The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) is a scuba diving training and education organization. This organization is a good place to go if you want to get your diver certification. Because PADI offers several different types of certification, the requirements for obtaining a diving credential may vary depending on which one a person chooses. A person must master the skills required the specific PADI certification program in order to earn certification.
PADI scuba certification can be obtained taking the PADI Open Water Diver course. Individuals who are at least 10 years old are eligible to participate in this course. However, there is an eLearning option that requires someone to be at least 13 years old. To earn certification through this course, a student must first learn the fundamentals of scuba diving, then complete confined water dives as part of the learning process, and then complete open water dives with a PADI instructor to review and improve his skills.
PADI also offers an Open Water Diver course for children aged 10 to 14 years old. This course can be completed a child to become a junior open water diver. A diver aged 10 or 11 can only dive with this PADI certification if accompanied a PADI professional or a parent who is also certified. For children of this age, there are also depth restrictions. Open water divers between the ages of 12 and 14 are allowed to dive with any licensed adult.
The Adventure Diver Course is another option for those seeking PADI certification. This course is for people who want to try new things like underwater photography and wreck diving, as well as those who want to improve their underwater skills. A person can learn a variety of adventure dives in preparation for certification. He could, for example, learn to dive dry, wearing a dry suit instead of a wet suit to protect his body from the water, or he could take PADI’s altitude diver course. A person can earn certification taking any three of PADI’s specialty dive courses.
Some PADI certification courses are available online, which may come as a surprise to some people. To complete these courses, a student studies the classroom learning portions of his certification course using online technology. After that, he performs his confined dives in a pool or other similar body of water. Finally, he’ll complete his open water dives under the supervision of a PADI instructor. A person is eligible for PADI certification once he has mastered the classroom learning portion of his dive course and completed the required number of dives.