Established in 1994 with six divers, Burghead Sub Aqua Club (BURGSAC) has grown steadily and now has a roll of over fifty divers from trainees to advanced divers and instructors. We are affiliated with the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) and all our dives are performed to their world-renowned safety standards.
In this growth, the club has spread geographically with members travelling from all over the north- east of Scotland to join with the dives.
In 2019 the club celebrated its 25th anniversary and continues to go from strength to strength and we look forward to seeing what dives we can enjoy over the next twenty-five years and beyond!
Through all the years, the club motto sits at the heart of all we do: Diving is Fun!
Our RIB is moored at Lossiemouth in the Moray Firth, a large area of water that offers diverse dive sites, ranging from sheltered water diving in the local harbours to deeper sites of wrecks and ragged reefs that are teeming with wildlife and ocean fauna. It is famous for its resident Bottlenose Dolphins that we regularly see on our trips, as well as a healthy population of seals and the occasional whale and basking shark.
We regularly run expeds to Lochallan, Ullapool, Findochty and St Abbs as well as venturing further afield for some more adventurous diving to other dive sites including Kinlochbervie, Scapa Flow, St Kilda, Outer Hebrides and abroad.
In 2020 the club invested in a bigger RIB to enable larger groups on dives… most members were excited by the additional benefit of a dive ladder; a luxury we didn’t have on our previous RIB! We have several qualified boat handlers in the club and a qualified boat handler instructor to ensure boat pilotage and safety is kept to a high standard.
We have three air compressors for tin refills with access for gas-mixed fills at a close by facility and a petrol compressor used for expeds.
The club has enough kit to equip trainees until they have qualified as an Ocean Diver and have purchased their own kit.
BURGSAC has instructors qualified to train to up to and including Advanced Dive Leader. We have a regular intake of Ocean Diver trainees and everyone is encouraged to continue with their diving development. Each member is supported and encouraged in their diving journey and we are all there for one another, whether that be to help kit up a trainee up or pretending to be unconscious on the sea bed for a simulated rescue!
As with all clubs, we are run under a committee that works hard to ensure the club runs smoothly, safely and to the benefit of all the members. The committee are all club divers and it currently stands as:
Chairperson: Miguel Gomez
Secretary: Mike Lewis
Treasurer: John Nellis
Diving Officer: Kenny Munro
Training Officer: John Colquhoun
Boat Maintenance: Cahal O’Hara / Darren Bate
Expedition Officer: Nicola Gibson
Fundraising Officer : Iris Wright
Social Secretary: Rachel Roberts / Debbie Patman
Webmaster: Simon Cook
