Diving In Swimming Pools

Greg Parker   May 11, 2020

Swimming pools offer a clear, heated body of water, ideal for scuba training. Swimming pools aren’t only useful for divers during initial training though, so read on to see where else swimming pools fit into scuba, and some aspirational swimming pools to dive around the world!

WHY

Other than your initial scuba training, swimming pools offer excellent places to practice skills or to test out a new piece of dive equipment before using it on a ‘proper’ dive. Visit your local dive club’s pool night to try out your new BCD or give your regulators their first dive after servicing. You can pick up any issues in a safe environment, and have time to correct them before heading out to open water. It’s better to find out something isn’t working as you expected in the pool instead of just before you jump off the back of a dive boat. If not you might miss out on a dive you’ve been hoping to do, or worse if you don’t catch the issue before you head underwater.

PRACTICE

Swimming pools also offer the opportunity to practice your own dive skills. Practicing with a buddy in confined water can be a great way to get into shape for the start of your dive season, by running through the skills from your initial scuba training. Taking a full skill review dive with an instructor is another option to consider if you have been out of the water for an extended period of time, or wish to improve a particular skill.

Some continuing education dive courses also include confined water pool dives in their structure. If you’re looking to take the Dry Suit Diver course then you will be jumping back in the pool to learn the new skills in a confined water area, before venturing out into open water wearing the dry suit. A pool dive also goes well with the Delayed Surface Marker Buoy speciality or even the Wreck Diver speciality, where you can practice handling a reel and guideline in the warm clear pool water before deploying one on a wreck dive.

OTHER POOL DIVES

Swimming pools can also be dive sites in their own right, with people travelling far and wide to dive some of the more unique pools around the world. Here are just a few for you to consider-

NEMO 33

Nemo 33 is a 34.5 metre deep swimming pool located in Brussels, Belgium. It held the world record for the deepest indoor swimming pool between it’s opening in May 2004 and June 2014, when Y-40 opened it’s doors. Nemo 33 offers certified divers the chance to dive in simulated underwater caves in the 10 metre range, down to the 30 metre+ depths of it’s main pool, with windows at various levels looking out into the facility and restaurant. This would make a fun club dive weekend, mixed with some sightseeing around Brussels.

Y-40

Y-40 in Padua, Italy took over the record for the deepest indoor swimming pool when it opened in June 2014. Perfect for diving, as well as attracting freedivers, Y-40 offers an underwater tunnel, caves and platforms ideal for dive training. It then plunges down in excess of 40 metres, which make it the deepest swimming pool in the world. Another location worth a visit, and a unique dive to have in your log books.

TODI

TODI Indoor Dive Centre based in Beringen, Belgium is another unique pool, although it borders on an aquarium dive! The pool is 36 metres long, reaches a maximum of 10 metres depth and is filled with 6,200,000 litres of fresh water. Swimming around in all this water are over 2,000 fish from 25 different species. You can also swim around sunken cars and underwater tunnels before waving to watching spectators through the pool windows. Certainly a pool dive with a difference.

COME AND JOIN US

Hidden Depths Scuba School runs regular pool dives across Bristol. If you want to come and join us for a pool dive click here to see the local pools we use and get in touch to book a space.

THORNBURY SWIMMING POOL

Thursday – 7:30pm to 9:30pm

Location – Alveston Hill, Thornbury, Bristol BS35 3JB

We run pool training sessions on a Thursday evening at Thornbury Leisure Centre in North Bristol. Thornbury pool is housed in a modern building, equipped with an on-site Soho Coffee cafe.

Thornbury contains a 25 metre main pool, with an additional 3 metre deep diving pit area, ideal for scuba training.

This diving pit area is often available for additional hire, so if you’re unable to join us for our regular evening pool slots we may still be able to accommodate you at other times – contact us for options.