A PADI Open Water Certificate is your invitation to the most exhilarating spectacles Mother Nature has to offer
Whether you are interested in the explosive kaleidoscope of colours within a beautiful coral reef or the rusting metal of a wrecked military cruiser, the PADI Open Water Diver Course is the world’s favourite way to get there.
Have you ever wondered how it would feel to be weightless? Do you want to find out what your friends have been telling you about all this time?
Our Professional and friendly Instructors and Divemasters will make sure that your journey to becoming a qualified diver is the fun and stress free adventure that it should be.
What will you learn?
The PADI Open Water Diver course consists of three main phases:
Knowledge Development to understand the basic principles of scuba diving
Confined Water Dives to learn basic scuba skills
Open Water Dives to use your skills and explore!
You will start with your Home Study, by reading all of your tablet/pc based training eLearning material at home at your own pace, you will learn about many different aspects of diving theory, equipment, safety, skills, and what to expect during your course.
You will then come to us armed with most of the background knowledge you need to complete the rest of your course.
We run monthly courses, each course taking place over 2 consecutive weekends. The first weekend is spent with us at our dive centre in Lancing, we split each day to be a mix of classroom and pool training, there will be a water stamina test on the first day comprising of a 200m swim and 10 minute float/water-tread.
The second weekend is when you will be completing your qualifying Open Water dives at a suitable open water dive site.
Because we have our own pool on site we have the capability to also run courses at other times, please don’t hesitate to get in touch to discuss this option with us. We can offer this course on a one-to-one basis, please enquire for course pricing.
You need to be able to swim to learn to scuba dive:
There will be a water stamina test on the first day at the dive centre comprising of a 200m swim and 10 minute float/water-tread, please note that you need to complete this swim and float comfortably.
Open Water Referral Course
If you prefer the idea of learning to dive on holiday, but don’t fancy spending half of your holiday in a classroom, we have the answer, you could do the Open Water Diver Referral Course. You do your home study here, the classroom and pool work with us, then finish your qualifying dives at a different PADI centre whilst on your holiday.
Junior Open Water certification
Children from the age of 10yrs can enroll in the Open Water course. The course is exactly the same course that adults do, the training and skills are all the same, children must meet the same level of ability as adults. The only difference once they have completed the course is the depth to which the certification rates them to, and the required supervision whilst diving.
10 to 12 year old
Depth — Maximum 12 metres After certification — Must dive with a parent/guardian or PADI Professional to 12 metres maximum depth.
12 to 14 year old
Depth — Maximum 18 metres for Junior Open Water Divers. Maximum 21 metres for continuing education, i.e Advanced Diver course. After certification — Must dive with an adult certified diver.
The Minimum Age for Scuba Diving.
There are minimum age requirements for Scuba Diving for a reason. For the Junior Open Water course this is 10 yrs old. A lot of it has to do with your child’s development, being under the pressure of deeper water, and particularly breathing compressed gas. Whilst the training agencies all have their minimum age, which we follow, there should also be considerations per child, it is important to take into account each child’s physical and cognitive abilities when considering if they are ready to take up Scuba Diving.
Please note that you will need your own mask and snorkel for the course, we believe having your own comfortable mask is very important throughout your training, we can advise and help with this with the large range we have in our shop, however if you already have Diving Quality equipment, you can use that, note that diving quality means tempered glass lenses, not plastic lens snorkelling masks.
Open Water and Drysuit Combination
If you are intending to dive in the UK, you will need to learn how to use a Drysuit to allow you to stay warmer for longer in the cooler waters of the UK. If you do your Open Water Diver course with us in the earlier and latter parts of the year, we will only take you in the water in a Drysuit due to the water temperature. We offer a huge discount off of the PADI Drysuit Diver course when you take it alongside your Open Water course. Please see the Packages page, this is the Open Water UK Diver Combination Package
OPEN WATER COURSE PRICE & DURATION: £575 / 4 days (group course) Includes training materials; pool instruction; equipment hire; qualifying dives and certification. See below for the course packages available. The items not included that you will need are listed below as required.
PREREQUISITES: 10 years of age
COURSE CONTENTS: Home study; Knowledge development; Confined water dives; Open Water dives; Exam
EQUIPMENT REQUIRED: Mask and Snorkel, Swimwear, a towel and a t-shirt to wear in the pool, also not included is the entry fee into the dive lake for qualifying dives.
REQUIRED FORMS AND FURTHER INFORMATION: Click Here
If you prefer the idea of learning to dive on holiday, but don’t fancy spending half of your holiday in a classroom, we have the answer, you could do the Open Water Diver Referral Course. You do your home study here, the classroom and pool work with us, then finish your qualifying dives at a different PADI centre whilst on your holiday.
Please check our schedule as this page sometimes does not get updated with the newest dates.
2025
DECEMBER
PADI Open Water Diver – Referral Course only Find out more Open Water Class & Pool Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th
2026
JANUARY
PADI Open Water Diver – Referral Course only Find out more Open Water Class & Pool Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th
FEBRUARY
PADI Open Water Diver – Referral Course only Find out more Open Water Class & Pool Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd
MARCH
PADI Open Water Diver – Referral Course only Find out more Open Water Class & Pool Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd
APRIL
PADI Open Water Diver Find out more Open Water Class & Pool Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th Open Water Lake Dives – Complete Course Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th
