Start your Open Water Diver Course with The Scuba Dive Shop Today!

Divers who learn in Victoria are renowned for being some of the best in the world due to both the level of instruction, and the wide variety of dives and conditions experienced in Melbourne waters. We are home to some of Australia's best temperate water diving from various reef dives, to spectacular shipwrecks and J class Submarines, to huge underwater walls, plus one of the largest ranges of fantastic pier dives and shore dives in Australia.

Your PADI Open Water Diver Course will be the most important dive training course you'll ever do.

We'll do everything we can to make sure it's fun to do as well.

Best of all, the certification obtained is recognised worldwide and valid for life.

Who should take this course?

If you've always wanted to take scuba diving lessons, experience unparalleled adventure and see the world beneath the waves, this is where it starts. Get your scuba diving certification with an Open Water Diver course. Millions of people have learned to scuba dive and gone on to discover the wonders of the aquatic world through this course.

To enrol in a PADI Open Water Diver Course at The Scuba Doctor, you must be 14 years old or older. You need adequate swimming skills and need to be in good physical health. No prior experience with scuba diving is required.

What will you learn?

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

• Knowledge Development (online eLearning) 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!

PADI Open Water Diver Course Details

All eLearning, or Open Water Manual knowledge reviews, must be completed prior to course commencement on Day 1.

The PADI Open Water Diver Course is run over 2 days. Please contact training@scubadoctor.com.au for our current available dates. Regardless of when the days are scheduled, they take the following format:

Day 1:
It's time to put on the scuba gear! Today you'll finish off a short theory review. Then you'll head to the pool and be introduced to breathing underwater. You'll learn the skills that are necessary to keep you safe on your course ocean dives and during your own diving.
When the pool session is completed, you will head to one of the amazing shore-dive locations on the Mornington Peninsula for your first saltwater dive, getting face to face with some of the Marine Wildlife our waters have to offer!

Day 2:
It's time to say g'day to those seahorses! You will do two Shore Dives under Rye or Blairgowrie Pier. These piers are a perfect training environment, and full of spectacular marine life living around the pylons.

After completing two shore or pier-based training dives, your instructor will take you on a third dive (this one is the fun dive). You’ll go a little deeper today, which will prepare you for doing your own diving after the course.

What scuba gear will you use?

In the PADI Open Water Diver course, you learn to use basic scuba gear, including a mask, snorkel, fins, regulator, buoyancy control device (BCD), dive computer and a dive cylinder. The equipment you wear will typically be a wetsuit, boots and weight belt.

The hire of a BCD, Regulator, Dive Computer, Dive Cylinder and Weight Belt for all dives is included in the price of the dive course.

We expect you to have your own personal items: Mask, Snorkel, Boots and Fins, as well as bathers and towel, plus dive gloves and hood if required. These can be purchased at everyday low prices from The Scuba Doctor as we are Melbourne's cheapest dive equipment specialist with a huge range to choose from.

How can you start learning now?

Pay your course deposit and arrange dates for your course with us. Then we'll provide you with the details on how to start using the Open Water Diver Online eLearning option, or send you the PADI Open Water Manual, and you can start learning right away. Open Water Diver Online eLearning Theory gives you the background information you need to dive safely and allows you to study at your own pace through an interactive computer-based program.

PADI Open Water Diver Course Prerequisites

To take the PADI Open Water Diver Course, you must:

• Be at least 14 years old.
• Be in general good health and able to swim 200 metres (at your own pace).

Medical Declaration

Before starting the course you are required to fill in and sign a Medical Statement to say you are fit to dive, do not regularly take prescription or non-prescription medication and that you do not suffer from any conditions such as asthma, diabetes etc. If you answer 'YES' to any question on the statement, are in any doubt, or feel that you may have a condition that requires approval from a doctor first, please see a qualified SPUMS physician for a Dive Medical assessment that conforms to Australian Standard AS4005-1. (Overseas dive medicals are generally not accepted unless they are equal or better than the AS4005.1 standard.) See Diving Medical for more details.

Breathing underwater for the first time is something you'll never forget, so don't wait.