Private, personal, customized diver training is our sole purpose.
Our training model expands on the core PADI Open Water Diver course, providing you with:
* 50%+ more practice time than in a group course.
* A dedicated buddy/mentor relationship between student and instructor.
* Better diving experiences than you'd get in a group.
* Freedom to develop skills and manage risks at your own natural pace.
Vancouver Scuba Diving School Open Water course
includes:
PADI Open Water Diver course and Drysuit Specialty course
Single diver: $1,500 Buddy pair: $2,500
* Prices include all taxes, all equipment rentals, PADI Open Water Diver and Drysuit Specialty course materials and safety accessories, certification fees, an original training logbook, 10 hours at the pool, and 6 open water dives in Howe Sound. Transportation is provided from downtown Vancouver.
Our Open Water program is your smartest investment in proper training. Here's why:
- Many new divers regret having taken commoditized group training, feeling that they didn't learn enough skill to dive confidently.
- We supplement the basic Open Water Diver course manual with additional readings and insights into the realities of diving. You'll be a better informed new diver.
- Pool sessions can be held at UBC or in North Van.
- We schedule 10 hours training at the pool: 4 hours on the deck and 6 hours in the water. Compare that to a full group dive shop course, where you should expect to get less than one hour of personal attention from the instructor at the pool before your ocean dives. In our training program, diving skills are NOT self-taught.
- We schedule 6 ocean dives and 3 full dive days. That's at least 50% more bottom time than in a group course. And not a minute of it will be wasted kneeling in the silt, watching others demonstrate their skills and waiting your turn to perform.
- You'll be introduced to four major Howe Sound dive sites, and learn about local tides and currents.
- We work with your schedule. Group schedules are inflexible.
- You'll develop at your own natural pace, not at a standardized pace set for a diverse group of strangers.
- You'll have the instructor's undivided attention, so you get direct personal feedback, guidance and mentorship throughout the course.
- Private training is safer and lower risk for the novice student.
- The guiding principle behind PADI's education and training program is that diving is a "buddy sport". In the real world of diving, strong buddy skills are crucial to dive safety. In a dive shop group course you'd be buddied with another novice who has no skills and is likely a complete stranger with no personal investment in your safety. And group instructors have no time or mandate to mentor or buddy with individual students. In our course the instructor is your buddy and your mentor.
- You'll visit better dive site locations where large groups aren't taken because of the need to control the herd.
- You'll experience better diving conditions because groups always degrade the visibility.
- You'll finish this course with superior skills and more confidence than a comparable student from a group course.
- You'll pay less for equipment purchases and rentals. Get discounts and deals at affiliated dive shops.
Course Details
The Open Water Diver course is segmented into three parts:
Dive Theory and Knowledge
Confined Water Dives
Open Water Dives
Dive Theory and Knowledge
- Academics are structured for independent home study. There are no organized classroom sessions. You'll read the course manual, watch the course DVD, answer questions and quizzes, and write a final exam. All quizzes and exams are multiple choice.
- PADI course materials are augmented with additional readings to give you a head's-up on diving conditions and considerations in the real world.
- Time commitment is about 20 hours.
- Correspondence as you work through the academics is by email and telephone.
Confined Water Dives
- Pool sessions are designed for you to learn, practice and gain confidence in a broad range of fundamental diving principles & skills in a safe, warm water environment before going to the ocean. Ten hours of pool time are included in the course price (4 on the deck and 6 in the water), which is enough time for most people to learn the basics. Some students will struggle and need more pool time. We have to charge extra for that.
- Pool work is at the UBC Aquatic Centre, evenings or weekends. Training can also be held in North Vancouver.
- We video you in the pool as you practice and post footage to You Tube to help guide your development.
Open Water Dives
- Three days of diving in Howe Sound at the best 4 dive sites: Whytecliff Park, Britannia Beach, Kelvin Grove and Porteau Cove. Click on site names for details.
- A standard group course offers the bare minimum of 4 dives. We schedule 6 dives. That's 50% more diving and 3 full days in the ocean with your private instructor.
- The Dry Suit Specialty course is taken alongside the Open Water course. This specialty certification will enable you to rent dry suits later when you go pleasure diving.
- PADI's updated Open Water course emphasizes the use of dive computers over the traditional dive tables, but a computer is not mandatory.
- Successful completion of the course will earn you the PADI Open Water Diver certification, the most widely recognized diver certification in the world, and a Drysuit Specialty certification. More than that, you'll be a better informed, more knowledgeable, more skilled and more confident diver than a comparable graduate of an off-the-shelf dive shop group course.
About Pricing
Course pricing is based on cost recovery plus a flat fee of $800 ($200 for the academic and confined water segments, and $200/day for 3 dive days). It takes 40-50 hours of instructor time to complete a solo course.
The Schedule
- The course schedule is flexible to meet your availability and pace of progress.
- Finish the training in as little as two weeks or over a period of months.
