www.hiddendiving.com

On nicks return, he joined a dive club where he learnt to scuba dive. Back then it took Nick 3 months to learn! Nick progressed through the diving grades from entry level through to became a clubs Training Officer and then Diving Officer where supervised all diving activities.

After diving all round the world including Egypt, USA, Antigua and of course the sights of the UK, Nick decided to gain more professional qualification within diving. Nick completed his Assistant Instructor and then Open Water Instructor with PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors). It gives Nick and his dive team great pleasure to be able to teach others to see the underwater world.

PADI certify more than 90% of the divers within the UK and are the market leader in diver training worldwide. After being a professional instructor for a year, the opportunity arose for Nick to buy an existing a Dive shop in Solihull. At that time it was called ‘Fizzy Nick’s Dive Centre’. The shop was very successful and taught over 100 students within the first year. An organisation that has been running for which trains and educates diver to a standard called PADI.

Hidden Diving work to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) Approved Code of Practice, last year Nick asked the HSE to come in and check our paperwork, so Hidden Diving comply with their guidelines.

Who is PADI?
PADI is a part of an organisation called PADI-Professional Association of Diving Instructors. PADI is a recreational diver training and educational organisation founded in 1967 by John Cronin and Ralph Erickson. It has grown from a small USA-based organisation into a multi-national, multi-cultural association of scuba diving professionals, represented in over 175 countries including the UK. Over 100,000 individual Professional Members operate worldwide and there is a global network of more than 4700 PADI Dive Centres & resorts. Worldwide, PADI have certified over 10,000,000 recreational divers, and presently certify 1,000,000 divers annually around the globe. It is estimated that 7 out of 10 recreational divers are trained and certified by PADI Instructors using PADI educational materials and programme standards.
 

Why choose Hidden Diving? Year after year Hidden Diving makes diving enjoyable by helping to set the highest standards for dive training, safety and customer service. Hidden Diving instruct is based on progressive training in the classroom, pool and open water to thoroughly develop an individual’s underwater skills and knowledge. Hidden Diving instructors are trained to PADI standard making them highly professional instructors, whilst adding their own personal experience and style to their tuition. Hidden Diving courses are very flexible to accommodate everyone’s lifestyle, needs and abilities.

Hidden Diving provide an array of PADI programmes, available to people from the age of 8 years and upwards. Hidden diving caters for the beginner diver right through to Instructor and beyond. In addition there are many areas of specialised training available, for instance Underwater Photography, Night Diving, Underwater Naturalist, Wreck Diver to name but a few of the 28 areas available for further exploration.

With a Hidden Diving PADI certification recognised at more locations worldwide than any other, Hidden Diving is the clear choice for your underwater adventure.

Dive Club & Trips
Hidden Diving feel there is no point in just teaching students to dive and then leaving them to it! We offer a dive club which has regular diving, inland, coastal and abroad. Non divers are also welcome as we have regular social events such as BBQs, ten pin bowling etc.

Every 5 weeks to travel to Egypt and dive. We stay in the Naama Bay Hotel in Sharm El Shiek and have 10 dives with Ocean College Divers. Prices are around £550, depending on the time of year, which includes all diving, flights and staying in this luxury 5* hotel. The next trip is 14th November for a week, so book your place now!

Prices and further information can be found at www.hiddendiving.com.
 

Can Children Join in the Fun? We at Hidden Diving encourage children and teenagers to join. We have a children and teenager news letter and competition page on our web-site www.hiddendiving.com. We post pictures and messages sent to us via the net and we post them for everyone to see the sites and fun they have experiences on holiday. Or the enjoyment they had when they took there first bubble maker (try dive for 8-10 year old), Seal Team (Youngsters who are sent on Aqua-Missions), tri-dive (Trying Scuba for 10+ year olds), needed or Junior Open Water (Full diving qualification). Prices and further information can be found at our website.

A Career in Diving
PADI professionals are the most sought after dive leaders in the world. Just imagine leading a life others only dream about. Whether you work in a local dive centre, at a resort in a tropical dive destination or on a live-aboard dive boat, the adventure of a lifetime could be yours.
· Open Water: This is your licence to dive anywhere in the world. It consists of 5 theory, 5 pool and 4 open water dives, normally completed in 2 weekends. The course includes all kit, diving certificate and licence to dive. This is the start of your underwater adventure.

• Advanced Open Water: Continue your diver education by opting to complete this course. Ever wondered how to dive a wreck correctly or how to navigate a successful obstacle course? With an additional 5 dives with an instructor you will be able to challenge different aspects of diving while gaining valuable experience.

