Activities

Scuba Diving

By Joe Collins // 15 June 2010

Introductory Diving

You can 'get into the water' without experience by either snorkelling or doing a Discovery Dive, most diving operators offer these options. For those with more time and a bigger budget its time to 'get certified'.

Diver Certification

In Australia, wherever there is water there are operators offering ‘learn to dive’ courses. Look for PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) or SSI (Scuba Schools International) certified courses, to ensure your diving certificate will be recognised worldwide.

An introductory Open Water dive course generally begins in a pool and progresses to open water. Courses are a mix of practical and theory work, arming you with all the necessary information to have as fun and safe a dive as possible. Most courses run from around four to five days.

Advanced Open Water

The next step is an Advanced Open Water dive course. To complete this course you must have your PADI (or equivalent) Open Water dive certificate. To obtain ‘advanced’ status, you need to do another five dives. The first two are completed with your dive instructor and they focus on deep and underwater navigation diving. Then you can choose another three dives out of 15 options such as; night diving, underwater photography and wreck diving.

Learn to dive courses cost anywhere from $300+ depending on location.

When looking for an operator to sign up with, it pays to ask a few questions, such as:

how many dives they have completed
their instructor to pupil ratio.

Go with an operator you feel comfortable with, especially if you are feeling a little apprehensive about the adventure. If you are a bit nervous about taking the plunge, and signing up to a course sounds too daunting, arrange to do an introductory dive with an instructor before making any commitments.

Please note that to take a diving course in Australia you need a Recreational Scuba Diving Medical to Australian Standard 4005.1. If you have health conditions such as asthma, you may have to give diving a miss, but speak with a doctor first.

Dive sites are found in many areas of Australia. Click on each state to find information about scuba diving in that state.

For a complete listing of scuba dive operators throughout Australia type in keyword "scuba." You may advance your search by location as well!

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