About GYD Scuba Diving
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About Gap Year Diver
Gap Year Diver is more than just a company specialising in internationally recognised PADI courses. Our programmes have been carefully designed for gappers and career breakers and each programme involves an element of learning so that you make the most of your year out.
Whether you’re after a learn-to-dive trip or a professional scuba diving qualification, our programmes are designed for beginners as well as those with previous diving experience. If you’re looking for something more specialised, we also cater for individuals who wish to combine diving with other learning and adventure activities. For example, you can learn a language and scuba dive, get involved with marine conservation, dive with sharks, explore wrecks or explore a country with adventure and diving! There are loads of different trips on offer.
Diving is one of the fastest growing activity sports in the world and there is so much to see and learn as a diver. We do hope you find a programme of interest. If you don’t, please let us know what you want so we continue to offer both popular and exciting programmes to people taking time out!
Statistics and Trends
Since Gap Year Diver started in 2006 we have placed hundreds of people overseas. To give you some idea of the what people have done in the past we have compiled some data to provide the following statistics:
| Diving Activity | Age groups | Sex | |||
| Learn to dive | 29% | 18-24 | 53% | Male | 58% |
| Divemaster | 28% | 25-40 | 31% | Female | 42% |
| Instructor Training | 16% | 40+ | 16% | ||
| Marine Conservation | 15% | ||||
| Other | 12% | ||||
Welcome Message
I first got involved with scuba diving in 2004 when researching customer satisfaction with scuba diving holidays for my Masters degree in International Travel and Tourism Management. My interest continued grow and it wasn't long before I took a year out diving before working for a scuba diving travel company in London.
My year out scuba diving was a great fun, but I couldn't find a gap year company at the time which specialised in scuba diving trips. I had previously dived with outfits where I was the only English speaking customer and I had heard some shocking stories about customer safety being compromised. One of my friends when enquiring about the servicing of dive kit got the response, 'our kit doesn't get serviced very often as we don't get many customers'! I heard plenty of other 'interesting' stories which obviously confirmed my view that finding a reputable company was really difficult.
So I decided to set up GYD in 2006.The first gap year company to specialise in scuba diving! My main aim was to offer safe and reliable scuba diving trips whilst bringing like-minded people together to dive.
Since then, I have developed Gap Year Diver into a leading gap year company and we are now part of the Year Out Group. Customers can book a gap year diving trip knowing that they benefit from financial protection (topps), pre-departure advice, 24 hour UK support, vetted destinations, quality control, risk assessments, emergency action plans. Our expertese and knowledge ensure that "gappers" dive with like-minded people taking time out!
With a wide range of PADI courses, marine conservation and other specialist activities on offer, Gap Year Diver offers something for everybody. Our list of programmes continues to expand year-on-year and our record of happy customers continues to grow!
I do hope you enjoy our website and that you find something of interest. If your require any assistance regarding any of our trips or impartial advice about diving related matters, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
Ben Stillwell
Managing Director, Gap Year Diver
