Scuba: How to Start?

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The PADI Open Water Diver Course teaches you the fundamentals of diving. You will learn about all of your scuba diving equipment and how to gear up correctly, together with all of the basic diving dos and don'ts. On successful completion of the course, you’ll receive an Open Water Diver card and a diver number, granting you entry to the diving world. With this qualification, you can hire equipment and dive to your heart’s content (within the safety parameters, of course!) and you needn’t sit a single test more, if you don’t want to. Most divers, however, find themselves hooked by this stage, and progress to the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver Course, enabling them to dive to deeper depths. See our Scuba: What Next? guide for more details on scuba diver training.

The PADI Open Water Diver Course can be taken over 3-5 days. It teaches you the skills necessary to be able to plan and dive to a maximum of 18 metres. You might find it all a bit daunting in the beginning, but it’s surprising how quickly you learn. Soon you’ll be gearing up like an old pro!

There are two parts to the course: knowledge and practical. You will need to invest in a PADI Open Water Course Crew Pack. This contains your PADI Manual, which tells you all you need to know about diving and your scuba diving equipment. You will also receive a dive table (needed for dive planning) and logbook to record all of your dives. Some Crew Packs also contain a PADI Open Water DVD, which is a very helpful learning aid. You may undertake the knowledge section of your PADI course online prior to your practical training. Ideally, though, it is better to undertake the knowledge and practical aspects concurrently. You wouldn’t, after all, take your driving theory test without ever having sat behind the wheel.

The practical side of the course will consist of five confined water sessions followed by 4 open water dives – where the fun really starts! Some of the practical skills you will learn are:

• Scuba mask clearing and removal
• Failed BCD inflator
• Scuba regulator freeflow
• Alternate air source use
• Buoyancy control
• Controlled emergency swimming ascent
• Kit removal and refit
• Tired diver tow
• Diving Compass use (on land and underwater)

You must be at least ten years old to undertake the PADI course. There is no maximum age limit. You will need to be able to swim 200 metres unaided (or 300 metres with a snorkel and flippers) and tread water for ten minutes. The average swimming pool is approximately 25 metres long, so this equates to approximately 8 lengths (without stops). A health questionnaire will need to be completed prior to your training. If you suffer from a pre-existing medical condition, this may not necessarily preclude you from diving. If you have any concerns regarding your fitness to dive, it would be a good idea to visit your doctor beforehand to discuss them, and, if necessary, obtain a note confirming your fitness. This may save the expense and inconvenience of a doctor’s examination once you reach the resort.

If you’ve decided that diving is for you, your next step will be choosing where to learn. With tens of thousands of PADI accredited dive centres worldwide, you certainly won’t be short of choice. Pick out your scuba diving equipment, gear up and go!