InDepth Dive Club
Club Life...
Dive life in a different kind of dive club, what's InDepth Dive Club all about?
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That's an interesting question, and for many dive clubs it would be about endless committee meetings, achieving very little, lots of talk and very little actual diving. Too many clubs have their cliques and feel closed and unwelcoming to potential new members.
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InDepth Dive Club exists because the people that set it up had all had enough of those types of club. They'd all experienced the cliques and wanted to be a part of something better, something more inclusive and altogether friendlier. As the Sub-Aqua Association motto says, "The friendliest divers". Consequently InDepth was created and its Constitution and Code of Conduct were framed around a higher standard of behaviour towards our fellow divers and friends. Let's not lose sight of the fact that a club should, first and foremost, be about its people and those people should be friends and look out for each other. Afterall, the 'buddy system' exists for good reason and your life is potentially in the hands of the person you are diving with, shouldn't you be able to trust that person implicitly? (The sort of person that is happy to gossip about you behind your back certainly isn't the sort of person you want to rely on in an emergency!)
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We wanted to create something better than your typical dive club, a safe haven for divers and somewhere people could genuinely be themselves and relax regardless of ability (or disability), gender or sexual orientation, a place where divers at all levels are welcome to take part in the trips that the club organise for all of its members, not just a select one or two that want to sneak off and do their own thing and then post 'look at me' all over social media!
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We wanted to create a family-friendly environment, where under 18s are welcomed and safe, and female divers don't have to worry about feeling intimidated by a male-dominated sport. We wanted a friendly, inclusive club, a place where your fellow diver has got your back, and isn't gossiping and embellishing tales about you behind it, causing friction and needless upset. A place where integrity is valued and inclusivity is just as important as safety.
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The answer, ultimately, was simple, create such a place...
Can anyone join the InDepth Dive Club?
Yes. Absolutely. The InDepth Dive Club is open to all. We particularly welcome new members that share our core values.
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Just ask yourself, 'Am I right for this club?' If you think the answer to that question is yes, then get in touch or simply click the 'Join Us' link and become a member. There is absolutely nothing stopping you from joining.
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A word of caution though, if you like committee meetings and want to be someone important or a big fish in a very small pond then you will be disappointed. We're much more interested in actually going diving and training new divers. Building bonds between divers and making life-long friendships.
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We deliberately only have 2 committee meetings a year, plus the AGM and we're not interested in titles. Many of the founding members have more letters after their names than in their names, and are members of some very noble organisations, but you'd never know it.
Where is the InDepth Dive Club located?
The InDepth Dive Club straddles an area of the West Midlands and the tip of the South West on the M5 / M4 corridor. We actually cover several counties, Herefordshire, Monmouthshire (Gwent), Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.
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The Dive Den, InDepth's HQ, is located in the Wye Valley, at Symonds Yat, on the Herefordshire and Monmouthshire border nestled in between Ross-on-Wye and Monmouth and we regularly run scuba diving courses from the Dive Den. Namely scuba diving theory as well as more hands-on courses such as Nitrox, Emergency First Response, Emergency Oxygen Provider and numerous workshops for Underwater Photography, videography (editing) and underwater photogrammetry.
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Our regular Thursday evening club nights alternate between Tewkesbury School Swimming Pool, near Cheltenham, in Gloucestershire and Cromhall Quarry, just off Junction 14 of the M5, near Bristol, South Gloucestershire / North Somerset.
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We also regularly use the 'Dive Pit' at Thornbury Leisure Centre for the confined water elements of our 'Learn to Scuba Dive' courses. Thornbury is in South Gloucestershire, just off Jnct 14 of the M5 or via the M48 bridge.
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Our open water training takes place at a number of different inland dive sites, Cromhall Quarry is a regular, as is Vobster Quay in North Somerset, in between Radstock and Frome. The course itself will dictate which site we use for training dives.
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We also use the South Coast a great deal. Lyme Regis, West Bay, Portland and Plymouth are all regular destinations for dive trips and certain courses.
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We actually have club members all across the UK, but those that regularly attend club nights tend to be centred around the Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Ross-on-Wye, Monmouth, Bristol, and Clevedon area. See the map for the catchment area below:
InDepth Dive Club's Primary service area:
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Herefordshire
Hereford, Ross-on-Wye, Wye Valley, Ledbury
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Gloucestershire
Cheltenham, Gloucester, Tewkesbury, Stroud, Lydney
Monmouthshire (Gwent)
Monmouth, Chepstow
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South Gloucestershire
Cromhall, Thornbury,
North Somerset
Clevedon, Bristol, Patchway, Yate
Looking for an active scuba diving club?
There are plenty of scuba diving clubs in the region that talk a good talk. A few even go diving. But do they dive all the time, week in, week out, all year round, 12 months of the year, come rain or shine, frost or heartwave. Or do they have this weird thing they call a 'Dive Season' where they hang up their fins in October and allow the dust to collect on their kit until the following spring. That's not a dive club, that's a sewing club!
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At InDepth we dive, all year round, whatever the weather. Granted, we may be restricted to inland sites and underground if the weather is particularly bad, but we'd rather be hauling our kit into a flooded mine in North Wales than sat at home twiddling our thumbs and wishing we had joined a proper dive club.
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You don't need to take our word for it though, just keep an eye on our social media platforms and our blog, our adventures will all be there... will you be a part of them?
“YOU DESERVE A CIRCLE OF INCLUSION AND INFLUENCE, BUT IT'S UP TO YOU TO CREATE IT.”
— Richie Norton