Sussex Diving Club welcomes qualified, experienced UK divers as guest divers. Perhaps you are visiting Brighton on holiday, or simply fancy seeing what the Sussex Coast has to offer. You should already have experience of diving in the UK, and ideally be a member of a BSAC club.
Equipment
Guest divers will need to have your own full set of diving kit, as a club we do not have any equipment for hire. Water temperatures in the UK require you to use a drysuit, for which you should already have had training. Divers must carry their own DSMB and torch.
Costs
The cost of diving from our RIBs, which are permanently moored in Brighton Marina, is around £22.50 for inshore/reef dives to £24 for an offshore/wreck dive.
We allow guest divers to dive with us up to three times. After that if you want to dive with us on a regular basis we would request that you become a member of the branch.
Qualifications
We do ask that you meet one of the following minimum qualifications:-
– BSAC Sports Diver or above
– PADI Advanced Open Water Diver or above
– For other agencies, check with our Diving Officer first.
We also request that visiting divers have Third Party Liability insurance cover and supply proof. Members of BSAC are already covered by the general BSAC policy.
We have a number of facilities that we can offer the guest diver. As a club we dive regularly on week-day evenings and at weekends all through the summer; plus a number of impromptu dives as and when the weather permits. We often have spare places available on the boats and can accommodate visiting divers.
There is a wide variation in dive sites off Sussex. For those interested in reef diving, there are a number of ancient fault lines within 2 miles of the shore. These are small underwater chalk cliffs, in some places 2-3 metres high. On the seaward side there are clefts and gullies in the chalk and to the shoreward (deeper) side there is usually an area of scrub. These sites usually offer a wide variety of marine life, with conger eels, crabs and the occasional lobster in the cliffs. Flatfish can also be found in the scrub areas. In recent years jewel anenomes and territorial fish have been found in increasing numbers.
If your interest is in wreck diving, Brighton can offer in excess of 50 large shipwrecks within 15 miles of the marina entrance. Depths vary from 20 to 50 metres, with most wrecks lying in the 30-40 metre range. Many of the wrecks are still recognisable, sitting upright and reasonably intact. Others are well broken up. Either way there is a good variety of wrecks, so you’re sure to find one of them to your liking. The Club has its own compressor and can pump to 230 bar. So if you’ve dived with us we can usually arrange to fill your cylinder after the dive.
If you are planning to visit us in Brighton please do email Sussex Diving Club to find out more.