Open Water SCUBA Training

Your diver certification begins here. Start with the theory before moving to the pool to learn and practice your new skills. Then experience four open water (ocean/lake) dives.

If you’ve always wanted to take scuba diving lessons, experience unparalleled adventure and see the world beneath the waves, this is where it starts. Get your scuba diving certification with the Open Water Diver course – the world’s most popular and widely recognised scuba course. Millions of people have learned to scuba dive and gone on to discover the wonders of the aquatic world through this course. To enrol in a Open Water Diver course (or Junior Open Water Diver course), you must be 10 years old or older. You need adequate swimming skills and need to be in good physical health. No prior experience with scuba diving is required.

**PLEASE NOTE: In the UK, we recommend that the open water course is only be completed at 12 years or above. We suggest 10&11-year olds only do the referral to complete abroad in warmer water.

You need adequate swimming skills and need to be in good physical health.  Please ensure you are fit to dive by checking the medical form.

If you answer YES to any of the questions on the Medical Statement, you need to get a doctor to sign the form to confirm fitness to dive before purchasing this course.

No prior experience with scuba diving is required.

The Open Water Diver course consists of three main phases:

Knowledge Development

To understand basic principles of scuba diving. This is self-study using eLearning online. Alternative options are available if eLearning is not for you.

Confined Water Dives

To learn basic scuba skills.  Starting in shallow water you will be introduced to the basic skills to breath and move safely underwater. Your instructor will brief you and demonstrate all skills before getting you to repeat and master, so you are completely comfortable and you are ready for the open water world. It is not a pass and fail course. It is more important to us that you are confident safe divers, so you will be given time for skills practice and mastery.

To complete your qualification you have 4 open water dives to do which we offer in Malta or the UK. A referral would be signed off at this stage for you to complete at any other dive centre.

Open Water Dives

To use your skills and explore! This is where under the strict supervision of your dive team, you will head into the open water, whether that is a lake or the sea, and this is your opportunity to show us that you can do the skills in deeper water in a more realistic diving environment.

If sea conditions are not fit for diving and your open water dives can be done at an inland site. You can expect to see roach, perch, trout and maybe a sturgeon or two whilst diving past some of the deliberately sunken attractions.

The UK has some amazing diving and wherever possible, we prefer to complete your training at a coastal site. Wolffish, lobsters, starfish, sea squirts and Dahlia anemones and many others are all hiding in the shallows, just ready for discovering.

If you choose to complete your course with us in Malta, it’s not unheard of to see nudibranchs, octopus, cuttlefish and tuna on your very first dives whilst exploring some of the spectacular WW2 wrecks.

Upon completion of the course, you will be awarded the either your PADI Open Water Diver certification or RAID Open Water 20 certification, recognised around the world which allows you to do dive around the world.

Short on time? The Scuba Diver or referral course might be right for you.