Questions

The Open Water Diver (OW) certification is the most basic introductory certification for scuba diving, allowing you to participate in fun dives up to 18 meters deep with dive buddies worldwide. It includes equipment and tank rental, opening the door to exploring the underwater world. In the long run, it's more cost-effective than introductory dives, and you can pursue Advanced Open Water (AOW) or specialized courses later.

Uses of an OW Certification

Local Fun Dives: Certified holders can participate in dives at dive shops worldwide, exploring dive sites up to 18 meters deep.

Equipment and Tank Rental: Rent scuba equipment and tanks at dive shops and participate in dive trips.

Learning Basic Diving Skills: Learn basic diving skills such as equipment use, mask clearing, and neutral buoyancy control in the course.

Cost Savings: Compared to participating in expensive introductory dives every time, participating in fun dives after obtaining certification is cheaper and more cost-effective.

Advanced Streams After Obtaining OW Certification:

AOW (Advanced Open Water Diver): Able to dive to 40 meters, learning deep-sea diving, night diving, and boat diving skills.

Specialty Courses: Such as underwater photography, wreck diving, night diving, and rescue diving, increasing diving depth and experience.

Instructor Courses: Become a dive instructor and lead others on dives.

Summary:

OW is like an entry ticket to the underwater world, the foundation for scuba diving.

AOW further expands diving depth and possibilities.

It is recommended that if you are interested in diving, consider taking AOW after obtaining OW certification to gain broader diving capabilities.

I recommend buying your basic clothing first, such as a wetsuit, mask, gaiters, and fins. If you have extra budget, you can buy a hood and gloves. Don't rush to buy a BCD and regulator unless you'll be diving very often. Otherwise, you don't know if you'll actually dedicate time to diving at the beginning, and buying everything at once might just leave it to gather dust later.

If you can breathe, you can take a scuba diving course and get certified to prove you can actually do it.

Our dive shop instructors will guide you step-by-step to overcome your fear of water, teaching even non-swimmers how to use fins to move underwater.

If you still have concerns, we suggest you start with these steps:

Take a swimming course: Before enrolling in a formal scuba diving certification course, take a basic swimming training class to learn basic swimming skills and build confidence in the water.

Try a trial dive: After overcoming your initial fear, participate in a trial dive to experience the wonder of underwater breathing.

Either take a swimming course to build your swimming skills or sign up for a trial dive to see if you can adapt.

For Open Water Diver (PADI certification only, no basic information required if you already have one):

Requirements: Male and female, 10 years and older. (Non-swimmers are not required)

Divers aged 10-14 hold a Junior Open Water Diver certification. Those with cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, asthma, epilepsy, or who have undergone major surgery within the past three months must provide a doctor's certificate before the activity. According to international internet regulations, PADI eLearning requires users to be at least 13 years old.

The following information is required:

1. Name in Chinese and English (Full name including surname as on passport)

2. Gender

3. Date of birth (Year)

4. ID number (for insurance purposes)

5. Email address (Gmail preferred)

6. Digital headshot (for certification; a casual photo is acceptable, but do not wear hats, glasses, or masks)

7. Height

8. Weight

9. Shoe size (cm)

01. Please eat your main meals early and avoid overeating.

02. Please bring your own water and replenish fluids frequently to avoid dehydration during the dive.

03. If you are prone to seasickness, please take seasickness medication one hour in advance. (SS Pharmaceutical's "Little Rabbit" seasickness medication from Japan is widely recognized as the most effective.)

04. Avoid consuming easily fermented legumes before diving, such as soy milk, milk, and milk tea.

05. Please bring your own drinking water, swimsuit, towel, and toiletries.

For students enrolled in the course, equipment is included in the fee; the dive shop will provide all equipment.

However, tourists can choose to borrow equipment from friends who have it or rent equipment from our dive shop.

Full equipment rental for one day (height, weight, shoe size (in cm), and weight in kg required).

Full equipment: NT$1,000 (NT$800 for certified students).

Heavy equipment: NT$700 (NT$500 for certified students) BCD, regulator, weights.

Light equipment: NT$300 (NT$100 for certified students) Mask, snorkel, thermal suit, overshoes, fins.

Of course you can. The prices listed on the website are for the Northeast Dive Area. You can discuss with your instructor first, and the instructor will give you different prices depending on the location. If the course or tourist diving location is not in the Northeast Dive Area, there will be additional costs, including the instructor's travel expenses, accommodation fees, etc. The cost will definitely be higher. Please understand. Alternatively, it may be cheaper to find a local dive shop.

