What You Learn in Beginning Scuba

At Aquatic Adventures, the PADI Open Water Diver course consists of three main phases:

• eLearning home study. This academic training will help you to understand the basic principles of scuba diving
• Pool Dives. You will perform 5 dives in a pool, typically over 2 days, where you will learn basic scuba skills
• Training Dives. You complete your certification by completing 4 open water dives in a lake or ocean to demonstrate what you've learned under real diving conditions
  (Note: You must add on your certification dives to complete your certification. You can do this when you register or after you complete your pool dives.)

During your pool dives, you will learn how to assemble, operate and break down your scuba kit. You will also learn basic scuba skills such as mask and regulator clearing, buoyancy control, emergency air management, and dive planning. Later, you will demonstrate all of these skills in a lake or ocean.

When you complete this course, you will receive the PADI Open Water Diver certification. This certification level allows you to participate in many supervised and unsupervised dive activities. You will probably want to take additional training later, but the PADI Open Water Diver certification will send you on your way to many exciting underwater adventures.

Prerequisites

To enroll in the PADI Open Diver course or Junior Open Water Diver course, you must be:

• 12 years or older (10-11 year olds must register for private training. See below.)
• Ability to swim 200 yards without stopping
• Ability to tread or float in the water for 10 minutes
• Completed a medical assessment for diving

Doing a Referral

If you plan to complete your open water dives elsewhere, perhaps on a tropical vacation, select the date options for Certification Dives when registering. This will reduce the price of the class and allow you to complete only the academic and pool training for the course. This is the perfect way to complete your certification on a trip and have more time for fun and adventure while there. For more information, please visit our PADI Referral Program page.

Getting Ready for Your Class

Being prepared for your class will help ensure your success and prevent you from missing out on any fun. Aquatic Adventures strongly suggests you visit our Beginning Scuba Checklist page to ensure you are ready for your class. Visit this page frequently until you have everything on the list checked off.

Special Note for Children

Aquatic Adventures respects the time and effort each student puts into their training for the introductory scuba course. For this reason, we do not allow 10 and 11-year-olds to participate in our adult courses. Children who are 12 through 14 can participate in regularly scheduled classes. However, our instructors can remove them from class if they cannot keep pace with the rest of the students.

All 10 and 11-year-olds must register for the Beginning Scuba For Children - Class/Pool Future Class. Older children can register for this private instuction if they choose. Open water dives will be paid for and scheduled following the successful completion of confined water training. Someone from our facility will contact you to schedule private training when you register online.

What's Included in the Beginning Scuba Course Fee

Our course fee includes the following materials:

• PADI Open Water Diver eLearning course (non-refundable)
• PADI Computer Simulator Access Card
• PADI Logbook
• Use of life support equipment (wetsuit, weights, tanks, BCD, and regulator)
• 5 pool dives
• PADI Open Water Diver certification fee
• Small Class Size (Eight people or less)

Items Not Included

• We do not include personal gear (mask, snorkel, boots, and fins) as you will need these items once you are a certified diver. There is a student discount on purchasing these items when you buy from Aquatic Adventures. See our How to Purchase Mask, Snorkel, Fins page for more information or call us at (262) 938-6827.
• We do not include entrance fees to dive sites. This includes but is not limited to park entrance fees, boat fees, travel, or parking fees as these fees can vary and are not under our control.

Note Regarding Certification Dives

We give you the option to purchase your training dives when you register for Beginning Scuba. If you wish to complete your dives on an upcoming trip, you can decline the training dives when you register. You can add this option back later if you like. However, you cannot get certified without completing four training dives over a minimum of 2 days.

To sign up for your training dives or see our list of upcoming dates see our Beginning Scuba Certification Dives page.

Need More Information?

Call us at (262) 93-6827 if you have any questions. You can also follow Jesse as she becomes a PADI Open Water Diver at Aquatic Adventures by watching the informational videos on our Jesse Gets Certified page.