Beginner certifications · The complete first step
PADI Open Water Diver
The world's most recognised recreational scuba certification - your passport to diving with a certified buddy.
Open Water Diver develops the knowledge and practical skills required to plan and conduct dives with a certified buddy, within training and experience limits, without direct professional supervision.
No previous diving certification. Adequate swimming ability, suitable physical health, completed medical questionnaire and required forms.
Certification to dive with another appropriately certified diver, generally to 18 metres, subject to local conditions, law, training and experience.
The shape of the course
What happens
- ✓5 knowledge-development sections
- ✓5 confined-water sessions
- ✓4 open-water certification dives
- ✓Water-skills assessment including swim and survival float or tread-water exercise
Under the surface
What you learn
- +Diving physics and physiology
- +Dive planning and no-decompression limits
- +Equipment care, assembly and pre-dive checks
- +Mask, regulator and alternate-air-source skills
- +Buoyancy, hovering, navigation and controlled ascents
- +Emergency procedures and responsible environmental awareness
Ready when you are
Your first question is a good place to start.
Through our own lens
Before the bubbles, a little confidence.
A glimpse of real preparation with Scuba Lak, from shore briefings to those first moments in the lagoon.