Archive for the ‘Site Facilities’ Category
Cashless Cash Cards arrive at NDAC
Tuesday, August 14th, 2012
We have been really pleased with the increased number of visitors to the National Diving & Activity Centre this year. We think this is due to the continuing investments we make to improve the site whilst still being one of the most cost effective dive sites anywhere in the UK.
And were getting bigger thanks to your help!
We have been listening to your comments about the National Diving & Activity Centre and have decided to improve things further with a new and updated EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) Cashless Swipe System.
We are launching a new Cashless Swipe Membership Card system for all our in-date NDAC Members at the start of August this year. This will mean that NDAC Members can pay for their entry, air fills, mixed gases, and food & drink from the View Cafe Bar, all with the swipe of a new NDAC Membership Card. You can even buy those little extra goodies from our dive shop with an ever-increasing range now being stocked.
So there’ll be no more having to carry your wallet or purse with you, instead just charge your card and pay at the end of the day. You can even dive with your card!
This system is not just for the divers though, visitors staying in our Wooden Wigwam Village will also be able to have a swipe card for the duration of their stay.
The Swipe Cards are just one of the many benefits our members enjoy – so why not take this opportunity now to go cashless at the National Diving & Activity Centre and become an NDAC Member today.
The View Cafe Bar opens Good Friday
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012
We are extremely pleased to announce that The View, our new Café Bar complex, will open at the National Diving & Activity Centre in Chepstow on Friday 6th April 2012 (Good Friday) at 7am, with the licensed bar open from 11am to 11pm.
With breathtaking views overlooking our Chepstow quarry, the View Café Bar will serve an extensive range of hot & cold meals as well as a wide selection of beers, wines and soft drinks from the licensed bar. We also have two very posh coffee machines that make a lovely freshly ground coffee, perfect to prepare you for a morning dive.
The construction works have taken around 22 weeks to complete and, we’re sure you’ll agree from the images, the results look amazing.
The View Café Bar will be for everyone; Divers and visitors alike will be able to sit inside or out on the decked veranda. When you sit at one of our tables with the stunning views across the water you’ll see why we’ve named our Cafe Bar ‘The View’!
As a little thank-you for your support, We are offering all residents staying in our Wooden Wigwam Accommodation a 10% discount on all food for the duration of your stay. So after a long day of activity at the NDAC you will be able to relax into the evening with a cold beer and a delicious meal.
We are working hard and continuing to invest in the site to provide you all with a superb facility and what we feel is the best inland dive site in the UK.
We have big plans for the future and a number if new activities will be coming to site over the next few years, kicking off later in the month with The Wire, one of the UK’s longest Zip wires!
Thanks to all our visitors for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you in The View Cafe Bar very soon.
The View cafe bar construction images
Friday, February 17th, 2012
Here are some of the latest pictures of our new Café Bar complex, The View.
The construction works are progressing well and the cafe bar is really starting to come together. Around 5 tonnes of steel have recently arrived on site and will be used to construct the outside veranda. The veranda will be a great spot to relax and enjoy the breathtaking view overlooking our Chepstow quarry.
We are working as fast as we can to get The View open for business and we promise it will be well worth the wait!
For some larger versions of the photos, take a look at the Facebook album>
The View Cafe Bar
Sunday, January 8th, 2012
We’re pleased to announce that the old NDAC Snack Bar is finally to be replaced by our new Café Bar complex, named The View.
This will mean a sad farewell to the old burger bar we have used for the past five years. However we feel this investment is needed to develop the site and provide everyone with a great facility.
We hope you all agree it will be well worth the time and effort to make your days with us a bit more special.
The View Café Bar will be for everyone; Divers and visitors alike will be able to sit inside or out on the veranda, with a breathtaking view overlooking the Chepstow quarry.
As well as serving great food, the View Café Bar will also have a licensed bar and a stunning view.
Those of you staying with us in the Wigwam Village will also be able to enjoy a cold beer and something to eat after a long days diving and relax a bit more whilst at the NDAC.
Watts Construction, our building company, have been on site now for over a month and things are beginning to take shape on the new NDAC cafe bar area.
We have a projected build time of around 20 weeks and are looking to get the View Café Bar up and running in the early part of March 2012.
The View‘s build and works are progressing well, but please be patient whilst the construction works take place.
We are working as fast as we can to get The View open for business and we promise it will be well worth the wait!
To keep up to date with the latest news about The View Cafe Bar and the National Diving & Activity Centre direct to your inbox, please submit your email address below:
19 Wooden Wigwams Now at NDAC Chepstow
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
Phase two development works for the Wooden Wigwam Accommodation at NDAC Chepstow have just been completed on time, on budget and before Christmas – Now thats a first!
Over November and December we have been working hard on the site infrastructure and shipping in some more Wooden Wigwams for you to go glamping in!
The final wigwam unit arrived on site on Tuesday, just in time for the Christmas rush with the 2011 Scuba Santas event and NDAC Night Dive over the weekend of the 17th & 18th December 2011. This now brings our Wigwam village up to an impressive19 units.
We were not expecting the Wooden Wigwams to be such a runaway success, but they have proved to be very popular with divers and visitors to Chepstow. We started with six Wigwams back in February, this then grew to 10 units, then to 14 units and now 19 units in ten months! Each of the Wooden Wigwams are hand made in Scotland then send via road down to NDAC some 600miles away!
