Hi I'm Dave instructor at the Silver Dolphin Centre, last year we had really fantastic dive conditions here in Cornwall. We had lots of blue jellies, more than I have ever seen before. This has been a really different year, not so many jellyfish, really variable weather conditions but as always many great days diving.

The Silver Dolphin Centre now has a page on facebook. This was started by Divemaster CJ who has now gone to New Zealand and the main page work has been set up by Harriet who has done a great job.

We have some new distinctive specialities for 2012, one of which is our own Skate Ray and Catshark Research Diver. Dates and details will be posted here soon.

Our own PADI Whale and dolphin Research Diver course is due to be run in the new year, This is a very popular course and covers a lot of the work we do on cetaceans and other species. Dates will be posted here soon. 

Divemaster Tony Halfyard did his 200th dive on Monday 17th,in 2011 with him in the picture are divers Charlene and Jodie. Well  done Tony time for an IDC?

I took this picture several years ago in the south pacific, today there are shark sanctuarys being set around the world but some species are still being hunted.

I was really disgusted to see that illegal great white shark fishing is still taking place. check out www.africandiver.com for the full story.

It has been a really busy year with lots of new divers taking part in diving and many divers returning to us during the year. There have been some days that it has been to rough for us to dive, so keep in touch and dont stop diving just because summer is gone, we often get better weather in the autumn and spring than we do in august. Divers Hannah, Jennie,Tamara, Isabelle, Stacey and kimare pictured below.

On the other hand this summer has given us some really good diving weather. On many days  we had really good viz, up to 10m and a sae as flat as glass, just perfect conditions for diving. Divers Ines, Ollie, Alix, Tony and CJ pictured after their dive at roskilly beach.

 This photo was taken by Nicky James back in May 2010 at Trenow Cove.  Nicky's son Torran was one of our DSD students, enjoying our almost tropical dive conditions.

Next new Course dates, will be posted for 2012 very soon but if you want to book now or buy someone special a course for christmas call 01736 364860 to book your place now.

Looking for work? Then why not become a PADI Divemaster and do something with your life. We have trained many people who were not divers who have gone on to work in the dive industry. Contact the centre to find how you can become a PADI professional diver. Call 01736 364860.

We are running all courses from open water course through to divemaster course all through the year, so if you want to learn to dive, or become a PADI Pro call us now. More dates will be added to the course dates page in the new year, if you cant see a date to fit your plans give us a call and we will sort a date for you.

The Silver Dolphin Centre is based in Penzance in beautiful Mounts Bay, We are the longest established PADI dive centre in the Penzance area and pride ourselves as being family freindly. Complete your dive course at the Silver Dolphin in 2012.

The marine life we see is my favorite part of diving, I am not a big wreck diver, unless it is to see the life that has made the wreck its home. I am not a big fan of deep tech diving, all the best marine life is in the top 15 meters. The anemone in the photo was in less than 10 metres at Lamorna Cove So I would rather spend an hour at ten metres, rather than ten minutes at forty metres. So as you read through the pages of our website, I will hope you will see, something that will interest you enough to tempt you into a dive with us.

This photo of a smoothhound shark was taken by me, we have kept the location, to ourselves as one of our DM's was asked where it was by a local fisherman, as he wanted to try and catch it. NO WAY, the last thing I would want to do is help someone kill a shark. All sharks are in danger, like many other species of marine life. we are here to look after them not place them in danger and add to the threats they face.

I always record the different marine life we see during a dive. This is an important record that can be used to the effects of changing water temperatures. Divers can also report their UK sightings to MARLIN at www.marlin.ac.uk

Most centres run holidays to exotic locations, but we want our dive trips to make a difference to the marine environment, so if you want to study Mantas in the Maldives, or Coral in the Caribbean, we can help you reach your goal.

If you are an individual wanting to join a group, or a run club, college or Uni wanting to organise a group trip with us, then contact the centre for more information and talk to us so we can all make a difference. The photos of the sponge and Anemone were both taken by dave on a trip to Bonaire, where the whole island is a marine park.

