Diver certification begins here. Start with PADI's online eLearning course. Move to the pool and practice your new skills. Then experience four open water (ocean/lake) dives. During the PADI Open Water Diver course, you’ll learn what you need to know to explore the underwater world using scuba. 

The PADI Open Water Diver course includes three parts: Knowledge Development, Confined Water Dives, and Open Water Dives. Knowledge Development covers the principles, concepts and terms you need to know for dive safety and enjoyment. During the Confined Water Dives, you learn and practice scuba skills in a pool or water with pool-like conditions. You’ll enjoy making one or more minidives, which take you through the same steps you follow when you make open water dives. To complete training you practice, apply, and demonstrate what you learn during four Open Water Dives at a local dive site.

Earning a PADI Open Water Diver certification shows that you met the course requirements. Dive centers and resorts require proof of certification before they will rent scuba equipment, fill scuba cylinders or book dive excursions. As a PADI Open Water Diver, you’ll be trained to a maximum depth of 18 metres/60 feet, and are qualified to dive in conditions as good as, or better than, those in which you trained. It’s just the beginning of a lifetime filled with dive adventures.

In the PADI Open Water Diver course, you learn to use basic scuba gear, including a mask, snorkel, fins, regulator, buoyancy control device, and a tank. The equipment you wear varies, depending upon whether you’re diving in tropical, temperate or cold water.

Can’t decide whether to get your scuba certification while on holiday or at home before you travel? With a PADI Open Water referral, you don’t have to choose. A PADI referral allows you to complete most of your scuba training at home and finish your certification dives anywhere in the world. Avoid studying during your vacation and support your local dive shop at the same time. 

Becoming a certified diver has three phases: Phase one: knowledge development, Phase two: confined water, Phase three: open water. With an open water referral, you’ll complete some or all of the two phases (knowledge development and confined water) before leaving home. You can finish the final part of your scuba course, the open water dives, anywhere in the world. The final portion of the course typically takes a day and a half to complete. 

To put it another way, instead of spending 4-5 days on your holiday studying and practicing skills in a pool, you’ll arrive with the majority of your open water course done. Once certified, you can spend the rest of your time exploring with your dive buddy and gaining additional dive experience.

An open water referral is valid for up to 12 months, but it’s better to complete your training as soon as possible (while your knowledge and skills are still fresh). Your local PADI Instructor will fill out an official student referral form and check off which skills you’ve completed and the date. You can give this form to any PADI Instructor worldwide and pick up where you left off. PADI eLearning allows you to start your knowledge development online, whether you plan to do a referral or complete your course from start to finish in the same place. PADI eLearning is the most popular option for knowledge development, but you can also study with a book and DVD and attend classroom sessions instead. The instructor at the receiving dive shop will have you gear up and review scuba skills in a pool (or pool-like environment) before taking you to open water. If you have any questions or aren’t feeling comfortable, let the instructor know.

With a PADI referral course, you can take as much time as you need to complete your knowledge development and pool work. You won’t feel rushed or like you’re “cramming” for a test. You’ll also support the nice people at your local dive shop and become part of your local diving community.

What are the disadvantages of an open water referral? Sometimes students allow too much time to pass before finishing their course. You can take up to a year to complete your certification, but it’s better to complete your knowledge development and pool training as close to your holiday as possible. Also, you’ll probably end up using different brands of diving gear. If you’ve gotten comfortable with a certain gear configuration, using different gear can be an adjustment – just like riding someone else’s bike or borrowing someone’s car. It’s basically the same, but the handling and placement of certain things will be unfamiliar at first.

Internationally Recognized PADI Certification. Qualifies you to dive to dive on enriched air nitrox up to 40%. The PADI Enriched Air Diver course is PADI’s most popular specialty scuba diving course, and it’s easy to see why. Scuba diving with enriched air nitrox gives you more no decompression dive time. This means more time underwater, especially on repetitive scuba dives. You can typically stay down longer and get back in the water sooner. No wonder many divers choose this as their very first specialty.

Typically when using enriched air divers will get mixes which are either 32% or 36% oxygen, and this makes enriched air ideal for diving at shallower depths. For example, when diving with air to 18 meters/59 feet using the Recreational Dive Planner, you would have a maximum no stop limit of 56 minutes on a single dive. For the same depth, but using a 32% mix of enriched air, you would have a no stop limit of 95 minutes at 18 meters/59 feet. Potentially this means that you would have up to an additional 39 minutes dive time on this profile compared with air, though don’t forget to check your gauges as you will still be breathing through the gas in your cylinder at the same rate.

You will learn techniques for getting more dive time by using enriched air nitrox, enriched air scuba diving equipment considerations, enriched air considerations, including managing oxygen exposure, how to tell what’s in your scuba tank and how to set your dive computer.

The PADI Advanced Open Water Diver is designed to improve your underwater knowledge and skills. You can enroll immediately after earning your PADI Open Water Diver certification regardless of your skill level. The course helps you build confidence in navigation, fine-tune buoyancy skills, and introduces you to different diving activities such as wreck diving, night diving, or underwater imaging. 

After completing your eLearning, you’ll make five Adventure Dives: a deep dive (beyond 18m/60F), a navigation dive, and three additional Adventure Dives of your choice to earn your certification. 

During the PADI Open Water Diver course, you’ll learn what you need to know to explore the underwater world using scuba. The PADI Open Water Diver course includes three parts: Knowledge Development, Confined Water Dives, and Open Water Dives. Knowledge Development covers the principles, concepts and terms you need to know for dive safety and enjoyment. During the Confined Water Dives, you learn and practice scuba skills in a pool or water with pool-like conditions. You’ll enjoy making one or more minidives, which take you through the same steps you follow when you make open water dives. To complete training you practice, apply, and demonstrate what you learn during four Open Water Dives at a local dive site. Enjoy all this with a private one on one instructor, ensuring fast progression.

Earning a PADI Open Water Diver certification shows that you met the course requirements. Dive centers and resorts require proof of certification before they will rent scuba equipment, fill scuba cylinders or book dive excursions. As a PADI Open Water Diver, you’ll be trained to a maximum depth of 18 metres/60 feet, and are qualified to dive in conditions as good as, or better than, those in which you trained. It’s just the beginning of a lifetime filled with dive adventures.

• Full dive equipment will include BCD, regular set with all gauges, wetsuit, mask, snorkel and fins. 
• Tanks, weights & air are included as standard in all daily diving as standard. A dive computer is generally at an additional fee per day, and paid locally. 

In many dive resorts the best dive site are close to the shore so there is no need for boat diving, shore entry dives are used. Normally this will mean walking into the sea from the beach, from a jetty, or sometimes walking over rocks. It is best not to do shore diving if you have any back problems as it can be stressful on your body when entering and exiting the water. From day to day the dive centre may offer the option to join a boat dive, or do a trip to a further away dive site, which will require a supplement to be paid locally. 

This dive service is guided by a divemaster, instructor or similar. It includes tanks, weights and air only. If you need to rent diving equipment this can be done onsite and paid locally. As a rough guide a full days equipment rental is normally USD 30-50.