Getting started in diving
PADI Discover Scuba Diving
If you want to try your hand at scuba diving, then the PADI DSD is your entry point.
It can be done almost anywhere – in a pool, the ocean, a river, lake or flooded quarry – and takes just an hour or two.
The max depth is just 6m, but it is enough to give you’re a flavour of what diving is all about – and skills learned on the DSD can be credited toward the PADI Open Water Diver certification.
PADI Open Water Diver
The PADI Open Water Diver course is the first rung on the ladder to becoming a fully fledged diver.
In the PADI Open Water Diver course, your PADI instructor takes you through the basics of learning how to scuba dive. You start in a pool or pool-like conditions and progress to the open water (ocean, lake, quarry, etc), getting the background knowledge along the way.
It is now even possible to complete the knowledge development portion of the PADI Open Water Diver course online with PADI’s eLearning – check out www.padi.com for more details.
You will complete five confined water dives and four open water dives through the course, learning skills such as mask clearing, regulator retrieval and buoyancy control – and at the end of it you will be awarded with a certification which enables you to dive to a depth of 18m with a higher or similarly qualified buddy.
Children can get involved too!
The PADI Bubblemaker programme is for boys and girls age eight and above.
It’s essentially a DSD for children – the perfect way for youngsters to join in the family fun of scuba diving. The max depth is only 2m, and the session lasts about an hour.
If they want to experience more of the underwater world than a single one-off Bubblemaker session can provide, then the PADI SEAL Team is for them.
The PADI SEAL Team consists of a variety of ‘AquaMissions’, which give youngsters the chance to sample wrecks, navigation, buoyancy, underwater photography, environmental awareness and more, all in the safety of a pool.
For more information on any of the above courses, visit the PADI website.
