In really optimum circumstances: a gentle beach and sheltered lagoon, and the personal guidance of an experienced diver. How long would it take before the newbie is (accompanied by the expert) doing (gentle) reef dives?
(I could have asked in GQ, but there may be an element of opinion involved.)
You can get PADI certified on a two day vacation trip.
You can do a PADI Discover Scuba course and be diving with an instructor the same day.
If you want to do more than the one day, you’re probably better off getting a normal certification.
With the bolded bit, Digital has it right, the same day.
If we’re not actually considering certification at all, and assuming a reasonably intelligent person, just an hour or so of instruction can get you out in the water, most of which would consist of how to ascend. You won’t be very safe on your own, though. Not safe at all.
Yes, PADI Discovery dive you’re in the pool within an hour, and in the ocean an hour after that, assuming all goes well. It’s expensive, since you’re essentially taking up an entire instructor for your sole benefit. And you absolutely can’t dive by yourself afterwards.
Telemark, I think you can only get certified on a 2 day trip if you’ve done all the classroom and pool work ahead of time. Very popular way of doing it of course - do the dreary studying and boring pool drills at home, then do the real dives in a tropical location.
I got the gift of SCUBA certification for my 50th birthday, well after the age that most divers get certified. A student CAN get certified in a two-day course, but I only felt comfortable after the first ten dives. One problem is that newly certified divers tend to overestimate their abilities. I’ve been with divers who had done their initial five certification dives in less than 50’, then they immediately went to Key Largo to dive 100’-120’ on some well-known wrecks. I pulled at least two of them back to the dive boat afterwards.
Short version: Shore diving after five dives is probably fine. Wreck diving below 100’ requires more experience.
Sounds like these divers also didn’t pay attention to the fact that the limit on the “basic open water” certification is only 60’.
Diving below 60’ requires an “advanced open water” (or equivalent) certification. In the AOW they take you to 100+ with supervision, so that you learn the effects such depth will have on you.
Wreck diving (penetration) requires another specialty certification (or equivalent).
I worked as a PADI scuba instructor in the Cayman Islands for several years.
There are three levels of options: Discover Scuba Diving, Scuba Diver, and Open Water Diver.
**Discover Scuba Diving **consists of a brief classroom session and one pool session. A dive at a shallow site (40ft or 12m max), such as a reef, accompanied by a dive professional may, and usually does, follow. This can all be done in one day. You may be able to arrange more such shallow dives in subsequent days.
Discover Scuba Diving is not a certification course. You would need to repeat the entire course if you want to dive again after a year has passed since the initial course. And it is always the dive professional’s discretion if they are willing to offer additional shallow open water dives after the DSD course. The pool and open water sessions of a Discover Scuba Diving course might can be applied, at the instructor’s discretion, to a Scuba Diver or Open Water Diver certification course.
Open Water Diver is the typical entry level certification course. It involves covering the material in five chapters of a textbook, end of chapter written reviews, quizzes, and a final exam. There are five sessions in confined water, typically a swimming pool, to learn and practice various skills. And there are at least four open water certification dives in which you must demonstrate mastery of the skills.
The full Open Water Diver course can be completed in as little as 3 days, though you will need to read the text and complete the end of chapter reviews outside that time frame. Three chapters in the classroom on morning one, and three sessions in the pool in the afternoon. The remaining two chapters in the classroom on morning two, and two open water dives on afternoon two. Two pool sessions on morning three, and two remaining open water dives on afternoon three. It is nice to have an extra half day and not fee so rushed.
Upon completing the Open Water Diver course you are certified to conduct dives in conditions as good or better as what you experienced in your training course to a maximum depth of 60ft (18m) while accompanied by any other similarly certified diver.
Scuba Diver is a certification which is a subset of the Open Water Diver course. It consists of only the first three chapters of classroom material, three pool sessions, and two open water certification dives.
Upon completing the Scuba Diver certification you may dive to a maximum depth of 40ft (12m) while accompanied by dive professional (divemaster or instructor). This essentially is like a permanent DSD course, where you could do these accompanied dives without repeating the classroom and pool session of a DSD each time you go on vacation. A Scuba Diver course can be completed in two days, if you read the textbook and do the end of chapter written reviews outside of class time.
