Cairns diving courses cater to everyone. If you want to learn to dive, you can do it here. If you want to expand your skills and certification levels, you can do that too and there is no better classroom than the Great Barrier Reef. Cairns has first class dive instructors and dive school facilities. You can pretty much tailor the course and deliverables to suit your needs. Want to complete the theory online before arrival, you can. Want to do it in the classroom with a Dive Instructor, you can do that too. If you are learning to scuba dive, then (with most course providers) the initial training dives will be completed in a swimming pool. This allows you to get comfortable with the equipment and processes, in a controlled environment (with no waves or current). Once that part of your scuba journey is complete, it’s out to the reef! For those chasing an Open Water Diver certification, you can complete your training dives on either 2 day trips or a 2 day / 1 night liveaboard trip. If you are expanding your skills, then you will most likely choose to do so on a liveaboard dive trip. Either way, we strongly recommend pre-booking your Cairns dive course prior to arrival, to ensure availability of Dive Instructors and Dive Masters. So, what are your options? We’ll give you a quick rundown on the Cairns dive courses below, and please note, we’re adding information to this site all the time, so bear with us as we grow our content and advice.
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Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef is a great place to learn to dive. When initially getting certified, most people choose the Open Water Diver course, which when successfully completed, enables you to scuba dive to a maximum depth of 18m. Kids can become certified scuba divers – as Junior Open Water Divers – from 10 years of age. Adults of any age can become certified divers, as long as they pass the medical tests and course requirements. Please note there are some health considerations for those considering learning to dive. If you have asthma, epilepsy, a heart condition or are pregnant, then these will all prevent you from becoming a certified diver. When learning to dive in Cairns, you will complete a minimum of 2 days of training dives on the Great Barrier Reef, with your Dive Instructor. The reefs you visit are all outer reef sites, and exact locations and dive sites vary from boat to boat. Standard inclusions in any learn to dive in Cairns and on the Great Barrier Reef course includes your diving manual and log book, instruction by an accredited Dive Instructor, use of diving equipment throughout the course, guided training dives and certification dives, plus either 2 day trips to the reef or a liveaboard trip to the reef.
If you are already a certified scuba diver and want to expand your skills, then you may choose to become an Advanced Open Water Diver, which allows you to dive to a maximum depth of 30m. It is recommended to have Advanced Open Water Diver certification if you are considering a Cairns dive liveaboard trip to Osprey Reef. Some other Cairns diving courses include Nitrox Certification, Rescue Certification, Refresher Scuba Skills (perfect if you are certified but have not dived for a while).
Learning to scuba dive is so much fun! If you like snorkelling, and have a desire to spend more time exploring the underwater world, then scuba diving is for you. Once certified you can dive anywhere in the world, but your journey starts here on the best and biggest tropical reef system on earth, the Great Barrier Reef. Cairns dive schools are very experienced and professional, having taught hundreds and thousands of people to dive.
Scuba diving gives you access to the wonders of the underwater world. Cruise with sharks, chill with turtles and blow some bubbles.
Yes, Cairns has both PADI and SSI learn to dive courses, which are provided by several different businesses and start every week. You can choose between PADI or SSI certification. What’s the difference? In short, not much. PADI stands for Professional Association of Diving Instructors. SSI stands for Scuba Schools International. PADI has been running slightly longer than SSI, and has run more courses (issuing more than 1 million certifications annually) but both are esteemed globally for their levels of safety and quality of instructors and courses. Both provide the same learn to dive courses (Open Water, Advanced, Nitrox etc). So for me, the difference between PADI and SSI is about the same as Lemonade and Sprite – they are basically the same, with some slight differences, but one is not more advantageous than the other, when it comes to picking a learn to dive course.
Good question. The rules for learning to scuba dive with PADI or SSI are the same worldwide, so our answer is not specific to Cairns. As a part of the entry level dive course, being Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver, you need to demonstrate the ability to swim 200m and tread water for 10 minutes. These are actually life skills, as much as diving skills and anyone considering a learn to dive course should be comfortable in the water and be able to complete these simple tasks. Afterall, on a 30-minute dive, you will swim much more than 200m and may have to treat water for longer than 10 minutes, pending your dive buddy, dive location and surface conditions.
Another good question. The rules for how old you need to be to learn to scuba dive in Cairns, are the same worldwide, so our answer is not specific to Cairns. You need to be 10 years old. However, your child’s age is just the beginning of the answer to this question. For a more detailed reply, please see the post we wrote about our 10 year old learning to scuba dive.
We learned to dive in Cairns and our son got his Junior Open Water Diver in Port Douglas. Now our whole family can dive the Great Barrier Reef together, which is so awesome.
You can learn to dive in Cairns. Several businesses run dive courses and they start every week. You can choose between PADI or SSI certification. What’s the difference? In short, not much. PADI stands for Professional Association of Diving Instructors. SSI stands for Scuba Schools International. PADI has been running slightly longer than SSI, and has run more courses (issuing more than 1 million certifications annually) but both are esteemed globally for their levels of safety and quality of instructors and courses. Both provide the same learn to dive courses (Open Water, Advanced, Nitrox etc). So for me, the difference between PADI and SSI is about the same as Lemonade and Sprite – they are basically the same, with some slight differences, but one is not more advantageous than the other, when it comes to picking a learn to dive course. What are the learn to dive in Cairns courses? Quick recap below.
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