The National Diving and Activity Centre (NDAC), was a facility located at a large flooded quarry at Tidenham, Gloucestershire, England, near to the border with Wales at Chepstow. It was previously Dayhouse Quarry, a source of limestone, which was flooded in 1996. The diving centre opened in 2003, [1] and closed in 2022. [2]
An inland scuba diving site, it was popular with technical and free divers due to the depths of up to 80 metres (260 ft), [3] with underwater attractions in depths ranging from 6 metres (20 ft) to 76 metres (249 ft). PADI and IANTD training was provided on site, and many local BSAC and SAA clubs used the site for training. [4] All freediving at the NDAC was undertaken through SaltFree Divers. [5]
The site also included an inflatable assault course,[ clarification needed ] bungee jumps, paddle boarding and a 700 m (2,300 ft) long zip wire. [2]
On 18 February 2022, the NDAC issued a statement via social media saying that the site was permanently closed. [6] The following month it was reported that the site had been purchased by a company seeking to develop equipment to enable people to live deep under water. [7] In September 2023 it was revealed that the site had been acquired by The DEEP Institute [8] and renamed DEEP Campus. [9]
In 2017, the NDAC was a location for the Netflix folk horror film Apostle starring Michael Sheen and Dan Stevens. [10]
Extreme ironing is an extreme sport in which people take ironing boards to remote locations and iron items of clothing. According to the Extreme Ironing Bureau, extreme ironing is "the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt."
Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving, is a mode of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear.
Technical diving is scuba diving that exceeds the agency-specified limits of recreational diving for non-professional purposes. Technical diving may expose the diver to hazards beyond those normally associated with recreational diving, and to a greater risk of serious injury or death. Risk may be reduced via appropriate skills, knowledge, and experience. Risk can also be managed by using suitable equipment and procedures. The skills may be developed through specialized training and experience. The equipment involves breathing gases other than air or standard nitrox mixtures, and multiple gas sources.
Deep diving is underwater diving to a depth beyond the norm accepted by the associated community. In some cases this is a prescribed limit established by an authority, while in others it is associated with a level of certification or training, and it may vary depending on whether the diving is recreational, technical or commercial. Nitrogen narcosis becomes a hazard below 30 metres (98 ft) and hypoxic breathing gas is required below 60 metres (200 ft) to lessen the risk of oxygen toxicity.
Wreck diving is recreational diving where the wreckage of ships, aircraft and other artificial structures are explored. The term is used mainly by recreational and technical divers. Professional divers, when diving on a shipwreck, generally refer to the specific task, such as salvage work, accident investigation or archaeological survey. Although most wreck dive sites are at shipwrecks, there is an increasing trend to scuttle retired ships to create artificial reef sites. Diving to crashed aircraft can also be considered wreck diving. The recreation of wreck diving makes no distinction as to how the vessel ended up on the bottom.
Saturation diving is diving for periods long enough to bring all tissues into equilibrium with the partial pressures of the inert components of the breathing gas used. It is a diving mode that reduces the number of decompressions divers working at great depths must undergo by only decompressing divers once at the end of the diving operation, which may last days to weeks, having them remain under pressure for the whole period. A diver breathing pressurized gas accumulates dissolved inert gas used in the breathing mixture to dilute the oxygen to a non-toxic level in the tissues, which can cause potentially fatal decompression sickness if permitted to come out of solution within the body tissues; hence, returning to the surface safely requires lengthy decompression so that the inert gases can be eliminated via the lungs. Once the dissolved gases in a diver's tissues reach the saturation point, however, decompression time does not increase with further exposure, as no more inert gas is accumulated.
Recreational diving or sport diving is diving for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment, usually when using scuba equipment. The term "recreational diving" may also be used in contradistinction to "technical diving", a more demanding aspect of recreational diving which requires more training and experience to develop the competence to reliably manage more complex equipment in the more hazardous conditions associated with the disciplines. Breath-hold diving for recreation also fits into the broader scope of the term, but this article covers the commonly used meaning of scuba diving for recreational purposes, where the diver is not constrained from making a direct near-vertical ascent to the surface at any point during the dive, and risk is considered low.
