New to the NDAC is the Board-Easy Deco-Stop

This product has been developed to help maintain correct depth following deep dives through visible measured stop points. This allows for a safer decompression ascent.

The Board-Easy Deco-Stop is currently on test at The National Diving & Activity Centre and will be installed at the 50m end of the pontoons for you to try out.

Board-Easy produce a range of semi-rigid boarding ladders for all types of craft that take the strain of getting out of the water. These ladders have a range of uses but are of particular interest to divers and snorkelers who require an easy way to board their boats and are especially suited for RIBs where normal boarding ladders are just too large to carry and stowe.

• Strong, Light Weight, Highly Visible, easy to use and store, made from boat and person friendly materials.

• Ladder sinks to correct position ready for use,
great for divers returning to boat.

• Made from stabilised Sea Water proof materials with stainless fixings.

• Can be mounted in many different ways using your own Carabiner clips or lines.

• Fully adjustable from 50 cm up to 200 cm in standard size, longer if required.

• Comes with 3 rigid rungs as standard but can be ordered with extra rungs from the shop.

• Perfect for Inflatable Rib Boats where it is difficult to have standard rigid ladders on board.

• With a line attached, it can also assist in a man overboard situation where it could be an instant boarding aid.

• 12 months warranty against manufacturing defects, 7 days no quibble returns for unused and unopened product.

We’d love to know what you think of the Board-Easy Deco-Stop. Why not comment on the Board-Easy Facebook page

For more details on their range of products, please visit the Board-Easy website

Red Bull have published Daan Verhoeven‘s fan video of Tim Money freediving the BAE 146 Plane at the National Diving & Activity Centre (NDAC).

In this amazing video, Saltfree freedivers Daan and Tim show what it’s like to explore the plane with just a single breath of air.

The BAE 146 Airplane is 68 foot long, 30 foot high and sits around 30 metres deep in the waters of Chepstow’s National Diving & Activity Centre.

Find out more about Freediving at the NDAC on the SaltFree Divers page>

It has been a very busy year at our Activity Centre’s View Cafe Bar in Chepstow.

Here are some recent catering statistics. Between 01 April 2012 – 01 April 2013:

  •   we served 24,900 cups of coffee

  •   9,850 cups of hot chocolate

  •   22,890 cups of tea

That’s around 57,640 hot brews had by visitors to the National Diving & Activity Centre over the past 12 months!

We have been delighted by all the supportive comments and feedback and we will continue to work hard and invest in the centre to ensure that we are the most forward thinking and friendly dive and activity centre in the UK. – judging by the increased visitor numbers month on month we must be doing something right!

If you have any comments of suggestions we would love to hear from you

The View Cafe Bar has been awarded the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme’s highest standards rating of five stars by the Forest of Dean District Council – Environmental Health department.

To achieve a rating, The food safety officer inspecting a business checks how well the business is meeting the law by looking at:

•   How hygienically the food is handled – how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored

•   The condition of the structure of the buildings – the cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities

•   How the business manages and records what it does to make sure food is safe

At the end of the inspection, the business is given one of the six ratings. The top rating of ‘5’ means that the View Cafe Bar was found to have ‘very good’ hygiene standards.

We are really pleased with the 5 Star rating awarded to our View Cafe Bar and it is testament to all the hard work carried out by the staff and the support from our customers.

The food standard rating for the View Cafe Bar can be viewed online here >

Along with the Stunning views and great food this official seal of approval reinforces that the View Cafe Bar a great place to eat and drink.

Here are some recent catering statistics. Between 01 April 2012 – 01 April 2013:

•   we served 24,900 cups of coffee

•   9,850 cups of hot chocolate

•   22,890 cups of tea

That’s around 57,640 hot brews had by visitors to the National Diving & Activity Centre over the past 12 months!

We have been delighted by all the supportive comments and feedback and we will continue to work hard and invest in the centre to ensure that we are the most forward thinking and friendly dive and activity centre in the UK. – judging by the increased visitor numbers month on month we must be doing something right!

If you have any comments of suggestions we would love to hear from you

Did you spot the National Diving and Activity Centre on the One Show Wednesday?

In a piece about Cephalopods (squid & octopus) the One Show reporter dons a pair of Jet Boots and takes to the air over the waters of our very own Chepstow quarry.