In 2010 ther was really great weather for diving, more like tropical diving rather than UK diving. Many people think of UK diving as cold and dark with little to see. Diving here last year he had 10m viz, warm water, blue sea. Lots of fish to see, jellyfish by the hundred. So complete your PADI Open Water Course in the best conditions the UK has to offer.

Lamorna cove's excellent dive conditions, makes it one of the best and safest dive site in the UK. We have had 10 metre viz on some days. Last spring the cove was full of small crossed jellies and a few blue jellies. Picture taken by Tony Halfyard.

I teach students the way I would want to be taught, which means no short cuts, no hidden costs, and safe diving. All our courses are based on Conservation Education and Research. Conservation means we protect the environment to the best of our ability, Education means we teach people to care about the environment, so when they go off diving elsewhere, they take with them safe diving practices. Research means we learn something new on every dive, about the marine life, we record it and collect data. Which adds excitement to your dive.

Jellyfish are a good indicator of the state of the seas, and last year seemed to be a really good year for seeing all sorts of jellyfish around the Cornish coast. I always record our sightings in my logbook after a dive, and on one dive last year I saw three different types, two of which I am still not sure what they were. This Compass Jellyfish picture was taken by Vicky at Swanpool beach last summer on the same dive as we saw the cat shark.

The 5 day open water costs £310 and this includes all use of kit, PADI Crew Pack and final certification. Call the Centre now on 01736 364860 to book your place. Many of our open water students continue their diving education with us to become PADI professionals and work around the world. 

The PADI Advanced Open Water course includes five dives, deep, navigation and three other dives that can be any of the PADI adventure dives. My favorites are Digital Photography, Underwater Naturalist and Fish ID.

2009 was the international year of the shark. We would like all our dives to be shark dives, but that isn't going to happen as we all know that sharks are being overfished, and very little is being done by governments to protect them. The best thing we can do is educate people that sharks are not mindless killers but are in need of protection, for us, as we are the greatest threat to them. Humans kill around one and a half million sharks each year, and it wont be long before they are all gone. Now is the time to take action, so contact the centre, checkout our sharks page, or get intouch with one of the organisations on our links page. To do nothing will be fatal for the sharks.

Catshark photo taken on a local dive by Vicky completing her PADI digital underwater photography course.

Want to learn to dive, but not sure how to do it, we have three easy options that let you learn to dive in east steps. You can also spread your training to suit you, so if you can only dive at weekends, no problem.

A half day session for an introduction to scuba diving for only £30, this can be completed in a pool or in the sea.

A three day course that takes you two thirds towards your full open water certification and costs £210

The full 5 day course that enables you to dive with a buddy anywhere in the world. Costs £310

Diving isn't as expensive as you may think. If you have qualified as a diver and you want to gain some experience diving in Cornish waters you can come and do a guided shore dive with us for only £30, this includes any tanks or kit you may need.

For all your diving air needs contact Phil at St Hilary on 01736 740647. This is also the best camping site in Cornwall, so if your a dive club or family looking for somewhere to stay give Val & Phil a call. www.trevairtouringpark.co.uk

We started the charity to look after people and the environment, as both are important to us. The marine environment is under constant threat and divers are in the best place to see the danger and are the best people to protect the marine life. Surley that is one of the best reasons to learn to dive. So give us a call and start today, it may be the start of a new hobby but it can change your life.

We try to dive all year and are open through out the year but this dosent mean we open 7 days a week. If you want to come diving it is best to call first, to make sure we haven't gone diving without you. So send us an e mail or call us on 01736 364860 or 07881 688 234 to book your diving now.

Our recent dives have seen lots of small unusual Jellyfish around the coast. Also saw what looked like a Salpa at Lamorna cove, but of course didn't have a camera with me, so we will be back there as soon as we can this time with a camera at the ready.

We Saw Nudibranch eggs on a dive at Roskilly. Also seems to be a lot of Jap weed which is very invasive, at Roskilly. Loads of starfish around this summer.

This cream swirl, are the Nudibranch eggs at Roskilly beach seen on 11.04.09. Also seen on the dive were small Devonshire cup coral, growing on the rocks on the right hand side of the kelp forest.

