Apologies to all our customers who have been directed here by Google or Yahoo. This site has somehow been put near the top of their search engines.
For the Dive Wimbledon, Dive Putney, Dive Kingston and Dive Balham main scuba diving website please click on 'Dive Wimbledon School Site' in the links to the left.

Apologies for any inconvenience,

Roger Hirst
02085406874

16 - 17 July

Lynne taught Jennie and Ellen their Open Water Referral scuba diving courses at Putney Leisure Centre. They all had a great time. Anna and Claudia had refresher scuba diving sessions with Dave while Roger looked after Emma.

With the sun shining we had to complete some deeper dives so at Wraysbury we had 2 students for the PADI Advanced course and Mandy completing her Enriched Air specialty course.

On the Sunday we headed upto Stoney Cove for the Deep and Multi level dives. Sue and Brent did really well while James had no problem with his Deep Adventure dive.

Sue, Brent and Daron also tried Enriched Air diving for the first time and obtained their specialty certifications.

Andy led a couple of dives and everybody had a great time. The weather was fantastic and it was a real pleasure to dive in Stoney Cove again.

13 July

A quiet night at the pool with only a few people diving. Sue tried a drysuit which was a little too large while Shaun practised his skills for his upcoming instructor course. Divemaster trainee Simon swam around.

9 - 10 July

Caroline, Rachael, and Danie completed the 4 Open water qualifying dives with the help of Nathan, Stan, Trevor and Jonty.

Sari completed the Enriched Air specialty course with Roger.

On the Sunday Casper, Caroline, Rob, Jason and Mandy finished the 4 scenarios for the PADI Rescue Diver course. Everybody had a great time in the sunshine and earned their certification. Thanks go to Peter, David and John for their help on the day and acting skills!!!!

South West London scuba diving school and club nights for Dive Kingston, Dive Wimbledon, Dive Putney and Dive Balham take place most weekends and every Wednesday evening. We have a club social night on the first Tuesday of every month.

Our divers come from all over London but particularly from Kingston Upon Thames, Merton, Battersea, Wandsworth, Hammersmith, London and Lambeth.

Hi Roger

Just a quick note to thank you for an excellent scuba diving refresher last night.  I was really impressed with the care and attention that Whales paid to my course - it is refreshing to deal with such professional and yet really
fun people.  I feel confident going back into the water and hope to take a
trip or two with you all at some point before going back to Aus at the end
of the year.  I have also recommended you to a friend who needs to do a
refresher shortly and she will no doubt be in touch. Please pass on my
thanks to Whales.

Kind regards
Angela Mouton

London

16 - 17 April

From 7 to mid 50's. That was the range of ages we had this weekend and the oldest was one of the best.

Congratulations to Petrea, Jill, Phil, Justine(alias Ms Two-Suits), James and Chris who all passed their PADI Referral course this weekend. All of them did really well and they all did far better than they expected too. The theory was easy for all of them but there were a few problems in the pool on the first night. On Sunday we started off in the 31 degree training pool and suddenly everything came together. By the end of the night everybody was scuba diving around in the 4 metre deep diving pit and looking very comfortable. I am sure they will all go away with confidence to complete their courses overseas.

Aussie Petrea is off to Malaysia with her husband Ian who completed a pool refresher with Shaun Gallop on Saturday evening. Justine is off to Egypt with Caroline, as are Jill and Phil. James will be coming to Dahab with us in 3 1/2 weeks and has decided to complete the Advanced course out there as well. Chris will be completing his qualifying dives with us at Wraysbury during the summer.

Thanks to Divemasters Andy and Jane for all their help with this course.

On the Saturday night Ramona and 7 year old Elizabeth completed a PADI Discover Snorkeling course with Bob while Richard took a Discover Scuba Diving course with Nathan as the family watched on. Hopefully we will see him back to do the full course before too long.

Trevor completed his Rescue exam and is looking forward to the dives.

On Sunday Karl, John and Louise practised in the pool before heading off to the pub for a post dive drink.

Dive Wimbledon's latest pool session

19 - 20 March

Putney Leisure Centre

The summerlike weather certainly had an effect because everybody wanted to come scuba diving again. We had so many phone calls last week from people wanting to come diving that we had to turn some away. I will be increasing our bookings tomorrow so we hopefully won't have to let anyone down again.

We had one of the most enthusiatic Open Water Referral courses with Oliver Whittle, Vicky Garrow and Moira Bennett being team taught by Roger and Nathan. They all did briliantly in their exams and picked the water skills up as if born to it.

Mandy. Peter and Wendy practised their Rescue skills and in particular their compass search patterns, while Leigh had a drysuit orientatation. He started off looking quite uncomfortable but by the end of the session he was loving it. The drysuit felt comfortable and the buoyancy was second nature.

Louise and Arne practised their scuba diving skills together which was ideal as they are both coming to Dahab in May for the holiday. Everybody is getting excited at the thought of the sunshine and fantastic diving. I can't wait.

Oskar completed his Referral course with us last year and returned for a refresher before his next diving holiday. It was good to see his smiling face again.

