Scuba diving

[Lee]

Has anybody dived on the west coast of France in the La Rochelle area,if so what is the divivg like,are there many dive centres in the area,do they operate all year?I am an SSI advanced open water diver & own a house in Saint Savinien[40 mins La Rochelle].I come to France 4 times a year & would like to meet other divers in the area.

[YCCMB]

Finally, another diver! Have searched high and low for places to dive and AFAIK the only place you can do any diving without belonging to a club that's within reasonable distance is on the Ile d'Oleron. Haven't been able to try it our yet, but I will be over in the next few weeks and may have the chance to find out more (if they aren't purely a summer operation). I also think there may be something in Royan but have been unable to track down details. I'm SAA and PADI qualified and would love at some stage to do some diving in France.

Maybe there's someone out there in LF land that knows more - but if so, they've been woefully silent so far and it must be nearly 2 yers since I last asked the question!

Jane

[Chris_Haze]

Jane

I also am an advanced padi diver, I live full time in france and joined a local french dive club in parthenay.

Its very difficult as i don't speak much french but they are a great bunch of people. The main problems i have come across are that the french don't recognise any other dive qualifications except there own.

With regards to diving this year we have had a trip to Handaye near Biarritz, and also a weekend trip to the Isle d'yeu close to Nantes, both of these places had there own dive shop/centres.

I also saw a dive shop close to the marina in La Rochelle, but don't know if they do dive trips.

Tried to look for padi sites in france on the internet to no avail, also looked for French FFESSM which gave a bit more information.

 

I wish you well with your search.

Chris 

[Deimos]

Chris, I’ve a few questions about the language “issues”. I use to dive many years ago (PADI and BSAC) and since moving to France have thought about starting again but speak very poor French. In other sports I have taken up where language should be an issue (e.g. gliding) I have managed (so far) and as you said “they are a great bunch of people”. However, I had always thought that the technical aspects of learning French diving practices would make the language more important.

For others interested, a sites I previous found whilst investigating http://gemopa.free.fr/carte_france.html and http://www.ffessm.fr/

Ian

[DOMY]

[quote]Has anybody dived on the west coast of France in the La Rochelle area,if so what is the divivg like,are there many dive centres in the area,do they operate all year?I am an SSI advanced open water div...[/quote]

Scuba diving clubs :

Clich here, and may be you will find answers :

http://www.aquanaute.com/PlongezLoisir/sites/poitou/char_mar/clubs.html

Enjoy !

[YCCMB]

Merci Domy ( tiens, t'es partout, toi!).

Thanks also Deimos and Chris. Have thought about the language issues a bit myself, but my French is not too bad and as fate would have it, one of my regular dive buddies in UK is French, and I was partly taught (part of my PADI advanced) by a French guy, so I've got the hang of the basics. Anyway, only the surface stuff will matter - not likely to get pulled up for conjugating a verb wrongly or using the wrong gender at 30 metres, are we?!

I'll be doing some more investigations shortly - if I come up with more places/contacts I'll let you know,mantime thanks for the websites!

Jane

[Chris_Haze]

Ian.

the language may be different but the diving is the same,once you get to grips with the new names for the same equipment you soon get to understand what is expected of you.

Also its a case of comfortability in what you know, if you are serious about taking it up again, I would advise joining a local dive club to refresh your knowledge.

I was lucky that one of the club members speaks fair english and another guy had a dive terminology manual translated from french to english which he photo copied for me.

Hope this helps.

Chris

[St Bernard]

I live nearer the Med so can't help you directly but here are a few thoughts.

1 Why not buy one of the French diving magazines as they have plenty of classified ads from dive centres.

2 Put a question about French dive centres on www.diverforum.co.uk

3 An accord was reached between PADI and the French dive association on recognition of qualifications in the last couple of years.

4 Have you looked for PADI affiliated centres on the PADI website?

I like warm water diving so I haven't tried diving here but I've always had good experiences with French divers overseas.

Happy bubbles

Jan Laury

 

[UKBasque]

Hi - I've posted under my wife and I's joint log-in before but I've decided to break out!

I learnt to dive and continue to dive on the Atlantic coast. I learnt at the BAB diving school in Biarritz but subsequently have done most of my diving at Moby Dick (www.mbdck.com) in Hendaye. I have found them all very professional and welcoming. Language can sometimes be a bit of a problem but seeing as I learnt in French and am pretty much fluent these days, I don't have a problem. Like you say, there is one language under the water.

Moby Dick have taught people under both the French and Padi systems in the past, I think they now are with SSI. However, I think they'll recognise both Padi and BASC qualifications.

Water temperature can be a problem but with a nice thick suit you should be ok.

HTH.

[winker88]

Hello all I am moving to France in March to live (dept 16). I am an active diver and also looking for buddies. I am also looking at setting up an BSAC branch no politics or crap just to go diving and have a beer afterwoods, we only have to pay BSAC subs, I have every thing to set one up O2 kit, resus doll ect. I can carry on diving training and first aid & cpr as well, club members would get training at cost price. BSAC training is free up to Dive Leader and part of Advance Diver, you have to be a  BSAC member for that and now they issue the CMAS cards thats handy being in France.

Any one interested please get in touch

Thanks

James

[hastobe]

Really pleased to see this thread - I'm a PADI certified diver and

presumed our decision to buy a home in France (Dept 24) would be the

end of my diving for the time being - but La Rochelle and Biarritz are

certainly within striking distance for me.

I learned to dive in the nice warm waters of the carribean but my last

dive was off the coast of Spain.  Whilst the diving wasn't as

spectacular in terms of colour, fish and fauna etc it was certainly

worth going.  The only unfortunate thing was a plague of jelly

fish that left me with stings all over my arms etc - not pleasant!

Hastobe

[Deimos]

Out of interest (and as my PADI & BSAC is many years old/out-of-date), what are the French medial exam requirement like before starting diving. I assume there is a Chest X-ray but how much more (cardiac, etc.) – as I might try and combine a couple of medicals for sports together (and maybe get the “price down” (pilots medical cost 130€ but that was a first French one and I’m hoping renewal might be cheaper).

Also, is the medical stuff repeating every year, 2 years, or how (in)frequently ?

I actually made a decision to give up diving many years ago as I’d seem most of the “big things” to see and felt I was just damaging the coral by going and seeing the same stuff again and again (not actually kicking nor breaking it but just more people, more silt stirred-up, more pollution, etc.). However, I now fancy starting again, maybe I’ll brace myself for the cold English channel or maybe the Atlantic coast (must confess I’ve only dived the English Channel once (at Weymouth) and it was miserable).

Many thanks

Ian