Professional diving is underwater diving where the divers are paid for their work. Occupational diving has a similar meaning and applications. The procedures are often regulated by legislation and codes of practice as it is an inherently hazardous occupation and the diver works as a member of a team. Due to the dangerous nature of some professional diving operations, specialized equipment such as an on-site hyperbaric chamber and diver-to-surface communication system is often required by law, and the mode of diving for some applications may be regulated.
Diving medicine, also called undersea and hyperbaric medicine (UHB), is the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of conditions caused by humans entering the undersea environment. It includes the effects on the body of pressure on gases, the diagnosis and treatment of conditions caused by marine hazards and how relationships of a diver's fitness to dive affect a diver's safety. Diving medical practitioners are also expected to be competent in the examination of divers and potential divers to determine fitness to dive.
Underwater habitats are underwater structures in which people can live for extended periods and carry out most of the basic human functions of a 24-hour day, such as working, resting, eating, attending to personal hygiene, and sleeping. In this context, 'habitat' is generally used in a narrow sense to mean the interior and immediate exterior of the structure and its fixtures, but not its surrounding marine environment. Most early underwater habitats lacked regenerative systems for air, water, food, electricity, and other resources. However, some underwater habitats allow for these resources to be delivered using pipes, or generated within the habitat, rather than manually delivered.
Tidenham is a village and civil parish in the Forest of Dean of west Gloucestershire, England, adjoining the Welsh border. Tidenham is bounded by the River Wye to the west and the River Severn to the south. Offa's Dyke runs through the western part of the parish, terminating at Sedbury cliff above the River Severn.
Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meanings, depending on context. Immersion in water and exposure to high ambient pressure have physiological effects that limit the depths and duration possible in ambient pressure diving. Humans are not physiologically and anatomically well-adapted to the environmental conditions of diving, and various equipment has been developed to extend the depth and duration of human dives, and allow different types of work to be done.
Stoney Cove is a large flooded quarry which is a popular inland scuba diving site, located between Stoney Stanton and Sapcote in Leicestershire, England.
Nemo 33 is an indoor non-chlorinated fresh water facility in Brussels, Belgium. It previously held the Guinness World Record as the deepest indoor swimming pool in the world between its opening on 1 May 2004, and the completion of "Y-40 The Deep Joy" at Hotel Terme Millepini in Montegrotto Terme, Padua, Italy on 5 June 2014. Until it was surpassed by the Deep Dive Dubai in July 28, 2021.
The Cave Divers Association of Australia (CDAA) is a cave diving organisation which was formed in September 1973 to represent the interests of recreational scuba divers who dive in water‐filled caves and sinkholes principally in the Lower South East of South Australia (SA) and secondly in other parts of Australia. Its formation occurred after a series of diving fatalities in waterfilled caves and sinkholes in the Mount Gambier region between 1969 and 1973 and in parallel to a Government of South Australia inquiry into these deaths. The CDAA's major achievement has been the dramatic reduction of fatalities via the introduction of a site rating scheme and an associated testing system which was brought in during the mid-1970s. While its major area of operation is in the Limestone Coast region of SA, it administers and supports cave diving activity in other parts of Australia including the Nullarbor Plain and Wellington, New South Wales.
Capernwray Dive Centre is a large flooded former quarry, presently operated as an inland scuba diving site and training centre, near the village of Over Kellet, Lancashire, England.
Recreational dive sites are specific places that recreational scuba divers go to enjoy the underwater environment or for training purposes. They include technical diving sites beyond the range generally accepted for recreational diving. In this context all diving done for recreational purposes is included. Professional diving tends to be done where the job is, and with the exception of diver training and leading groups of recreational divers, does not generally occur at specific sites chosen for their easy access, pleasant conditions or interesting features.
The Australian Diver Accreditation Scheme (ADAS) is an international commercial and occupational diver certification scheme. It has mutual recognition arrangements with other equivalent national schemes. ADAS qualifications have international recognition.
Deepspot is a 45-metre (148 ft) deep swimming pool and scuba diving training center, located near Warsaw in Mszczonów, Poland. It held the record for being the deepest swimming pool in the world until June 2021, when the 60-metre (200 ft) Deep Dive Dubai was opened.
51°39′20″N2°38′50″W / 51.65556°N 2.64722°W
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