PADI Open Water Diver

If you’ve always wanted to learn how to scuba dive, discover new adventures or simply see the wondrous world beneath the waves, it all starts here: The PADI Open Water Diver Course.

The PADI Open Water Diver course — the world’s most popular scuba diving lesson — has introduced millions of people to the adventurous diving lifestyle. No previous experience is necessary. You’ll start our learning the theory of diving — either online via PADI eLearning or in our classroom — then take your first breaths underwater in the reassuring confines of a swimming pool. Then you’ll take the plunge with an instructor and put what you learn to the test in the aquamarine seas of Thailand.

Once you “have your PADI,” you can dive up to 18 meters (65 feet) anywhere in the world with any other certified diver. And Open Water is just the first step. You can go on to Advanced Open Water Diver, Rescue Diver or, if you’re really impassioned, become a PADI professional divemaster or instructor!

Prerequisites

To enroll in the PADI Open Diver course or Junior Open Water Diver course, you must be 10 years or older (PADI eLearning requires a minimum age of 13 years due to international Internet laws.)

If you’ve tried diving through a Discover Scuba Diving experience, the skills you learned can be credited towards a portion of the full PADI Open Water Diver course certification and earn you a discount!

What You Learn

The PADI Open Water Diver course consists of three main phases:

• Knowledge Development — Either online at home or in a classroom where you’ll learn the basic principles of scuba diving.
• Confined Water — You’ll do at least five short dives in a swimming pool or shallow, protected area in the sea to put what you learned in the classroom into practice.
• Open Water — You’ll do 4 (or 5 with the enhanced PADI National Geographic Open Water Diver course) dives to review your skills and explore!

The Fun Part

The fun part about this course is . . . well, just about all of it!  Learning to dive is incredible. You breathe underwater for the first time — something you’ll never forget — and learn what you need to know to become a certified diver. During the course, you’ll make at least five pool dives and four dives at local dive sites under the supervision of your Aquanauts PADI instructor.

Books and Scuba Gear

Aquanauts offers a variety of home-study materials for the Open Water Diver course. While eLearning is the most-convenient option, you may also choose a book and DVD package or a multimedia DVD-ROM.

PADI’s Open Water Diver materials cover what you need to know about basic scuba diving skills, terminology and safety procedures. For each concept you’ll read a description and watch a video demonstration. Then you’ll jump in the pool to practice these skills with your instructor. Later, as a certified diver, use the course materials as a reference guide for future diving adventures and to review what you learned.

As for the equipment, in the PADI Open Water Diver course, you learn to use basic scuba gear and standard accessories. Aquanauts can even train you to use a dive computer and offer a discount when you buy one with your course.

Start Now!

You don’t have to wait to get going. With Aquanauts and PADI eLearning and the PADI Open Water Diver Course Online, you can start right now. The PADI Open Water Diver Course Online lets you learn the background information you need before each dive at your own pace through friendly, interactive learning. It even helps you choose the PADI dive shop where you’ll make those dives.