The conservation of the marine life is essential. With out a good protected eco system why would we want to dive. To protect something we must be passionate about it, to be passionate about it we must understand it and for us to understand it we need to be educated about the eco system and its marine life.

It may be looking at Snakelocks anemones while diving Trenow  or coral on the Great Barrier Reef. It all needs protecting, so if divers wont protect it who will? Marine Life Identification is really important, so when you dive don't just log the depth and time, record the species you have seen.

Now this isn't the best cuttlefish picture I have ever taken The backscatter, that is the small white blobs that were lit up by the flash looked like the juvenile ephyra stage of a jellyfish. When looked at on the full screen of the centres computer they can been seen more clearly.

Its is easy to forget that sometimes even a bad picture can contain good information. This picture was taken last August so we will be keeping an eye out for them this year. Last year we saw something that looked like a Salp, but of course we didn't have a camera. Salps are important in fixing CO2 from the atmosphere and an important species in the fight against global warming. So all marine habitats are important, as we no so little about species such as Salp's and Jellyfish. Key species may disappear and never come back, so remember when diving all marine identification is important, even when at first glance, the picture may look like it needs to be deleted.

At the moment we are carrying out research dives at Battery rocks and Roskilly beach, because if proposed building work goes ahead, these two sites could be devastated.At the moment there is no record of baseline information for theses divesites, so I am going through all my past photography and log books for theses sites to start recording species we have seen in these habitats. The should the building work go ahead we will bee able to compare a before and after effect of the building work on the marine life.

You don't have to be a scientist to carry out research diving. All divers can contribute data to help record the marine life around our coast. Organisations such as MArlin have a great database which we can all contribute to, take a look at www.marlin.ac.uk . If your not sure then we run courses such as PADI Underwater Naturalist, PADI Fish ID and our own distinctive speciality PADI Research Diver. So you can take a course and be sure that you are helping to make a difference.  For more information on these courses look on the dive specialities pages on the sidebar and check the course dates on the sidbar. The picture of the Blue Jelly was taken by Dave.

Why not start your diving career this year at The Silver Dolphin Centre. Students come to us to do their Open Water and can leave as a Divemaster to go off and travel around the world. So come down and talk to us about your next course or just come diving. Then find that being a diver isn't work, its more of a way of life. 

Many people learn to dive for a specific reason. Mine is for the marine life. I'm not a big wreck diver and I am not worried about going really deep. For me its the marine life that I see. Thats why we are committed to conserving the marine environment, so check out the Marine Life Research sidebar for news on the environment and species we hope to see when we dive and species we hope will still be there in the years to come.

We have our own distinctive speciality PADI Research Diver, this is a two day course that will let you carry out research dives and record data for research projects. The cost of this course is £110 We are at present recording information on the Eel Grass beds at Roskilly which are in danger from a proposed development of Penlee Quarry and we are also going to be researching Battery Rocks which is also endangered by proposed extention to Penzance Harbour. So diving with the Silver Dolphin Centre can help make a difference. The photo is of a Combe Jelly taken at Roskilly Beach.

See the Sharks page page clicking on the side bar for more information.

Four candidates, Jenny, Jonty, Jude and Heidi, successfully completed their Emergency First Response Instructor training course. Contact the centre if would would like to become an EFR Instructor. Call to book your place on our next EFR instructor training course.

If you are having trouble finding the right present for someone special, why not give them a gift voucher that they can redeam in our shop or for a dive trip or training dive. Gift Vouchers can be for any amount and for anything, so call the office to find out more.

Please click on the side bar for more information on diving courses or call us on 01736 364860

The Silver Dolphin Marine Education Centre SDOEC was formed to run all our not for profit work. We have now gained full charitable status for the SDOEC . If you are interested in this work, please click on the SDMEC side bar for more information. SDOEC is registered charity number 1142009. The Silver Dolphin Centre has always been committed to looking after the marine environment and so much of the marine life conservation work we have done, for the past six years, has been carried out on a 'not for profit' basis. The work we do with the local childrens' groups has also been carried out on a 'not for profit' basis. As theconservation and education work has grown we have been unable to keep up with the demand so now with the set up of the SDOEC as a charity, we will be able to do more work in these fields. Please contact the Centre if you would like more information on this. 