Kavita and Andy came down to say thanks for their Referral a month before and to let us know they successfully completed their Open Water dives in Dubai. They plan to complete the Advanced with us later in the year. Next stop for them is Hawaii for their scuba diving honeymoon!! Good luck with the wedding!!

On Sunday the Referral students completed their session while Guy completed a PADI Scuba Tune Up. He thought he last dived 4 years ago but realised it was closer to 10!!! But it all came back to him and he's ready for his honeymoon diving with Vicky from the Referral course. Where are they going? Nobody knows..it's a surprise for Vicky.

James came along to practise. He learnt to scuba dive with another school in Kingston Upon Thames but the general attitude and professionalism was lacking so he has changed schools.

Paul and Liz practised in their drysuits before heading off to Pembrokshire to dive over Easter.

It was a good weekend!!!

It's the last day of winter and everybody seems to be thinking of diving again. The phone has been ringing off the hook with people from all over South West London ringing up to book their scuba diving courses. The majority were from Kingston Upon Thames though there were a couple calling from Wimbledon and Putney or their jobs in the city. It's definately a sign that spring is in the air though the snowflakes that came down a couple of minutes ago may be disagreeing.

February has been the busiest we have had since we started in business and with the number of enquiries coming in 2005 should be a good year. Hopefully in the next couple of days I'll be able to start organising a few of the UK dive trips. The May Egypt holiday is filling up and Jane and I are looking forward to diving back into the clear calm waters in Dahab and saying hi to all the sites again.

Dive Wimbledon will be running a PADI Emergency First Response course during February. This course is a prerequisite for the PADI Rescue Diver course but may also be taken by non-divers.

This course covers primary and secondary care for the treatment of victims including CPR

The course will take place at Putney Leisure Centre in South West London on either the 19th or 20th February.

If you are interested please email roger@divewimbledon.com or call Roger or Jane on 02085406874 and we will be happy to help.

All day sitting in the office looking out at the cloud and drizzle in beautiful old London and yet the phone kept ringing. Everybody wants to come to the pool to play!!

I guess it makes sense..Cold day...Think of holiday.. Call the dive school and arrange to jump in the swimming pool as soon as possible. Warm chlorinated pool with eyes closed can equate to tropical water I guess..

Strange to think 3 weeks ago I was diving in New Zealand..

Roll on the spring! I want to go diving again!

Good news for for anybody interested in taking the PADI scuba diving Rescue Diver course.

PADI have recently revamped their Rescue Diver course. There are quite a few changes but the main one that interests me is the practical side. Previously all the practical sessions were completed over two days in the Open Water. There were 10 exercises to practice and 2 rescue scenarios. We felt this was putting too much pressure on our students so we would practice 6 or 7 of the skills in the pool before going into Open Water for the 2 days.

The new course has addressed this problem by introducing a course where all 10 skills can be thoroughly learnt in the swimming pool before going for the dives. The dives have also been improved as there are now 4 Rescue scenarios to complete which include all of the 10 exercises.

I believe this new course will benefit our students greatly and increase their ability to help if a situation ever arose(Unlikely as it is).

For more information on the PADI Rescue Diver course please check out our website at http://www.divebalham.co.uk/Courses/Rescue.htm" title="http://www.divebalham.co.uk/Courses/Rescue.htm" target="_blank"http://www.divebalham.co.uk/C... We will be holding our next Rescue Diver course in February.

Ever thought of going to Dahab in the Red Sea for a dive holiday? See below for information about our next dive holiday.

Jane and I have worked there before and found the diving to be something special. The reef is in good condition and there are 2 absolutely brilliant sites; the Canyon and the Blue Hole.

The Canyon start of in a shallow lagoon and you make your way though a cut in the coral and out onto the reef. After swimming north east for awhile you come to a crack in the coral and the canyon beckons below. The colour of the water as you look up is breathtaking. As you slowly swim up the canyon it starts to close in a little until you reach a narrow entrance. Swim through it and you are in the goldfish bowl. A spherical chamber full of small glass fish with the light streaming through the many holes. As you swim out through the exit you know you will come back.

Dive Wimbledon and it's affilates Dive Kingston, Dive Putney and Dive Balham are organising a trip to Dahab on the Egyptian Red Sea in May. We will be departing on 14th May and staying at one of Dahab's nicest hotels. The hotel is the 4* Swiss Inn ( http://www.swissinn.net/dahab/index.htm" title="http://www.swissinn.net/dahab/index.htm" target="_blank"http://www.swissinn.net/dahab... ).

London scuba diving schools Dive Kingston, Dive Wimbledon, Dive Putney and Dive Balham offer PADI scuba diving courses in London from entry level to instructor. Our instructors are all extremely experienced, well travelled and safety conscious.

Dive Wimbledon also has a club with regular practise sessions at Putney Leisure Centre in South London and will regularly be diving on the south coast this year. We will also be leading several overseas scuba diving trips. Our next trip is planned for May and we will be heading off to Dahab in the Red Sea for a week. Having worked there before we know it will be one of the highlights of our year. This trip is open to divers and non-divers and we will be completing the qualifying dives for several of our students as well as running an advanced course, rescue course and enriched air course. Other courses can be taken upon request.