The Go Diving Show returned for another year at the National Agricultural Exhibition Centre (NAEC) Stoneleigh, 1st – 2nd March. The Go Diving Show is the only dive show left in town and the good news is it looks like it’s going from strength to strength.
I love a dive show. They’ve always been a fantastic opportunity for the diving community to congregate, shop or book a holiday. This is what I found visiting the show on the Saturday.
Exhibitors
The show had good representation from manufacturers, travel companies, resorts and training agencies. Manufacturers, particularly UK based ones, provided a good showing like AP Diving, Fourth Element and O’Three. Rebreathers were another area that seemed to be very well represented with JJ-CCR, Divesoft, Shark rebreathers, Nemmu Tech, r-Evo and of course AP Diving. The rebreather market looks a bit oversaturated at the moment to me.
The weakest area of the show was the lack retailers and dive shops. There were very few stands purely there to shift dive kit. Many of the manufacturers were selling directly but if your chosen brand wasn’t in attendance you may have struggled to find a store selling it at the show.
I don’t think that’s a knock on the show it just reflects the state of dive retail in the UK. There aren’t that many good dive shops left that are willing or able to come to the show.
Overall, the show has definitely expanded since I last visited in 2023. It now takes two full halls at the NAEC, which is great to see.
To Do
The main entertainment is built around the speaker programme spread across 4 stages: main, UK, tech and photo. The headline speakers had a couple of familiar faces: Monty Halls and Andy Torbet. Both have been mainstays at dive shows for a number of years and always get a warm reception.
The standout speaker was definitely Steve Backshall. The TV presenter and naturalist (you always have to be careful spelling that) had standing room only and brought boundless energy and enthusiasm for the oceans.
The show also coincided well with the Underwater Photographer of the Year competition. The UPY was well covered in the mainstream media and it was cool to see seem some good sized prints of the winners, rather than just on social media.
Final Thoughts
The show felt well attended which I’m sure was helped by the ticket prices. The early bird tickets, that were available until a month before the show, came in at around £10. This felt like very good value.
The last time I covered the Go Diving Show back in 2023 I was pretty negative on the venue. The NAEC is a weird place but I may have been slightly unfair (though I think many of the criticism are true). The more I’ve thought about it the more I think it suits the UK diving community and its budget focused mentality. Parking in a cow shed isn’t an issue for UK divers as long as it’s free.
– The Go Diving Show 2025 took place 1/2 March at the National Agricultural Exhibition Centre (NAEC), Stoneleigh.
