Vectis Expeditions deliver another BSAC Advanced Instructor course and refresher training for members of Wight Dolphins Sub Aqua Club on the Isle of Wight

The BSAC Advanced Instructor course takes divers beyond Open Water Instructor level to cover topics such as teaching from boats, developing instructors and looking for teaching and coaching opportunities that arise naturally in the course of a day’s diving.

The Solent provides a great environment for learning how to teach at an Advanced Level given its the challenges posed by tide, weather, visibility (usually lack of it)  and the shear amount of other leisure and commercial boat traffic.  You don’t have to engineer teaching points; they naturally present themselves all the time.

It is a two day course with a mixture of theory and a practical dives. 

This year we ran a full course, a refresher and an national instructor induction over a weekend, getting the most out of what has been a very challenging year for South Coast with poor weather conditions for much of the summer.  We sheltered from the wind on the lee side of the island and so managed to dive when most other places on the South Coast were blown out.  We dived the wreck of the Maggie Smith (and actually saw it), experimented with a drift dive outside Newton Creek and undertook a Seagrass Survey, diving on of the suggested mission sites in the Great Seagrass Survey to gather data on seagrass density (and teach that!).

Congratulations to Garry who completed his assistant Advanced Instructor and to Gary who was on a refresher course supporting.  Thanks and congratulations to Mark, another National Instructor who travelled to the island an assisted with the instruction as part of BSAC’s NI induction scheme. 

Thanks also to other members of Wight Dolphins Nick and Andy S who helped make up the numbers and drive the their club boat.