SISAC has been active in the region for more than 30 years, and currently has around 70 members of all ages, dive grades/abilities, and varying interests in the underwater world. The club meets every week on Sunday evenings at the Ivo Leisure Centre, St Ives, Cambs, from about 7pm. The pool is always available for an hour from 8.15pm for club members to hone their dive skills, engage in pool activities, or have a swim.

SISAC is a very welcoming and open club, and both already-qualified and novice divers are invited to come along and see what we can offer. Whether it’s like-minded people to enjoy an exciting sport with, for those divers already qualified; or somewhere you can safely learn new skills to take your first jump into the underwater realms, SISAC members are very happy to meet all those who share their enthusiasm and love of the watery world.

SISAC is a very active club, despite being somewhat land-locked, offering all levels of training as well as regular dive trips for divers in the St Ives (and wider) area. We have over 20 fully qualified instructors to provide training for both novice and already-qualified divers looking to progress their skills and experience; and regularly run a range of special development courses, such as first aid for divers and life saving. Please see our Training section for more details, or contact our Training Officer for information on upcoming training schedules.

A full calendar of events sees something going on most weeks throughout the year, so there is always plenty of diving to be enjoyed. SISAC dive trips have recently included forays into Normandy, Scapa Flow, Pembrokeshire, Mary Doune, and Lochaline; as well as shorter (weekend) trips to Plymouth, Brighton, and Lyme Regis. Planned trips for the next year include return visits to Scapa Flow, Pembrokeshire, Brighton, and Plymouth, as well as weekends in Swanage and Eastbourne, and longer trips to Malta and Ibiza. Most dive trips we organise are suited to Sports Diver level, although we do also run trips specifically aimed at new Ocean Divers to extend their ranges of skill, and also more challenging trips aimed for those more adventurously-inclined.
A large number of club members also make regular weekly trips to our local inland sites, Gildenburgh Water in Whittlesey, and Stoney Cove in Leicester. Both are excellent sites for training in a controlled environment; but are also fun sites to explore if you’re simply keen to get in the water. The swimming pool at the Ivo Centre is also available to members every Sunday evening to practice skills or try out new kit, and pool fun sessions are sometimes arranged for the winter months.
Aside from diving, we also include a number of social events in our calendar so that partners, family, and friends can also join in the club’s activities. An annual Christmas dinner and disco features, as well as a summer BBQ, punting evening along the Cam, and curry and bowling evenings. Throughout the year, we also invite speakers to present a talk at club nights: recently we have enjoyed talks from Jack Ingle (renowned technical diver), Bear Crosbie (Archaeological Divers Association), and Paul Hardy on the subject of kit care (Parwin Scuba).

Joining a BSAC club like SISAC is one of the best ways to enjoy a very exciting and social sport, giving you a range of opportunities to extend your training and/or partake in a whole host of events and dive trips all year long. SISAC is one of the most active and respected clubs in the region. We pride ourselves on our excellent standards of training and our safety record; but more importantly, we enjoy what we do – and quite simply, that is we have fun with diving.

The benefits of joining a club are several fold: unlike learning to dive with other organisations, whereby you pay a fee per course and as part of a group undergo an intensive but brief training period, then sent on your own merry way; BSAC operates under a different structure. You pay a low-level subscription fee on an annual basis to BSAC and to SISAC, and this covers all your training – up to Advanced Diver grade – at a pace that suits each individual, on a one-on-one basis with a nationally qualified instructor.

Being part of a club means that you are able to share and learn from other divers’ experiences, and enjoy the range of diving activities and trips that we arrange. There is always something going on – somewhere to go diving, and someone to enjoy the sport or a specialised interest with. And because we operate our diving trips as a club, we are able to make group bookings and so keep our costs as low as possible, a saving that we pass on to our members. It all adds up to a very friendly, supportive environment, where the best training can be taught in a thorough and unpressured manner; and diving can be enjoyed at all levels.

The club meets every Sunday evening at the Ivo Centre, St Ives (except bank holidays), so if you would like to see more of what SISAC gets up to, please come along and meet us. If you would like more information on SISAC, please contact our Secretary; or if you would like details on training, please contact our Training Officer. We also run a forum for our dive members where forthcoming trips and activities can be discussed – www.sisac.co.uk/forum. A limited overview of this site is available to non-members.

If you’re completely new to diving and would like to give it a go before committing yourself to a complete course, we offer try-dive sessions on Sunday evenings at the Ivo Leisure Centre, St Ives. £10 pp includes an hour in the pool under individual supervision with a qualified instructor, full kit hire, and a try dive certificate. Please contact our Training Officer to arrange a try-dive. We can also provide training right the way through from Ocean Diver to Advanced Diver grades – please see our Training section for more details on these, or contact the Training Officer for more information.

If you are already qualified as a diver then you are invited to come along to the club and see what we have to offer you – you don’t need to have trained with SISAC to dive with us. Whether you gained your qualifications through BSAC or PADI or CMAS (or any other organisation), your skills will be valued and you will be able to enjoy all the benefits and activities that our current members do. We can provide full cross-over and updating training within the club if necessary, so that even if you have trained outside of BSAC or are out of practice and slightly rusty on your skills, you will be enjoying your diving in no time at all safe in the knowledge that you are fully up-to-date with the latest BSAC diving practices.

There’s a full calendar every year with trips to suit all levels of ability and all interests, so there’s bound to be something that appeals to every diver – whether that’s rusty metal portholes, or sparkly jewel-like anemones; deeper technical and rebreather diving, photography or nautical archaeology; exotic warm-water locations or adventurous trips around the UK coastline (please see our calendar for details of upcoming trips). If you wish to advance your diving or learn new specialist skills, then the opportunity is available to all members – various special development courses are run during the year, and full support is offered to those who wish to train and/or develop as an instructor.

We regularly hold talks on specialist subjects that all members are welcome to; 2011’s dates include a star-gazing evening, wreck diving presentation, and a unique and last-chance-ever talk given by Cameras Underwater among others. There’s also a number of social events throughout the year so families and friends can enjoy the club too. Not only do we have the annual Christmas dinner/dance, but we have in the past run punting and BBQ evenings, curry and bowling nights, which have all proved a success.

In all, SISAC is a very active club, with a bunch of very warm, friendly, and welcoming divers – so if you’re already qualified and are simply looking for ways in which to enjoy your diving, SISAC is the perfect club to join. Simply come along to club nights on Sunday evenings at the Ivo Centre to meet us, or contact our Secretary for further details.