As a certified PADI Open Water Diver, the most widely recognized and respected rating in the world, you have the freedom to dive with a buddy independent of a professional. Learning to dive in and around the Sangalaki area, you will dive on incredible coral reefs with schooling fish, turtles, anemone fish (Nemo!) and even have the chance to see the impressive manta rays.
As always with Scuba Junkie, safety is our top priority. Our instructors are friendly and experienced, and most have been trained in-house to ensure that we can offer you top quality training, not only in line with PADI standards, but also by our Scuba Junkie standards! To ensure that you get all of the attention you need during your Open water course, we limit group sizes to a maximum of 4 students per Instructor. Our diving boats contain all the safety equipment you'll need, including emergency oxygen and a first-aid kit, and our equipment is well-maintained and serviced on a regular basis.
Scuba Junkie Sangalaki is an awesome choice for completing your Open Water Diver certification. We have some incredible marine life including our huge resident turtle population, and the conditions here are a good balance of easy and challenging. They’re easy enough so that you feel comfortable blowing your first bubbles without too many distractions, and they will give you some extra skills such as diving in mild surge or current that you might not get learning in other locations – You’ll leave a well-rounded diver and will be super prepared for your next diving adventure.
Continue the adventure with PADI's Advanced Course, your next step in exploring the underwater world.
After your Open Water Course, we highly encourage you to do some fun diving with us so that you can put what you've learned into practice and gain valuable experience and confidence in the water. We offer a special discounted rates for pre-bookings of fun dives as part of the open water packages; be sure to ask when booking! Fun dives will not only help you to become a better diver, but you will get to dive some world class dive destinations around the Sangalaki marine park, so even more reason to stay a bit longer! Check out our great OWC packages in the price section.
The course is conducted over 3 and is made up of confined water dives and then open water dives.
A rough itinerary would look like this:
DAY 1:
Equipment set up
Swim & Float tests
Confined session 1
Open Water Dive 1
Confined session 2 & 3
DAY 2 :
Open Water Dive 2
Confined session 4 & 5
Open Water Dive 3
DAY 3:
Open Water Dive 4
One or Two Fun dives (or extra time to complete above sessions if required)
Firstly, you will need to sign up and register for an account with PADI- this can be easily done with the following link:
Create a PADI account
If you already have a PADI account please let us know at the time of booking!
Once you have an account with PADI and deposits have been paid, we will issue you your e-learning package that will be linked to your account, allowing you to fully complete your theory training online in the comfort of your home, prior to arrival.
It's essential that the E-learning theory is completed in full before your arrival, without this, you will not be able to start your practical portion of your course!
Under the guidance of your PADI instructor, you will practice 24 basic scuba skills during the 5 confined water dives. The skills will be demonstrated to you and repeated as necessary to build your confidence. You'll begin in water that is shallow enough for you to stand up in. As you progress through the five dives, you will venture into the deeper waters of our confined area (5m maximum) and even go on a mini dive to put your skills to work! You will also need to complete a 200m swim, or 300m snorkel, as well as a 10 minute float. All this is done in the ocean, which means you’ll be able to see some awesome marine life from the moment you start!
Certain skills from your confined water dives will be repeated during your open water dives. You'll learn how to plan and perform dives safely, how to react in an emergency, and how to master buoyancy control so that you can explore the tropical waters surrounding this area while interacting responsibly with marine life. There will be plenty of exciting marine life to see, including huge turtles, cuttlefish, tropical reef fish and coral, moray eels, pufferfish, rays, and much, much more! During Open Water Dives 1 and 2, you will dive to a maximum depth of 12m, and during Open Water Dives 3 and 4, you will dive to a maximum depth of 18m.
Yes, The Open Water Diver Course includes two water skills tests. The first is a ten-minute floating session (or tread). The second is to swim either 200m or 300m with a mask, fins, and snorkel. For the swim tests, you are not permitted to wear any floatation aids, such as lifejackets, so you need to be comfortable in the water.
Absolutely! In fact, we highly recommend that you do! Not only will it allow you to try out your new skill of diving in a fun dive environment, but it means you will also get to do some fun diving in one of the world's top dive sites. If you come all the way to Derawan to learn to dive we highly recommend you do at least 1 day of fun diving if not more! That way you could dive at world famous sites such as Sangalaki and Kakaban and see some incredible marine life such as Manta Rays, turtles, schooling sharks and pristine coral! Plus if you book this in advance you can get some amazing discounts on the fun dives. Check out our great OWC packages in the price section.
We offer awesome Open Water Course & accommodation packages which include accommodation at our resort with breakfast and lunch on diving days, the course, all equipment and materials needed.
Have a look below for the different options, and don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions!