• Rescue Diver: Emergency Management and prevention is a must for every diver. Being able to spot potential problems or acting when situations arise, you are an important person within accident management. This course has 12 senarios which lead up to a simulated situation and can be completed in 1 weekend. Great fun and you will sleep well.

• EFR: As a bolt on for Rescue Diver or anyone interested in first aid, EFR will teach you the basics of Primary Emergency Care, vital for anywhere, such as the home, work, or out and about. This fun, practical course takes just ½ day.

• Specialty Diving: Ever wondered what procedures are necessary to dive deep, penetrate that wreck or how to watch aquatic life. Specialty diving takes your diving education to the next step. Why not specialise in areas of diving that interest you. From correct dive boat procedures through correctly and safely.

• Dive Master: To work as a PADI Professional start by taking the PADI Dive master course and work your way up to the PADI Instructor level.

• Go professional: Ever looked at Dive Masters and Instructors and wondered to yourself, I would love to do that! Now is your chance. With a professional qualification, you can wake up on a beach, go diving and get paid! Being a member of PADI (Professional Association Diving Instructors) will entitle you to work at any PADI centre worldwide. The world IS your oyster!

Prices and further information can be found at www.hiddendiving.com.

Hidden Diving are now working with the MOD-military of defense-staff to PADI Open Water, enabling them to dive and work whilst serving Queen and country. Hidden Diving also work with the MOD on a replacement program. This involves retraining there retiring employees of the MOD. This would involve training someone, here on site at Hidden Diving in Solihull, from Open Water through to Instructor program, as per the PADI course requirements. Once completed they would sit an IDC, and take an external examination to become a PADI instructor. After this we intend on giving them experience in the following areas, Retail, shop management, using a compressor and blending gasses. Once completed, we will source them a job placement worldwide, which they can then chose to take up to a fully trained PADI Instructor scuba diver, this enabled them to retrain to a vocation in the civilian world. Hidden Diving find them there very first placement of work in the UK or abroad.

Project AWARE
Hidden Diving support PADI with Project aware, promoting conversation with the save the sharks campaign, making contributions to project aware and promoting dive practices that protect the aquatic environment. Hidden Diving are actively trying to become members of the elite National Geographic Diver program. With an audit by PADI and mystery customer survey’s conducted by National Geographic, only a handful of 5* Centres selected for this special program. By demonstrating safe environmental practices and a respect for the aquatic environment, Hidden Diving are at the forefront of conservation projects.

In response to the growing awareness of the problems facing both ocean and freshwater ecosystems, PADI founded Project AWARE* in the last decade of the 20th century. Project AWARE seeks to increase, through education, both the diving and non-diving communities' environmental awareness and to encourage responsible interactions between humans and the aquatic environment. Developing public awareness campaigns, creating innovative projects, and providing direct financial support to worthwhile, as well as educational campaigns, programmes, projects and materials for divers themselves, Project AWARE has been able to reach out to millions worldwide.

Project AWARE (UK), charity number 1073327, was established in 1999 to co-ordinate aquatic environmental activities in the UK, Ireland, Middle East, Mediterranean, Russia, Eastern Europe and Africa**. The charity runs a Funding Programme to assist worthwhile environmental projects. In 1999, the first year of operation, £18,500 of grants were awarded throughout the charity’s service region. In 2000, over £76,000 was allocated, and in 2001, a total of more than £100,000 was awarded to 37 different projects in the UK, South Africa, Jordan, Egypt, Russia, Malaysia and the Channel Islands, adding to projects in Greece, Ireland, Iceland, Seychelles, Mauritius, Honduras, Czech Republic, Croatia, Ghana, Caribbean, Fiji, Madagascar and Nigeria, from previous years.
 

For details, please visit www.projectaware.org or contact aware@padi.co.uk * Aquatic World Awareness, Responsibility and Education ** Project AWARE offices are also located in the U.S., Switzerland, Australia, Sweden, Norway and Japan.

How to try Scuba Diving
Hidden Diving provide a facility called ‘tri-dive’ This friendly session gives you approximately one hour in a swimming pool with all the scuba diving equipment, introducing you to the excitement of the underwater world.

Hidden Diving want to teach the world to dive, for those keen to take the next step, consider a Hidden Diving PADI Open Water Diver course.

Hidden Diving: 126 Haslucks Green Road, Shirley B90 2EH
Tel: 0121 744 1526
Email: info@hiddendiving.com
Web: www.hiddendiving.com

www.hiddendiving.com