A NEW scuba diving club based near Penrith has recently launched.

Eden Valley divers are a new scuba diving club based at Abbott Lodge, Clifton near Penrith.

The club is affiliated to the Scottish Aqua Club (ScotSAC's), one of the oldest and safest diving organisations in Europe.

The club is non profit making and entirely run by volunteers.

A spokesman for the club explained: "One of the main objectives of the club is to provide a safe training schedule, as per ScotSAC's training procedure, where trainees can progress at their own speed, starting with pool training in a private swimming pool and progressing into open water such as Crummock Water and Wastwater and then further progressing to sea dives.

"We regularly visit Loch Long, Loch Fyne and the East Coast and the Farne Islands at St Abbs to continue with further training experiences."

Eden Valley divers put an emphasis on dry suit diving because the waters in the UK are usually cool.

However, as a club they do dive in warm waters all over the world.

Just recently they visited the Red Sea, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and there is a trip to Thailand being organised for February.

The group enjoyed their first dive of the year on New Year's Day at Wastwater.

"Its maximum depth is 79 meters - but we didn't go that deep - and nearly three miles long, located in Wasdale the Lake District," continued the spokesman.

"It's also the deepest Lake in England."

If anyone is interested in learning scuba diving then contact Eden valley divers on 07845705503 or alternatively direct message them through their Facebook page, edenvalleydivers.

More information about ScotSAC can be found at www.scotsac.com.