Learn To Dive - Open Water Diver Courses

At Shellharbour Scuba Centre, we're passionate about the amazing beauty and sheer enjoyment of scuba

The open water learn to dive course is great for a whole bunch of reasons! Not only does it teach you the skills for your new favourite pass time, but it is something you can take anywhere around the world and do whenever you want. It connects you to new people and it introduces you to a whole new world hiding on the ocean floor.

The open water course includes your open water pack (which has a book, two DVD’s, dive tables and a log book), gear hire, air fills and an instructor. Can’t make the weekend? That’s ok- Personalised Scuba Courses are also available at your convenience for an additional cost. We have learn to dive Open Water courses running the first two weekends of every month; you can check our course dates here.

The course goes over 4 days- usually two consecutive weekends. It starts bright and early at 8:30 finishing at approximately 4pm but this can change depending on class sizes.

• Day One consists of theory work, the instructor and students all go through the Open Water book, completing any Chapter reviews that people had trouble with and going over the basics of scuba diving such as how to dive, the gear that they will use and things they need to keep in mind for when they do take the plunge.

• Day Two students get to jump in the pool to try out scuba! Once they feel comfortable we begin to go through some basic skills that are needed to make safe and confident divers. Students will learn how to put their gear together and how to do buddy checks with class mates; they get to learn buoyancy control and how to enter the water with all the gear on. Usually we get to take students for their first open water dive after all the pool work has been completed. The first dive is usually an orientation dive- just to get everyone used to being in the real thing. We get to show off our world!

• Day Three students get to do two more open water dives. Usually these dives we start to do some of the skills that were shown in the pool, just to show that they are just as easy in the ocean! We also just do some swimming around to get students used to changing their buoyancy.

• Day Four, the final day, on the first dive of the day students finish off the skills from the day before; hopefully they are all completed so we can spend the fourth dive doing what we love best- just diving!

When you have finished your course you are more than welcome to join us on our Saturday and Sunday morning dives and once you have built up your confidence and experience you can try our Saturday and Sunday advanced afternoon dives this is usually a DPV dive or a twin dive! We also conduct night dives for Thursday night. Or why not come with us to experience a new location on a trip!

After you have paid a $100 deposit to secure your spot in the class we will give you your Open Water pack! At the end of each chapter in your book there is a chapter review- you must complete all of the chapter reviews before coming into class as well as watching the DVD’s provided. Doing this allows the class to move just a little bit faster to get you in the water sooner! We will also give you a Diver Medical form, this is a simple form asking you if you have or the possibility of some medical conditions that are not compatible with diving, if you answer ‘yes’ to any of the questions we require that you go and have a doctor complete a scuba diving medical before we can take you in the ocean.

For those under the age of 18 yrs, a parent / guardians authority is required prior to any water activities. The minimum age for certification is 12 yrs.  This age must be reached prior to completion of the course.

Start your training online!

www.divessi.com/online or

www.padi.com/elearning-scuba-registration/default.aspx