HSAC club members on a dive trip in Porthkerris 2015

We are a small and friendly SCUBA diving club situated in the heart of London’s East End. We train every week in Bethnal Green in the pool at the famous York Hall. Please take some time to look around our site to find out more about the club, the training we provide and the types of dive we offer to our members.

Perhaps you have tried scuba diving on holiday and got bitten by the dive bug. Maybe you are a BSAC or PADI qualified diver and looking for a club to join. Or you might be a complete beginner who has always been fascinated by the idea of "taking the plunge". Whatever your dive level we can offer you a warm welcome at Hackney branch. If you're not sure, we offer an hour-long try dive experience in the pool for £10 (refunded if you join).

About Us

The club began life back in 1963, set up to offer meaningful activity to the youth of London's east end. Over fifty years later the club is still going strong although not all of our members are quite so young.

We have over 60 members, with quite an even spread of Trainees, Ocean and Sports Divers, together with an impressive handful of members who are Dive Leader qualified and above.

We meet every Monday at 8.30PM in the pool of York Hall, Bethnal Green, London; the famous boxing venue. York Hall is just a few minutes away from Bethnal Green tube station.

You’ll also find us taking surface refreshment after the pool session every Monday from 10PM in The Approach Tavern, just round the corner in Approach Rd, swapping tales from the deep.

Ocean Diver Course starting 4th February 2016

If you’ve always wanted to learn how to dive, this course is for you. This course is for beginners and provides the essential knowledge and skills needed to prepare for open water diving.

The BSAC Ocean Diver course prepares for this in the safety of a swimming pool or sheltered water and an introduction to open water in a controlled, safe manner. Experience and confidence will be gained under the guidance of a qualified instructor. Maximum depth - 20m.

Prerequisites
To enrol on the BSAC Ocean Diver Course you must be 12 years or older.
A basic level of comfort in the water is important and you will have to demonstrate that you can swim 200m in swimwear.

What you’ll learn
The BSAC Ocean Diver course has three main stages:
1. Lessons and theory assessment on the basic principles of scuba diving
2. Five confined water dives to learn the basics in the water (usually in a swimming pool)
3. Five open water dives to further develop your scuba diving skills

The fun bit
Will hopefully be from start to finish! Learning to dive is a life changing experience for many people. Breathing underwater for the first time is something you will never forget and the experience of learning with others is great fun. Your instructor is trained to look after you every step of the way.

Qualification and what that means
A BSAC Ocean Diver is defined as a diver who is competent to conduct dives:

• to a maximum depth of 20m.
• with another BSAC Ocean Diver or with a BSAC Sports Diver, within the restrictions of the conditions already encountered during training.
• with a Dive Leader or higher grade, to expand experience beyond the conditions encountered during training, under the supervision of a Dive Manager.
• not requiring mandatory decompression stops.
• under the on-site supervision of a Dive Manager with respect to site selection, conditions and dive plan.

Want to know more?

The colourful tompot blenny, often found on UK dives.