PADI Open Water Diver

Course prerequisites: able to swim, medically fit for diving, comfortable in the water

During the Open Water Diver course, your instructor will ask you to:

• Float or tread water without aids for 10 minutes
• Swim 200 metres/yards with no aids or 300 metres/yards with mask, fins and snorkel

Minimum age: 10

Divers certified between the ages of 10-14 earn a Junior Diver certification

Junior Open Water Divers automatically become Open Water Divers at age 15. Any replacement certification card or eCard purchased the day after the diver's 15th birthday will automatically show an Open Water Diver (not Jr. Open Water Diver) certification.

Children eight or older can try scuba diving in a pool (or pool-like environment). Ask your PADI Dive Shop about a Bubblemaker experience or birthday party. Children who are comfortable in the water can participate in the PADI Seal Teamprogram, a multi-day pool diving experience.

PADI eLearning: 5-10 hours

Entire course: 4-7 days

Scuba diving requires a minimum level of health and fitness. Chronic health conditions, certain medications and/or recent surgery may require you to get written approval from a physician before diving.

Avoid disappointment, download and review the Diver Medical form to ensure you won’t need a physician’s approval to dive before enrolling in a scuba course. Instructors, divemasters and dive shop staff are not physicians and should not be asked for medical advice; only medical professionals can give medical clearance to dive.

If you (or your physician) have questions about medical fitness to dive, contact the experts at Divers Alert Network (DAN).

• Looking for a detailed explanation of what's involved with learning to scuba dive? This comprehensive article covers everything you need to know about scuba certification.

This course requires both knowledge development and inwater training for certification. When you purchase a PADI eLearning course from our website, the cost covers the knowledge development portion only.

There will be an additional cost to complete your certification with a PADI Instructor. The cost depends on class size, location, and whether or not you need to rent equipment.

• Most dive shops require students to provide their own mask, fins and snorkel. If you already own a mask, snorkel and/or fins, bring them to your instructor before your first inwater session. Some snorkeling masks and fins are inadequate for scuba diving.
• Basic scuba gear, including a regulator, buoyancy control device (BCD), dive computer and cylinder, may or may not be included with the inwater training cost.
• You may also need to buy or rent exposure protection (wetsuit or drysuit) depending on the diving environment.

During the Advanced Open Water course, you'll try different types of specialty diving and discover your diving aptitude and interests. As an added bonus, each dive you make may be credited toward the related specialty certification.

For example, if you try wreck diving during your Advanced Open Water course and like it, you can credit that dive towards Wreck Diver specialty certification.

Here are some other courses to consider:

• If you like making multiple dives in one day, or taking multi-day dive trips, getting Enriched Air Nitrox certified will unlock longer, deeper dives and shorter surface intervals.
• Want to improve your confidence and become a better dive buddy? Sign up for the PADI Rescue Diver course.
• With each certification you earn, you'll be one step closer to earning the elite Master Scuba Diver™ rating.