Diving: Water great way to take the plunge!

You can go down under without leaving Basildon - and then, using all you have learned, explore the world's watery wonders.

Sounds enticing? Many people are beginning to think so too - and the town's sub aqua club, which celebrates its 30th birthday in September, has set an ambitious double target.

Diving officer Ken Smith, 42, explained: "We've got 44 members, and I want to get 70 by the end of year. I'm also hoping we can get a lottery grant towards a £20,000 boat."

The Langdon Hills computer consultant said: "Most people start out in one of two ways.

"Either they come along to somewhere like us for a try-dive to see if they like it - and 99 per cent of people do. Or they do a bit of diving on holiday and come to us to take the sport up properly.

"It can take a few months to qualify for going out with another diver, and beginners normally only go to about six metres, but experienced people can go to 50 metres."

Ken added: "For me, the exciting thing is the marine life, and I'm keen on underwater photography.

"Apart from trips around Britain, we usually hold annual visits to places like Egypt and the Red Sea, where you only have to go 20 metres down to see beautiful coral reefs and fish.

"However, one of the best things I saw was under Swanage pier - a baby cuttlefish, just an inch in diameter, which was three metres underwater.

"Some people like wreck diving - looking at sunken ships - but to me a wreck is just a wreck."

The Basildon Club, based at Gloucester Park, often takes its newly-qualified divers to Stony Cove in Leicestershire, due to its reputation as safe and well-run, with ledges six metres underwater, ideal for beginners.

Club memberships costs £165, which includes loan of all equipment for six months.

You would eventually need to pay around £800 to £1,000 to kit yourself out properly.

Water lovers who want to pick up sub aqua skills purely for annual trips abroad could consider paying out for a £100, four or five-day course with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), rather than joining a club.

However, Ken said: "The Basildon Club is linked to the British Sub Aqua Club, with all its guidelines, plus lessons and practical and theory tests for divers.

"We have a good social side, and, when we go on trips and the weather's too bad for diving, we do things like 10-pin bowling and crazy golf."

Most of the Basildon members tend to be in their late 20s or 30s, but ages range from 14 to nearly 60. Recruits often stay for several years.

Ken, a member for 10 years and now an instructor, said: "If you want to take up a sport seriously and make new friends, then I'd say we're ideal.

"Our next big step is to try and get a £20,000 boat. I'm going to make a lottery application for up to two-thirds of that sum. Judging by other clubs, I think we'd have a good chance of getting a grant."

Basildon Sub Aqua Club offers try-dives for £5, including use of an aqua lung, training in a few basic skills and, if the diver is keen to continue the sport, a talk on possible next steps.

To find out more, you can ring Ken on 01268 453919 or turn up on Fridays at Gloucester Park from 8pm. Eight-year-old Zoe Lees has joined her brother Paul in becoming the youngest ever diver to qualify from the Corringham-based club Adventures in Scuba.

The duo even persuaded dad Phil to similarly graduate as a skin diver at the club, which meets at Corringham Swimming Pool on most Sunday afternoons, as well as having practical and theory lessons at the Fobbing Dive Centre.

The young pair's proud mum Jenny recalled how an appeal was put in This Is Essex feeder paper the Echo for a "buddy" so that Zoe could do the course - yet, even so, the group's start was put on hold until November.

Zoe, from Corringham, joined 11-year-olds Luke Barney and Louise Terry, and nine-year-old Louise Barney, in qualifying on the latest Professional Association of Diving Instructors course.

Zoe's brother Paul, now 10, who passed in March 1997 when he too was eight, joined his dad Phil in an underwater test of nerve in Turkey last summer - an opportunity not available for under-12s in Britain.

If the thought of learning to skin-dive intrigues you, ring club organisers Paula and John Borrett on 01375 671834.

Fintastic fun - Zoe Lees, second from left, with diving pals, left to right, Louise Barney, Luke Barney and Louise Terry

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