Congratulations to the 10 students who travelled from as far a field as Scotland to qualify as Snorkel Instructors at this years Snorkel Instructor Training Course and Assessment hosted by Oxford BSAC.
A special congratulations to Chris Watkins on becoming Oxford BSAC’s newest snorkel instructor.
Oxford Snorkelling team can now offer both the BSAC snorkel lifesaver award and the advanced snorkel life saver award.
The Snorkel Lifesaver Award is obtained by passing an examination which comprises two sections – a dry theoretical and practical test and a wet practical test.
In summary, the candidates will be required to:
Current member of the BSAC.
Minimum qualification of Snorkel Diver or Ocean Diver.
Snorkel Divers who wish to take this Award will require additional training for the theory knowledge and Basic Life Support skills not included in their previous training
There will be a £10 fee for this skills development course.
The Advanced Snorkel lifesaver Award is obtained by passing an examination which comprises a short question and answer theory test and a wet practical test. In summary the candidates will be required to:
Current member of the BSAC.
Minimum qualification of Advanced Snorkel Diver or Sports Diver.
Previous attendance at the BSAC Practical Rescue Management and First Aid for Divers SDCs is strongly recommended.
There will be a £10 fee for this skills development course.
Congratulations to all those that completed courses during 2012, especially to the 4 girls who completed their snorkel lifesaver award.
We have planned a lot for this year including the following:-
Please drop me an email if you are interested in any of the courses so I can get an idea of numbers.
I have been introduced to the idea of having ‘junior leaders’ by another club – so more details on that soon.
This year Amelia will be setting up a junior snorkeling newsletter which will be available through email or as a hard copy. As snorkel members you will be able to add articles if you would like, such as photos, trip reviews, course reviews etc.
The snorkelling team together with a local sea scout group recently held a life raft training session.
The session was a one hour taster session based on a full day RYA sea survival course run by Stormforce coaching in Southampton. Details can be found at http://www.stormforce.biz/
We used a 6 man life raft with 12 students split in to two groups.
Debbie and Amelia White receiving prize from ScubaproCongratulations and a big thanks, to all of the snorkel members. 
In short, yes, a joint scuba and snorkelling trip can work but as with all trips only with a great deal of planning and working out everybody’s expectations of the trip. Firstly, let me mention, this isn’t going to be a trip report about visibility, depth or marine life, but a report on how snorkel and scuba diving can be combined.
At the moment we are planning a day of snorkelling Saturday 11th August at Kimmeridge. (Lulworth is not an option due to the Olympic exclusion zone)
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=kimmeridge&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&ei=zpUhUJrMENSY1AWwi4CoBQ&ved=0CAsQ_AUoBQ
We’ll meet about 10.30am on the grass in front of the Purbeck Marine Wildlife reserve hut. You can park in the top grass car park and walk down past the toilets towards the slipway, you’ll see the patch of grass by the buildings.
From here we’ll take the RIB round to Chapman’s pool, Mupe rocks and Worbarrow bay depending on numbers.
The wind is looking just about ok for Saturday so I’ll make the final decision Friday pm.
Once you turn off the main road by Corfe Castle there is no mobile phone reception so please ring early Saturday morning if you have any questions.
There are NO food shops nearby so please bring enough food for the day.
For those not snorkelling this isn’t a sandy beach and there is quite a bit of boat traffic around the slip way, but a 10 minute walk away, there is a shingle beach, plenty of places to play, paddle and swim, including the snorkel trail.
Please let me know if you are thinking about coming on Saturday and what kit, if any you need to borrow.
Could I also please have your mobile phone number so I can text you on Friday pm to let you know the trip is on.
For those divers among you check with Andi and Litchy about what’s going on. Endeavor may be in the area.
For further details contact Debbie.
22nd July 2012
After lots of emails to and from Chris, the TO at Wight dolphins SAC trying to find a suitable snorkelling site in an area we had never been to before, we settled on the beach at Shanklin.
We will meet on the beach in front of the snorkel trail around 10.30am. Spend the morning on the trail and the afternoon using Naiad for trips around nearby coves.
Saturday 16th June Kimmeridge and Mupe rocks – cancelled due to bad weather
Sunday 8th July
Swanage and Old Harry’s Rocks
Sunday 22nd July
Isle of Wight
Tuesday 31st July Evening river snorkel and picnic (local)
Sunday 12th August Lulworth, Stairhole, Durdle Door
Sunday 26th August Kimmeridge and Mupe Rocks
Saturday 8th September Kimmeridge Ledges and Chapman’s pool