Many scuba tour operators in dive destinations organize their dives assuming a minimum Open Water Diver certification. A Scuba Diver certification may not be sufficient to go out on the typical two tank morning dive trip.
Whether for a Scuba Diver or Open Water Dive certification it is possible to do some of the work before a trip to a dive destination. You can complete the classroom material online at your leisure before you trip. If you wish you may also complete the swimming pool training dives as well. You instructor then fills out paperwork for a referral and you complete the open water certification dives at your destination over at least two days.
**TL;DR version: ** 2 or 3 days, depending on level of certification.
Gotta Ask: “Need Answer Fast”?
Thank you, all! That’s what I needed to know!
A good friend of mine is an underwater photographer, and a friend of his – an expert diver – died while exploring the Yukon, a Canadian Navy Destroyer sunk off San Diego as part of an artificial reef project. Going into wrecks is dangerous, even for the most experienced experts.
Grin! No, alas, it’s something I will almost certainly never do – although it sure would be fun! Truth is, it’s for a story I’m trying to write. (Should I have said that right up front?)
The standard PADI open-water class meets six or eight times, usually once a week, before you’re ready to do your certifying dives. It’s hard for me to remember exactly, but you do get in the water within the first or second class. Maybe just to practice with your mask and mouthpiece at first.
I did my certifying dives over two days. Day 1 had two dives; day 2 had one.
ETA: NM. Didn’t see the comprehensive answer a few posts above my own. My course moved at a slower pace, obviously.
Sattua: Thanks! My guess is that it would be a little slower for a class than for a one-on-one tutoring. But even your experience was faster than I would have guessed, so it’s data I needed.
FWIW, if you’re looking for details…when I got certified a little over 10 years ago, I did it in two weekends. All four mornings were classroom work. Afternoons were in the water.
The first weekend was pool work - confined water exercises. The second weekend we were in the ocean, doing boat dives.
Is classroom work absolutely necessary? If one is being tutored, mentored, and guided, how important is the theory?
Certainly, that knowledge is important if you’re going to take diving seriously, but just as a vacation kind of thing?
It is important to understand some parts of the theory.
Understanding the relationship between pressure and depth is vital to planning as you will use your breathing gas much faster the deeper you go.
And you need to understand some basic anatomy and how to prevent injuring yourself with the pressure changes you undergo while diving.
But some parts are not particularly relevant in all circumstances. One example is rip tides are covered as is how to escape from them. But that is not relevant for those diving in smaller inland lakes or even diving from a boat further from shore.
I don’t remember what jurisdiction it was in, but I remember doing (very shallow) tropical scuba diving with barely any training at all, just the minimal necessary to use the equipment to breathe underwater. It happened so long ago I can’t remember all the particulars about it, but I don’t even remember being accompanied by an instructor in the water.
I’ll take this as a kind of “end-point” in the spectrum of possibilities! At least this shows it’s possible to jump right in and go.
Sure, almost anyone can use a SCUBA tank in a swimming pool in minutes. Its pretty simple to use in ideal circumstances. It’s when things go sideways that the training is important.
I would draw quite a distinction between *using *SCUBA equipment and *learning *to dive.
The sorts of activities glowacks mentions are derisively know as Trust Me Dives in the industry. They are quite common marketing aspects in some parts of the world. And they have as much in common with learning to dive as sitting in a seat in coach has to do with learning to fly a plane.
To actually safely take you out on a reef I *need *to teach you a few basic things first in such circumstances that you could just stand up if you feel uncomfortable.
When I was a teenager at our cottage, one of my dad’s friends set me up with a tank and mask and with a few basic instructions, I was swimming in the lake. I don’t really remember it being difficult, mostly I recall being fascinated by being able to breathe underwater. Same little fish and rocks I’d seen from snorkling every summer, but I didn’t want to stop. I stayed in long enough I remember taking a long time to get warm again afterwards.