Well we are all back now from Dahab and it really isn't a pleasant welcome back...  Where did this weather come from?  We have just had another fantastic week at Fantasea Red Sea (also known as Fantasea Divers and the Coral Coast Hotel). 

There has been a superb group on this trip, as there is every time we go.  There were some great dives completed this week by the group:

Well done to Nick McKenna who has recently earned the "Black Belt of Recreational Diving" the Master Scuba Diver.  Yeah...  Now after reaching this level Nick is looking for further challenges and is thinking of the PADI Tec Deep diver program and looking towards Tec Diving.

Well done Nick, from all the team at Diving Leisure Leeds.

Well done from all the team at Diving Leisure Leeds to Rupert, Neil, Tony and Megan who all completed their PADI Advanced Open Water today.  The guys worked through the last dives of the course today with Chris, Lisa and Luke at Dosthill Quarry.  The guys completed the Deep Adventure dive which was the last dive before the group needed for their certification. 

Well done guys and gals...

Our weekly PADI Enriched Air Nitrox Diver program is becoming very popular.  This is our third week in a row that we have run a Nitrox course.  Seb ran this session with Steve and Paul.  The program is designed as a self-study manual, followed by a knowledge development session in the classroom.

In the classroom you will view the PADI Enriched Air Diver DVD and then work through the knowledge reviews with your PADI Instructor.  You will then work through a number of EANx tables and formula questions to help you develop your understanding and skills of Nitrox dive planning.

Once your knowledge is up to scratch your PADI Nitrox Instructor will administer the final exam, where you will show your instructor you have fully understoood the material.  Then you will learn one of the most valuabl skills in Nitrox, gas analysis.  This skill allows you to ensure the Oxygen content of the gas you will be breathing on y ...

This Saturday was busy in the centre, with Ian finishing the final sections of his theory and Fiona carrying out the dive planning portion of her Scuba Review.  The guys are now ready to enjoy their trip to Egypt.  Alex and Mike were both running around filling cylinders and kit bags for the upcoming weekends diving.

The dive club is going to Capernwray on Sunday 26th August and Wast Water on Monday 27th August, for further information about this please contact the dive centre on 0113 245 7976.

Tonight we had three people taking their first breathes underwater.  Ali, Alex and Gary were guided through their first session scuba diving.  And what a way to experience it.  Their first breathes were taken in the shallow waters of the training pool at the Leeds International Pool.  Here we developed their skills and built confidence in themselves underwater.  After about 30mins of training and bimbling about the group were taken to the main pool.

We entered as a group into the main 50m long pool, it was a noticably cooler than the smaller training pool, all this was forgotten when the group turned the corner and saw the 5m deep diving pit emerge around the corner.  Even though I dive in this pool on a weekly basis, it is still very impressive, the students are well prepared for their open water dives after a couple of hours in this swimming pool. 

What do you call two groups PADI Open Water students, 1 group of PADI Discover Scuba Diving and a whole bunch of dive team?

A standard night at Tong Recreation Centre....

The pool session this evening was from 6pm to 9pm, with an extra hour of in water time to allow all the training to be completed on schedule.  This level of flexibility allows students to catch up with missed session or just to develop their in-water skills by spending more time in the water.  If you would like to develop your skills contact the dive centre on 0113 245 7976.