Learn to Dive: The PADI Open Water course.

Why Dive? Diving allows you to escape to a different world - an underwater world with new colours, shapes, textures and creatures. Diving allows you to explore new places - Scuba equipment frees you to explore the underwater world, from historic shipwrecks to pristine reefs. Diving allows your to experience a connection with nature, and gives you a feeling of freedom. Try it and be immersed in new sensations and experiences!

Why Learn to Dive on holiday? Learning to dive is fun and exciting. It is accessible to all holiday makers; single travelers, couples, groups and families. Children as young as 10 years old can take the same learn to dive course along side their parents, so that the family can enjoy the experience together. Learning to dive on holiday allows you to take the course in exotic surroundings, with excellent diving sites, warm water and sunny weather.

Which destinations are best for learning to dive? Firstly, the quality of training would be the broadly the same for all destinations. All dive centres have to meet the same strict requirements, no matter which country they operate in.
Our most popular destinations for learning to dive, tend to be those that are warm, with good under water visibility, good marine life and good value for money. Egypt, Jordan and Malta & Gozo are our most popular destinations.

Which diving organisation/system would I learn with? There are several different diving societies, which teach scuba diving in slightly different ways. The two that may be most familiar are BS-AC (British Sub-Aqua Club) and PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors). PADI is the far larger of the two organisations, and is recognised the world over, so this is way you will learn to dive on an Aquatours holiday.

Learn to dive with PADI - Which course should I take? The standard PADI entry-level course, which 99% of our new divers take, is the PADI Open Water course. The course is usually completed over a 4 or 5 day period and after successful completion, you will be certified to dive almost anywhere in the world without needing any further training. The course consists of theory lessons and confined water training (in a swimming pool, or sheltered bay) which take up the first few days of the course. Then you move on to Open Water training in the sea, which complete the final few days of the course.

How much does it cost to learn to dive? The cost of diving courses varies from dive centre to dive centre. The cost of the PADI Open Water course is from £189 to £240 and this includes all diving equipment hire. In addition, students require the PADI course materials pack (Crew Pack: Manual, Log book, dive tables, PADI bag). Aquatours sells this for £49 including 1st class recorded delivery within the UK.

Prerequisites for the course. You must be able to swim 200 metres and remain in water out of depth for 8 min.
You must be at least 10 years old. You must compete a medical self certification of fitness. (PADI declaration of fitness - please review this information before booking your diving).

Below: Newly qualified Junior Open Water divers enjoy the start of their diving life.

Above: Students donning scuba equipment above.

PADI Open Water training is fun for families.

Below: Confined water training in the swimming pool.

Gaining experience: the PADI Advanced Open Water course.
The PADI Advanced Open Water course can be taken once you have completed the Open Water course. It allows you to further develop and master what you have already learnt and also learn new scuba skills. The course is usually completed over a 2 or 3 day period and the cost for the PADI Advanced Open Water course is from £160 and this includes all diving equipment hire.

PADI Advanced Open Water Diver; course overview.

Pre requisites:
PADI Open Water diver, Junior Open Water Diver (with restriction on deep dive), or equivalent BSAC, CMAS, NAUI qualification.
Equipment: All diving equipment including specialised items are supplied.
Aims of Course: To give the student a structured well supervised means to gain practical experience in specialised areas after initial certification. The course is simple, short and emphasises experience of a range of more specialised diving activities. It is designed to be convenient, enjoyable and of practical value to students. It is also the key to success of any PADI continuing education program.
Course structure: Read the section and complete the quiz in the manual for each of the dives.
Complete 5 Open Water Dives over a minimum of 2 days [Experience under instruction]
1) Deep diving.
2) Navigation.
3) Night Diving [or other elective dive if candidate wishes]
4) Elective dive
5) Elective dive. (NB the elective dives are chosen in collaboration with the instructor.)
Location: All dives are carried out in open water under direct supervision.
Reading: Advanced Open Water Manual ('Adventures in Diving' - available from Aquatours).

Further diver education. Got the time? Got the money? Then almost anything is possible!
And we can probably arrange it for you.
See the PADI web site for recreational PADI courses or professional PADI courses and let us know what you want to do. We have a full time BS-AC and PADI instructor on staff to answer any questions and queries that you may have.