The Wooden Wigwams offer the ideal 4 season camping holiday or short break, for group’s families and couples. A great low cost alternative to youth hostels, B&Bs, self catering or camping. Wigwams are the ultimate eco cabin; secure and lockable the wigwams offer all year round camping, and the best bit, no pitching a tent in the rain!
If you are visiting us for Scuba Santas and the Winter Night Dive, why not make a full weekend of it and go glamping in style. The wigwams aregetting booked up quickly with this busy weekend, so book your wigwam accommodation now to avoid disappointment.
And there’s more!
We are pleased that so many of you have decided to support NDAC in such a big way and wanted to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you. The investment has also included another toilet and shower block in the Wigwam Village and a water treatment plant which will be operational before Christmas.
The total budget for the Wooden Wigwam accommodation we have in Chepstow is around £300k but we feel has been well worth it and from listening to what our customers have told us, you feel the same way.
Hope to see you soon . . .
You’re only a click of the mouse away from toasting marshmallows round your own camp fire and sleeping under the stars in the heart of the countryside. Book a Wigwam now>
 |
 |
Thorpe Park Rangers retire to Dive Centre
Monday, October 31st, 2011
We have three new attractions that have just arrived at the National Diving and Activity Centre.
Kindly donated by the Merlin Group, these three park rangers have retired from Thorpe Park after many years of service and will be keeping an eye on things in the Gnome Garden.
The three new underwater attractions are going to have a new lick of paint and some TLC before being placed underwater.
We expect them to be in place in the next month.
If you have any ideas of names for the three Thorpe Park Rangers, please make your suggestions below in the comments field below . . .
New quarry slipway under construction
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
Here are some pictures of the recently laid concrete on our new and improved slipway – all 35 cubic metres of it!
This will form the foundations of the new entry and exit point for divers wishing to get wetter quicker!
The works shall continue over the next few weeks once the initial base of concrete has set. Follow the NDAC for an update on works!
Four new underwater attractions at NDAC dive site
Friday, July 29th, 2011
|
It has been a very busy week at the National Diving & Activity Centre with the installation of four new underwater attractions. We now have a new addition to Land Rover Lagoon, a Double Decker Bus, a Single Deck Bus and a 16 tonne Abbott Self Propelled Gun. All the attractions are ready to dive now, so why not pop down and have a look yourself – with so many new attractions you might want to book a weekend with us in one of our Wooden Wigwams. The Busses The second vehicle is an impressive Double-deck bus; she seats around 60 to 80 passengers, It is around 10 meters in length, 4.5 meters high and her gross weight is around 12 tonnes. We believe these underwater busses will not only provide a stable, safe and exciting training platform but also to act as a swim through attraction for the more confident divers amongst you. So whilst our students are conducting their skills and drills above you could be swimming through underneath them – You won’t even need a ticket! The FV433 Field Artillery Abbot SPG In its day the Abbot FV433 was able to swim across water due to having a flotation screen fixed around the hull, which would be raised to provide buoyancy. The action of the tracks was sufficient to drive it forward at about 3 knots. Each swimming Abbot would of been supported by a fully amphibious Stalwart Mk 2 High Mobility Load Carrier that carried additional ammunition. This Abbot’s floating days are long over and it now is retiring happily at the NDAC quarry, reunited with it’s old friend the Stalwart ‘Stolly’. Both buses are under 20 meters and the Abbot is sitting around 30 metres. The new landrover is situated around 10 metres. None of this would of been possible without the help from the Corps of Royal Engineers and our thanks goes out to them. The Corps of Royal Engineers are unique with all their "Sappers" being multi skilled soldiers, combat engineers and tradesmen working alongside all parts of the Army they play a vital role in the effectiveness of the British Army and the United Kingdom in both peacetime and on Opertations. Read more about the Royal Engineers>
|
|
 |
|
Busses to be sunk in NDAC quarry
Sunday, July 17th, 2011
Back in 2008 Cardiff Bus & NDAC linked up to obtain two new impressive attractions in the form of one single deck and one double deck bus. Since then we have been working to make the buses fit for purpose and looking at the logistics of physically getting them in the water!
We are pleased to announce that the new underwater attractions will be installed at the end of the month.
We believe these underwater busses will not only provide a stable, safe and exciting training platform but also to act as a swim through attraction for the more confident divers amongst you. So whilst our students are conducting their skills and drills above you could be swimming through underneath them – You won’t even need a ticket!
The first bus is a traditional 56-seater single deck bus that weighs in at an impressive 6.5 tonnes and has been used in active service throughout Cardiff over the past 15 years. She has clocked up an impressive 500,000 km so I’m sure some of you may have even traveled on her at some stage!
The second vehicle is an impressive Double-deck bus; she seats around 60 to 80 passengers, It is around 10 meters in length, 4.5 meters high and her gross weight is around 12 tonnes!
Watch this space for updates and the story of their installation, or subscribe to our news feed>
Click here for further information on some of our other underwater attractions >
Improvements to NDAC carpark continue
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
Back in January we increased the size of our car park to cater for the extra diver numbers seen at the National Diving & Activity Centre.
Since then we have been busy making some improvements to the car park infrastructure and over the last few weeks 600 tonnes of material have been laid.
The impressive panoramic below shows how the car park is currently looking. Needless to say, the photo was taken whilst we were closed, but don’t worry, there’s plenty of room for everyone!
