LEARN TO DIVE

Open Water Diver

The PADI Open Water Diver Course is the initial step to becoming certified to discover the underwater realm. It is, by far, the most accepted and popular scuba accreditation producing millions of certified divers around the world.

No prior experience is necessary to take the Open Water Course with Bubbles or Not. All you need is to be at least 10 years old, able to swim, and in good physical health. Once certified, you’ll have the skills, knowledge, and confidence to dive to a depth of 60ft, rent or purchase dive gear, and book diving excursions.

How Does it Work?

This course consists of three phases

Phase 1

Knowledge Development – In this first phase, you develop an understanding of the basic principles of scuba diving. You will learn things like how pressure affects your body, what equipment you need, and much more. You do this through the PADI eLearning system, a self-paced, learn at your leisure, online program.

Phase 2

Confined Water Diving – Now it’s time to get wet. The excitement begins in the pool, where you start to build your basic scuba skills. A highly skilled instructor will teach you everything from setting up your gear to clearing your mask, managing buoyancy and learning how to handle emergencies.

Phase 3

Open Water Dives – This last phase is designed to give you maximum exposure to an actual diving environment while under professional supervision. The open water dives could occur in a lake, quarry, or ocean, depending on the time of year. Over a two-day span, you will experience four dives. Each dive focuses on specific skills to help you develop your proficiency under the water.

Phase 1 – Knowledge Development

In this first phase, you develop an understanding of the basic principles of scuba diving. You will learn things like how pressure affects your body, what equipment you need, and much more. You do this through the PADI eLearning system, a self-paced, learn at your leisure, online program.

Phase 2 – Confined Water

Now it’s time to get wet. The excitement begins in the pool, where you start to build your basic scuba skills. A highly skilled instructor will teach you everything from setting up your gear to clearing your mask, managing buoyancy and learning how to handle emergencies.

Phase 3 – Open Water

This last phase is designed to give you maximum exposure to an actual diving environment while under professional supervision. The open water dives could occur in a lake, quarry, or ocean, depending on the time of year. Over a two-day span, you will experience four dives. Each dive focuses on specific skills to help you develop your proficiency under the water.

Personal Equipment

All equipment needed to participate in the Open Water Diver course is included, except for your personal equipment. To help you become more comfortable in the water, you will need to have your own mask, fins, snorkel, and boots before your first day in the pool. You should own this equipment versus renting because these specific items have a personal fit and must fit you properly. Bubbles or Not has a complete selection of gear at extremely competitive prices. Come visit our Dive Shop to try on equipment and find the best fit.

Dive Right In

If you’ve always wanted to learn how to scuba dive, this is where it starts. So reach out to us and prepare yourself for new adventures as you discover the wondrous world beneath the waves.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Medical Requirements

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 PADI 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).
Prerequisites & Minimum Age
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.
Equipment
- Basic scuba gear included: regulator, buoyancy control device (BCD), dive computer and cylinder.
- You may also need to buy or rent exposure protection depending on the diving environment.
- You will need to have your own mask, fins, snorkel, and boots before your first day in the pool. Bubbles or Not has a complete selection of gear at extremely competitive prices. Come visit our Dive Shop to try on equipment and find the best fit.
Time Commitment
Bubbles or Not provides two learning formats to meet the needs of our customers. Both formats include the same level of instruction time and utilize the same eLearning. The difference is how the time in the water with your instructor is scheduled.

Executive
- PADI eLearning: 5-10 hours
- Water Training (one long weekend)
  - Confined Water: 1 day (Friday)
  - Open Water: 2 days (Saturday and Sunday)
Traditional
- PADI eLearning: 5-10 hours
- Water Training (two weekends)
  - Confined Water: 1 day (Saturday #1)
  - Open Water: 2 days (Saturday #2 and Sunday #2)
Cost
After this Course
Experience new adventures with a PADI Instructor by your side. PADI continuing education courses like Advanced Open Water Diver and Deep Diver will help you develop your skills. Level up and Grow your Skills

Not sure which specialty to try first? Try the Advanced Open Water course, it’s like a specialty sampler platter.
- Improve your navigation and buoyancy skills while you try new activities like wreck diving, night diving, or digital imaging
- Choose from more than 20 specialty diving options
- An Advanced Open Water Diver certification also opens the door to dive sites deeper than 18m/60ft