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BSAC Advanced Snorkeller
A BSAC Advanced Snorkeller is a snorkeller, who has achieved the status of a BSAC Snorkel Diver and trained to have a greater level of theoretical knowledge in all aspects of snorkeling and having broad practical experience of snorkel diving. The Advanced Snorkeller should know how snorkeling skills might be applied to specialist activities.
This course consists of open water practical lesson, theory lessons and a series of 5 open water dives.
The entry requirements for this course is as follows, · The student must be a minimum age of 8 -years old · Must be rated as a BSAC Snorkel Diver · The student must have completed a self - declaration ‘Fitness to Snorkel’ and this should be signed by their parents or guardian, if under 18 years of age.
The duration of this course is 4-hours
This course addresses and builds upon more snorkel dive planning issues together with some planning considerations. It also covers diving for boats and boat diving procedures.
The most important consideration when planning a snorkel dive trip, is the weather. In some parts of the world the weather conditions can change quickly. From what can be a nice sunny day with flat calm water can quickly change into wet windy conditions over a short period of time, which as a result can ruin your ‘well looked forward to’ dive trip.
In this lesson, we take a look at how pressure changes in the atmosphere can cause windy conditions that can make snorkelling dangerous. We look at basic observation, which will determine whether it is safe to dive, or not. It is generally recommended that when the wind creates waves over 1 meter in height, then diving should not take place. Waves at this height would also make shore diving more dangerous due to the crashing wave on the beach, together with dealing with strong surf conditions. In this lesson we will show you how to use the Beauport wind scale table to access information on which condition are safe to dive in.
As an Advanced Snorkel Diver you will probably be extending the depth of your surface dives. With this in mind, we will recap on the volume and pressures changes experienced at these deeper depths, together with the effects of repeated compression and expansion as in breath–hold diving and the tiring effects due to extra exertion needed to counteract water pressure. The deeper we dive, the more buoyancy we lose both naturally and artificially, so at this point we recap on the correct weighting when
In section – 2, we take a look at some elementary marine biology. We take a look at a variety of marine life, from different types of fish, crustaceans –such as lobsters, crabs and shrimp as well as looking at corals, algae, seaweed and kelp etc. We will also explain where to find these animals and at what depth you can expect to find them
As a snorkeler you will find that many dive sites can be inaccessible from the beach and these sites can therefore only be reached by boats. BSAC runs international boat handling courses for both divers and snorkellers. Many of the BSAC branches own their own boats for their branch diving activities. In this third lesson, we take a look at the types of boats that are commonly used for snorkel diving together with some boat diving procedures.
Boat cover is essential when diving offshore or at a remote site. They do not only provide a mode of transport to and from the site, but also are essential dive platform from which we are diving. If an emergency occurs, then these boats will also rapidly react to incidents where these boats are considered as safety or rescue boats.
Mainly people learn to snorkel because they want to explore the underwater world. However, snorkelling doesn’t stop there! There are many other activities that relates to snorkelling in which the whole family can get involved with.
Many snorkellers especially in the UK play competitive snorkelling sports such as, Fin – Swimming or Octopush. Octopush is a form of underwater hockey. Original this game was invented in the 1950’s by divers from Southsea Sub Aqua Club, in the UK. Since then, Octopush has been a competitive sport and is now played internationally.
For the kids there are many snorkel games, such as, underwater leapfrog, underwater treasure hunts, underwater obstacle course, snorkel sharing and multiple mask clearing and much more. These games are not only great fun but also re - enforce your skills as well as this is a good way of keeping yourself fit.
If you want to become more proficient in your Rescue abilities, then there are two BSAC Snorkeling Lifesaver Awards that you can gain.
In this final lessons we look at how snorkelling can interact with these activities. For more details go the Snorkel Games or the Snorkelling Lifesaving tab on the snorkelling page.
On completion of the above theory lesson, the instructor will conduct a short theory assessment in order to check your current level of knowledge at Advanced Snorkel Diver level. The assessment consists of 20 – multi choice questions.
In the practical skill section there are only two skills. These skills are Underwater Navigation and Rope work.
The Navigation skills build on the ones already learnt. However, at this level you will conduct more complex navigation patterns such as, navigating a square and a triangle. You will also learn how to navigate using pilotage – which means navigating by natural features and references
In the Ropes and Rope work lesson, we will run you through some simple knot tying. These knots would be used on tying off the float line or Shotline
The open water dives are your final qualifying dives for this course. Each dive will be of at least twenty minutes duration each. The dives can be made in a variety of different conditions. For example; boat dives, shore dives, dives in both fresh of salt - water sites
On completion of this course the student will be awarded with the BSAC Advanced Snorkel Diver qualification.
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Course overview
conducting deep dives 