Wrasse are a very underrated fish, for divers who may want to learn more about fish behaviour. We often see Wrasse building nests of working in mixed species groups in the kelp forrests. Photo of Wrasse taken at Lamorna Cove.

The speciality courses listed below are my favourites. Details of all the specialities we run can be found in the diving section of the side bar. 

Come and dive with the Centre and complete the PADI Digital U/W photographer course. See dive specialities pages for details.

All photos used in this website have been taken by the centre staff and divers. Learn to take pictures of marine life in Cornwall with the PADI Digital Underwater Photographer Course

Then take photos of the fantastic marine life on your next dive holiday.

This is our own unique distinctive speciality. This is a chance to learn real research techniques for cetacean research. The four day course includes, dolphin rescue training, whale watching programme and photo identification and passive monitoring. This is not a swim with dolphins exercise but real research on the whales and dolphins that live around the Cornish coast.  A 4 day course costs £230

Take part in real underwater projects and learn more about marine life in the UK. Our centre runs several real projects where you can get experience identifying the life in the Cornish coastal waters. A two day course costs £120

The UK has more species of fish in the sea than we have mammals on the land but how many can you identify? Spend a weekend at the Centre and you will start to recognise the amazing fish in our own waters. A two day course costs £120

As the light falls, some fish take cover as other nocturnal predators swim through the kelp forrests searching for food. A night dive lets you see another side of the life in the ocean. a two day course costs £130

Photo taken by Olivia Haas during a visit to Blue reef Aquarium. The picture is from the Aquarium coral breeding programme.

We dived with the stingrays at Stingray City on our last holiday in the Cayman Islands. Do you think this is good conservation? it does disturb their natural environment but if a family of rays lived in a Cornish cove would they be as safe?

Spiny Starfish as shown in the picture taken at Roskilly.

A lot of people think UK diving is boring, just grey water and nothing to sea, but we think diving in Cornwall is the best in the UK and we see things like the Purple Henry starfish in the photo, taken by Centre staff PADI Divemaster Jude Chesterfield.

Underwater Navigation is one of the most important skills you can learn, as with all our training we go that extra little bit further so when you leave us to go diving on your own, we know you will be able to find your way safely back to shore.

If you have completed you diving course somewhere warm and sunny say the Red Sea or Caribbean, you might think diving in the UK sea is not for you. Many who learn to dive abroad think that UK diving is all deep, dark and murky but it is not. Cornwall offers clear safe diving, better than some more tropical waters, with great marine life, so don't leave your diving till you go on holiday abroad, come and dive Cornwall, now.

If you have completed your diving in an inland dive site such as a quarry or lake you may be concerned about diving in the sea. Our PADI Discover Local Diving includes tuition on sea conditions such as waves, tides and currents. In fact all you need to know to plan diving in the UK coastal waters.

For information check our course dates page on the sidebar. New courses are being added all the time or contact the Centre to arrange the dates you want.

 If you are visiting Penzance, call into the Centre to discuss your diving needs. We are right by the harbour in the Trinity House building. The entrance to the Silver Dolphin Centre is in the courtyard at the back of the building through the green gates by the Isles Of Scilly booking office and by the Dolphin Pub.

Dive students continue their open water training at Roskilly beach near Penzance, just 5 minutes drive from the Centre. We also use other beaches around South West Cornwall such as Lamorna Cove, so our students gain experience at a variety of dive sites.

There have now been nine Cornish Marine Life Rescue courses run by the Centre and a mass stranding training course.  These have been very popular (despite some bad weather!) and a tenth course is planned for later this year.  The day course is free of charge and includes both theory and practical training.  Places must be booked in advance.

A group of divers get ready to survey eel grass beds at Durgan. There will be more survey dives carried out this summer.

The Silver Dolphin Centre
Trinity House
Wharf Road
Penzance
Cornwall
TR18 4BN

Tel:  01736 364860 or mobile 07881 688 234

Email:  conservation@silverdolphin.freeserve.co.uk

www.silverdolphinmarineconservationanddiving.co.uk