會喔，人越多，折扣越多。

當地旅遊潛水部分 (FunDive) 潛數越多，折扣越多

• 當天1潛費用750元 (發證學生價500)
• 當天2潛費用1200元 (發證學生價1000)
• 當天3潛費用1800元 (發證學生價1500)
• 當天4潛費用2500元 (發證學生價2000)
• 夜潛1潛費用800元(發證學生價550)

潛水課程部分 (以OW課程為例) 人數越多，優惠越多

• 1人報名 原價。(12,000元/每人)
• 2人同行報名 享500元折抵優惠。(11,500元/每人)
• 3人同行報名 享1,000元折抵優惠。(11,000元/每人)
• 4人同行報名 享1,500元折抵優惠。(10,500元/每人)

團體班以4人為上限 

If you are interested in the course, we will contact you and inform you of the class location. Normally, the class will be held in the classroom and open water area of ​​Longdong in the northeast corner. Accommodation is at your own expense. We recommend staying in a guesthouse in Ruifang, as it will be more convenient and closer to the location. If you do not have a car, you can also choose to share a shuttle bus with the instructor and pay a reasonable fuel cost.

PADI currently offers electronic certification, but physical certification cards are also available for separate purchase.

Most courses are online, with the academic portion assessed online.

The practical portion will be taught by an instructor on land, followed by hands-on practice underwater.

1. After contacting us, confirm the course details, time, location, and number of participants, provide basic information, and pay a deposit.

2. After receiving the deposit, the instructor will send you online course materials.

3. Please complete the online course before starting.

4. Please pay the remaining balance one day before the start of the course.

5. After completing the course, you can check your certification status on the PADI official website within 1-3 days.

Let's take the beginner open water diver level as an example (first time using a PADI online course).

First, check the email address you provided to your instructor (usually Gmail). You'll see an email from PADI containing a course redemption code. Click the link to register on the PADI website: https://www.padi.com. Enter the email address you provided to your instructor for your account. Remember your password. Use your passport's English name for both your first and last name. Do not enter your middle name (incorrect names can affect your diving trips abroad). The email address represents your account; please use the same email address you provided to your instructor. You cannot change your email address or name after registration to avoid future problems when diving abroad.

After completing the form, go to your PADI member page and find "My e-Learning Program." Select your course and language, then click "Start Course." You can then begin watching the online course materials. Each completed section will have a green checkmark, indicating completion. Before starting the course, please complete at least the final quiz of the course material.

You will receive an additional email with a diver's health and wellness questionnaire for your first class. Remember to fill out the questionnaire and sign it (your passport name is sufficient).

Basically, once the PADI online course materials are sent, the deposit is non-refundable. If you are unable to attend due to health conditions, you do not need to pay the balance. When you are in better health, you can continue to attend the previous course and then pay the balance. If you are unable to continue the course due to health conditions during the course, it will damage the store's time and interests. Because they need to make time to continue the course for you, you will need to pay the store's cost for changing the course time.

It's recommended to accumulate at least 15 air tanks through local recreational fundive diving, plus 5 more for OW training, for a total of 20 air tanks. At this point, you should have a certain level of control over neutral buoyancy, making it much easier to take the AOW exam. Another option is to have us guide you through local recreational fundive diving. During the process, our instructors will assess your level and provide practical advice to help you improve your diving quality and progress, accumulating diving experience and air tank count.

The Advanced Open Water (AOW) course teaches five specializations, two of which are mandatory and three are electives. The list is as follows:

Underwater Navigation (Mandatory)

Deep Diving (Mandatory)

High Altitude Diving

Boat Diving (This specialty requires an additional NT$3500+ per person for boat rental, priced according to the total number of participants)

Digital Underwater Imaging (This specialty requires an additional NT$1500 per person for basic underwater photography equipment)

Drift Diver

Drysuit Diving

Fish Identification

Night Diving (Recommended Elective)

Advanced Neutral Buoyancy (Recommended Elective)

Rescue (This specialty requires an additional NT$12500 per person, a one-day course leading to certification, essential for becoming a divemaster)

Search and Retrieval

Underwater Nature Observer

Enriched Nitrox Diver (Recommended Elective) (This specialty requires an additional NT$5000 per person, an indoor course leading to certification)

Emergency First Response Officer (EFR) (This specialty requires an additional 6000 RMB per person. Indoor courses offer a specialty certification, a necessary certification for becoming a divemaster.)

AOW specialty courses are taught briefly, not in great detail, as each specialty has its own certification. For example, top-tier neutral buoyancy diving has its own certification, and boat diving also has its own certification. If you are interested in several specialties after completing your AOW course, you can contact us to obtain the corresponding certification, or we can take you on a local fundive diving trip and tell us which specialties you want to learn. No certification will be issued for these fundive courses. The cost will be: fundive < specialty course < specialty certification. The cost of fundive courses is different from the cost of course courses.

If you already have an Open Water (OW) certification from another system, you cannot directly transfer it to a PADI OW certification. However, you can take the PADI Advanced Open Water (AOW) exam. Certification levels cannot be directly converted, so you cannot transfer your AOW certification from another system to a PADI AOW certification. For example, if you are a Divemaster from another system, you can directly take the PADI Instructor exam.