The One Show is still available to watch here on the BBC IPlayer. If you don’t want to watch it all fast forward to 36:50.

We are pleased to announce that the National Diving & Activity Centre is now an EFR (Emergency First Response) Centre.

The National Diving & Activity Centre’s EFR Centre status means we now have a dedicated first aid training arm to our training organisation. This allow us to offer HSE specific courses, such as First Aid at Work and Emergency First Aid at Work courses as well as our Emergency First Response Primary Care (CPR) & Secondary Care (First Aid) course. The status also ensures that we will be advertised via the EFR Course Finder.

Emergency First Response is the fastest-growing international CPR, AED and first aid training organisation. With more than 31,000 instructors worldwide, Emergency First Response is backed by 36 years of experience in the development and delivery of instructional courses, training materials and educational curricula. Emergency First Response courses have gained widespread international acceptance.

Emergency First Response’s course curricula are based on patient care standards as published in the American Heart Association Guidelines 2005 Standards for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care, and the consensus view of the Basic Life Support (BLS) Working Group of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR). ILCOR is an international standards group representing most of the world’s major resuscitation organisations.

Focused on training the lay rescuer, the Emergency First Response approach to training builds confidence in lay rescuers and increases their willingness to respond when faced with a medical emergency by teaching them the skills they need in a non-stressful learning environment. Participants are also given as much practice as necessary to master and retain these skills.

A team from CBBC have been onsite for a couple of days at the National Diving & Activity Centre to film for a new TV Show called DareDevils.

The brand new CBBC show DareDevils puts families to the test to see what they are prepared to do to win unique prizes.

The DareDevil will research his contestant’s family and friends thoroughly, digging deep to uncover their passions, likes, dislikes, phobias and fears and will then craft a devilish dare for each individual. This is chaos and calamity with heart, testing whether contestants’ families will go that extra mile and face their fears to help them win a once-in-a-lifetime prize.

You’ll have to wait and see to find out what the ‘devilish dares’ were at the NDAC. However we’ll be sure to post on our Facebook Page and Twitter feed when the programme is screened.

The National Diving & Activity Centre to feature on BBC’s The Magicians.

We recently closed the site for a day to allow the team from the BBC’s the Magicians show to carry out some filming for their upcoming TV series.

The Magicians returns to BBC One with a show-stopping new live format and viewer vote. Presented by Darren McMullen, the shows feature magicians Barry and Stuart, World Champion of Magic Latimer and comedy magician Pete Firman paired with stars from your favourite TV Shows.

With more daring, dangerous and mind-blowing magic than ever before, each act will perform four tricks – and two will be live, so anything could happen. Once all three acts have performed, viewers get to vote for their favourite, with the losing team having to face a terrifying live forfeit. Who will it be?

We’re pleased to announce that the National Diving & Activity Centre will feature on the Second episode of the series on Saturday 14th January 2012 at 6:30pm.

We can’t give anything away, but it would be well worth watching!

The National Diving & Activity Centre has featured in the latest Edition of Soldier Magazine.

Soldier Magazine visited Royal Engineers that were undertaking their advanced diver training at our Chepstow Scuba Centre. The result was a three page article detailing the training and work the Royal Engineer Divers carry out.

The depth of the NDAC and the numerous onsite resources make our dive centre the perfect location to undertake this kind of training.

Prior to starting the challenging advanced diver training programme at the NDAC, the Sappers passed a selection phase and then completed a basic diving course.

The six-week diver training schedule teaches personnel to master the open space diving system as well as how to operate tools such as hydraulic cutters, breaking equipment and thermal cutting systems.

The Sappers also developed a range of new skills including underwater concreting and advanced reconnaissance, which can be used to locate submerged vehicles in theatre.

In theatre, the diving teams have been doing a variety ofwork. This includes body recoveries, the salvage of weapons from the bottom of wells or canals and underwater demolition tasks" explains Capt Steve Crosby-Jones (RE), the diving officer who coordinates serials for the basic and advanced courses. "They are a team and asset that are crucial to operations, especially when guys lose equipment such as rifles and radios. – There is no other capability that can recover that kit."

Soldier magazine is the magazine of the British Army, published for the UK Armed Forces by the Ministry of Defence.

Afraid we can’t teach you underwater demolition courses, but for your own Advanced Open Water Diver training why not visit the NDAC Dive School.