• Discover Scuba Diving: 10 years
• Open Water Diver: 10 years
• Bubblemaker: 8 years
• Seal Team: 8 years
• Advanced Open Water: 12 years
• Rescue Diver: 12 years

You must be 10 years old when you start the course. 10 to 14-year-olds certify to become PADI Junior Open Water Divers. The PADI Junior Open Water course is identical to the adult course. However, the depth limitations are at 12 meters until the diver turns 12 years. Divers 12 years or above can dive up to 18 meters. There is no need to repeat the Open Water course when you turn 15, you automatically become a PADI Open Water diver at that age.

Depending on which location you choose, the dive course takes approximately 4 days. Complete the course in one period of 4 days at any of our OrcaNation locations or spread the course over a longer period and split your certification between Singapore and one of our OrcaNation Dive Centre locations.

At OrcaNation, we offer the theory part of the PADI Open Water course through PADI eLearning. Simply because it is proven to be user-friendly and can be used in the comfort of your home. All you need is a computer, iPad or Android tablet (not compatible with windows tablets). The theory section can be completed in approximately 10 hours with continuous learning or at a more relaxed pace, it is entirely up to you. After completion, your OrcaNation Dive Professional will go through the theory once more, to make sure everything was understood. If you prefer to work from a paper manual, we can arrange a paper manual at a small additional cost. This manual is also downloadable from the internet.

To take part in the PADI Open Water course, you do need to be relatively comfortable in the water. All divers must be able to swim continuously for 200m and perform a10-minute tread-water/float. If you cannot swim, you could put yourself, and other divers in danger. We do however recommend our PADI Discover Scuba Diving course. This is not a certification, but an experience of diving. If you enjoy the course, you can then take swimming lessons, and complete the Open Water course once you are proficient at swimming.

We can start with just one student. Of course, it’s always nicer to learn together, so try and find some friends to join in the fun! We never have a higher ratio than 4 students per instructor.

The PADI Advanced Open Water course is the next level in your continuous learning with PADI. This course consists of five adventure dives conducted over two or three days. Two of the five dives (deep and navigation) are mandatory, whereas the remaining three can be chosen from a variety of optional dives such as night dive, naturalist or fish identification, search and recovery, peak performance buoyancy, digital underwater photography and many more.

The PADI Advanced Open Water dive course is followed by the PADI Rescue Diver course, which is a strenuous but very rewarding and a fun course for every diver who wants to learn more about keeping themselves and their buddies calm and safe in stressful situations. The PADI Rescue Diver course can be completed in three to four days.

Please check out the course section of our website for more information.

We keep the groups small at a maximum of 4 students per one OrcaNation Dive Professional for all courses and fun dives. This is half of the ratio stipulated by PADI. At OrcaNation, you get double the attention and guidance from our professional dive instructors, compared to many other PADI dive centres. When a family or group of friends of 5 would like to learn to dive together in the same group, an additional OrcaNation professional will be added to the group.