BSAC expeditions.
- BSAC Advanced Divers who are Open Water Instructors can progress to Advanced Instructor – which opens the door for you to join the Instructor Training Scheme and learn how to train instructors on an Instructor Development Course.
- There are also Skill Development Courses (SDCs) that may be of interest including technical and logistical courses such as Compressor Operation and Mixed Gas Blender.
