Varu by Atmosphere watersports & dive centre, Maldives

Take a luxury boat for the day, with private skipper and crew, and scuba dive, snorkel or visit other private beaches at your own pace.

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.

PADI’s Junior Open Water Diver course is similar to the adult certification program and prepares kids to become full-fledged divers when they are of age. Students as young as 10 years old can utilize the eLearning program Open Water Diver course online (minimum age requirements may be higher in some locations due to local laws and regulations). This course allows kids to get their first PADI scuba certification. Children can learn how to scuba dive, discover new adventures, or simply see the wondrous world beneath the waves, this is where it starts.

The PADI Junior Open Water Course is typically run over five days and is a fun-filled course designed to qualify kids to dive to a maximum depth of 12m. The fun part about this course is . . . well, just about all of it because learning to dive is incredible. Kids get to learn to breathe underwater for the first time (something they’ll never forget) and learn what they need to know to become a certified diver. During the course, children will first train in the pool and then get to explore wondrous reefs, under the supervision of a PADI Instructor.

The PADI Junior Open Water Course consists of three main phases:

- Knowledge development to understand basic principles of scuba diving.
- Confined water dives (pool training) to learn basic scuba skills.
- Open water dives to review skills and explore!

In the PADI Junior Open Water Course, children will learn to use basic scuba gear and standard accessories.

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. 

Single boat dive with tanks, weights & air. Generally these are guided dive with a small group running from your resort, or near by jetty. Single tank boat dives tend to be slightly closer to the resort, no more than 50 minutes boat to the dive site. Two tank boat dives tend to get to further afield dive sites. Some dive centre will charge a supplement to specific dive sites to cover marine park fees or extra travel time.