The Professional Diving Academy, Dunoon.

[Mr T.]

These guys still open? I know Fort Bill and Fort Bovisand went through, ahem, "difficulties", but I'd not come across these before?

http://www.professionaldivingacademy.com/

[keith_henson]

run by a bloke called mark marie, setup by a neil bloke from divex. Was at diving show back in october. Outside glasgow, Mark was an ex-cranfield student on the masters im doing


Keith

[bonkers the dog]

Seems a wee bit mickey mouse, the website is not exactly overflowing with info.

My family ran a hotel in dunoon for 12 years up to 18 months ago and I have never heard of this crew. I used to be a member of the dunoon Scotsac and although there used to be a shop in Sandbank that sold a few diving things it was in no way a diving operation; more of a chandler really.

the vessel thy are using is an old western ferries RoRo that was knackered and 2nd hand when Western Ferries bought it off the scandanavians many, many moons ago. I have used these ferries countless times and even when plying their route from Gourock they were ........(how can I say this) Sh*te!

I would hate to think what condition they had to be in afore Western flogged them off (£65K, or thereabouts if I recall.)

If I had several thousand quid to spend on a diving course I would be looking to sign up with something further up the food chain!

RM

[Dangerous Dan]

Check it out!!!
http://www.yorkshire-divers.co.uk/fo...ad.php?t=14850

[Narked@50]

Seems a wee bit mickey mouse, the website is not exactly overflowing with info.

My family ran a hotel in dunoon for 12 years up to 18 months ago and I have never heard of this crew. I used to be a member of the dunoon Scotsac and although there used to be a shop in Sandbank that sold a few diving things it was in no way a diving operation; more of a chandler really.

the vessel thy are using is an old western ferries RoRo that was knackered and 2nd hand when Western Ferries bought it off the scandanavians many, many moons ago. I have used these ferries countless times and even when plying their route from Gourock they were ........(how can I say this) Sh*te!

I would hate to think what condition they had to be in afore Western flogged them off (£65K, or thereabouts if I recall.)

If I had several thousand quid to spend on a diving course I would be looking to sign up with something further up the food chain!

RM

Sounds about right, the place in Sandbank Marina was the only diving place I knew for fills unless you got in touch with the local Dunoon club by arrangement. The web date is 2004, it makes scence this is theirfirst venture into new territory, but I suppose you have to start somewhere.

James

[Dangerous Dan]

Found this advertised/posted today on www.longstreath.com

Diving School Manager
Location: Dunoon, West Scotland
An opportunity to manage, on a daily basis, our new HSE Approved commercial diver training school.
The Professional Diving Academy runs all of the HSE Air diver training courses up to Wet bell.
We also have abrand new, custom bult welder training facility, and the most superb training vessel.
The job will be to take responsibilty for the organising of the diving schedules and training activities of the students and staff and the overall safe running of the school.
We aim to create a unique training facilty to attract students from around the world based on the creation of an internationally-recognised reputation as simply the best school in which to learn.
This will be assisted by excellent training syllabus, demanding underwater tool and skills training and by creating high staff and student morale.
Is this your next challenge?
Salary: negotiable
Start date: To be agreed
Contact: carol@professionaldivingacademy.com

[whippet]

Gentlemen - a small note for the misguided and misinformed - if you want to become experts in the field - try a little reseach first - and an ex hotelier from Dunoon doesn't come into this category!

Firstly -Bonkers the Dog- possibly a very appropriate name if your post is anything to go by.

This 'crew' did indeed run a chandelry ( never sold any diving gear) - and still do - its possibly expanded since you last graced us with your presence, it also had a small engineering workshop attached and was a very small part of Shearwater Marine Services Ltd, a commercial diving company based in Sandbank since 1993 - in fact still based in Sandbank and who have employed between 25 to 50 divers and marine crew over the last few years.

They are part of The Professional Diving Academy and their input comes from their inshore diving experience with offshore influences assisting from Aberdeen

The Academy works out of a large unit in Sandbank Business Park housing a training tank, recompression facility, state of the art welding booths, equipment storage cages, yard and workshop, classroom, canteen etc.

Real diver training takes place on board the ex Western Ferry - Sleat - and it was sold due to its high fuel consumption compared with the modern ferries( if you saw the size of the engines you would understand)
The vessel has all its MCA inspection certificates and was refitted to meet the school requirements.

On board Sleat you will find classroom, messroom, showers and toilets, first aid room, rest room & office, on the massive former cardeck is the dive control station, wet bell, dive cage & winch systems, compressor container and recompression facilities. Inspected and approved by the HSE it was described as 'The diving vessel has set a new standard for the UK' HM Inspector of Health & Safety. Safety Diving Inspector.

If it was such a shite ferry why didn't you use CalMac -?

Your food chain analagy is interesting - where would you exactly go to get something further up the food chain - as you're obviously an expert please share this info with us - presumably people who used your hotel could also go further up the food chain ( which one was it incidentally)

Keith
The training is run by Chris Tatham - one of the former UWC instructors and regarded by many as one of the best in the field, Mark Marie is an employee of Hydrospace, a company owned by Dave Smith, former MD of Divex in Aberdeen and also a director of The Diving Academy. Mark has nothing to do with the academy and I've never heard of a 'Neil bloke' from Divex but you may be getting confused with one of our supervisors who is indeed a 'Neil bloke' from Shearwater.

Mr T
We have just opened last year as a result of the lack of training facilities in the UK, divers having to travel to SA to train in conditions that do not resemble UK conditions. At this time Ft Bill was still closed and opened up shortly before we opened our doors.

The school is alive and well and looking forward to building on our facilities to become the premier training centre in Europe.

The centre is also a registered PADI training centre - come in and have a look any time

[Mr T.]

Mr T

We have just opened last year as a result of the lack of training facilities in the UK, divers having to travel to SA to train in conditions that do not resemble UK conditions. At this time Ft Bill was still closed and opened up shortly before we opened our doors.

The school is alive and well and looking forward to building on our facilities to become the premier training centre in Europe.

The centre is also a registered PADI training centre - come in and have a look any time

A genuine thanks for your (I'm assuming you're an owner/operator for the centre) detailed input on the boards mate.

All I can say is that I wish you and your business well, as there has been, as I'm sure you'll be painfully aware, a sad lack of a recognisable commie diver training facility in the UK for some time now - if you can guys can exploit that gap in the market and make a living, then more power to your elbow.

Take it easy and feel free to post any more of your info and input in these forums

Cheers,

[Dangerous Dan]

Thanks for your post whippet,
What links do you have with the National Hyperbaric Centre?
http://www.nationalhyperbariccentre.com
Thanks

[Mr T.]

LOL

Has anyone yet played the free DVD from The Professional Diving Academy which comes with this month's Diver mag?

The section entitled "On a Lighter Note: Warning, this may offend!"

Diver returning to the cage to be met with a 'surprise' - the language goes off the scale as the poor bloke nearly pinches a loaf in his dry bag