PADI Open Water Diver Course

Ready to learn how to scuba dive? The PADI Open Water Diver course is your first step toward becoming a certified diver. You’ll learn the knowledge and skills needed to dive safely, use scuba equipment, and enjoy the underwater world with confidence.

What You’ll Learn

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

Knowledge Development
Complete PADI eLearning at home to learn the basic principles of scuba diving, equipment, terminology, and safety procedures.

Confined Water Dives
Work with your PADI Instructor in the pool to learn and practice essential scuba skills in a controlled environment.

Open Water Dives
Put your new skills into practice during four open water dives at local dive sites under the direct supervision of your PADI Instructor.

Prerequisites

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

• Be at least 10 years old.
• Have a reasonable level of physical fitness and be medically fit for scuba diving.
• Students under 18 will need appropriate parent or guardian consent.

The Fun Part

This is where scuba diving really comes to life!

You’ll experience breathing underwater for the first time, learn how to confidently use scuba equipment, and develop the skills needed to become a certified diver.

The course includes four open water dives at local dive sites, where you’ll demonstrate the skills you learned in the pool while experiencing real scuba diving under the supervision of your PADI Instructor.

The Scuba Gear You’ll Use

During the course, you’ll learn to use standard scuba equipment, including:

• Scuba regulator system
• Buoyancy control device (BCD)
• Dive computer
• Scuba cylinder
• Exposure protection
• Mask, snorkel, boots, and fins
• Other standard scuba accessories

Our instructors will help select and fit the scuba equipment provided by Justin’s Scuba Time to ensure it is appropriate and comfortable for you throughout the course.

Personal Equipment Requirement:
Students are required to have their own mask, snorkel, wetsuit boots, and fins.

All other required scuba equipment is available through Justin’s Scuba Time.

Learning Materials

PADI Open Water Diver eLearning is the primary source of knowledge development for this course. You’ll complete the academic portion of the course from home, allowing you to learn at your own pace while reducing the amount of time you need to spend at the dive shop.

PADI eLearning combines reading, videos, knowledge checks, and other interactive activities to help you understand the fundamentals of scuba diving before entering the water.

Your instructor will then reinforce that knowledge and apply it to your practical training during the pool and open water portions of the course.

Course Costs

We want to make the cost of becoming a certified diver as transparent as possible. Your total cost will depend on the equipment you already own and your individual travel expenses.

Known Course Costs:

• Course Tuition: $265
• PADI Open Water Diver eLearning: $225
• Equipment Rental: $85

Students who choose not to rent equipment can receive 10% off personal equipment purchased from Justin’s Scuba Time during the course.

Students must have their own mask, snorkel, wetsuit boots, and fins.

You will also be responsible for your own transportation and travel expenses to the open water dive sites. Based on these costs, we recommend budgeting approximately $900 per student for the complete course.

Important Registration Information

When you register online, a PADI Open Water Diver eLearning code will automatically be assigned to each student enrolled in the course.

Each student must use a different email address when registering.

Enriched Air Nitrox Bundle — $250

Highly Recommended — Optional

As part of your Open Water Diver registration, the Enriched Air Nitrox Bundle is automatically added at checkout for $250. This is a discounted bundle price offered to students completing their Open Water Diver course with Justin’s Scuba Time.

Nitrox certification is not required to complete your Open Water Diver course, and you will not use Nitrox during your Open Water training dives. However, we strongly recommend completing the certification because Nitrox is one of the most commonly used specialties among recreational divers.

What Is Nitrox?

Enriched Air Nitrox is breathing gas containing a higher percentage of oxygen than standard air. While standard scuba air contains approximately 21% oxygen, recreational Nitrox blends commonly contain 22–40% oxygen.

One of the primary benefits of Nitrox is that it can allow you to have a longer no-decompression limit compared with breathing standard air at the same depth. This can be particularly useful on repetitive dives and multi-day dive trips.

Nitrox does not allow you to safely dive deeper. In fact, because of the increased oxygen concentration, Nitrox requires additional considerations regarding maximum operating depth and oxygen exposure.

Your Nitrox training will teach you how to:

• Identify and understand different Nitrox blends

• Calculate and understand maximum operating depth (MOD)

• Understand oxygen exposure limits

• Plan dives using Nitrox

• Analyze your breathing gas before diving

• Set your dive computer for the correct Nitrox blend

• Understand the advantages and limitations of diving with Nitrox

When Will I Complete the Nitrox Training?

Your Nitrox classroom/knowledge-development portion will be completed during your scheduled Open Water course orientation with your instructor.

You will not dive Nitrox during the Open Water Diver course. Your Open Water training dives will be conducted using standard breathing gas.

Once you complete the required Nitrox training, you will have the knowledge and certification to use Enriched Air Nitrox on future dives within the limits of your certification.

Can I Remove the Nitrox Bundle?

Yes. The Nitrox Bundle is optional.

It is automatically applied during checkout so that students are presented with the recommended training option and discounted bundle price. If you do not want to add Nitrox certification to your course, you can remove the bundle before completing your registration.

If you already know that you do not want Nitrox certification, simply remove it from your registration before checkout.