Diving Courses

Scuba Diving opens up a new world of color and experience. Breathing in that cool, fresh air while underwater and enjoying the peace and tranquility beneath the surface to the tune of your own bubbles is an experience everyone should try at least once in their lifetime. Aruba offers several highly-qualified and experienced dive masters and trainers who can make the introduction to this literally breathtaking underwater environment that much smoother. Below are some of the types of dive courses that are available, from introductory ones to fully-fledged certification.

Intro/Resort

If you have never experienced scuba diving before you can take a Resort Certification Scuba Diving Course. During this course you will get the chance to find out if scuba diving is something for you before you take the full scuba diving course.

The Intro/Resort course is suitable for complete beginners with no previous experience in scuba diving and will teach you the basic principles of scuba diving and give you an overview of the scuba diving gear.

The course can either be taken at your local dive shop's pool or at a resort during your vacation.

Dive operators: Red Sail Aruba

Discover Scuba diving experience

The Discover Scuba Diving Experience is the first step towards getting familiar with scuba diving. If you have never experienced the adventure of scuba diving, are short on time or are not sure if you would like to become a certified scuba diver yet, then the discover scuba diving experience is a great starting point.

The Discover Scuba Diving Experience is suitable for complete beginners with no previous experience in scuba diving and the minimum age is 10 years old.

While you will not receive an actual scuba diving certification, you will learn the basics you need to dive under the direct supervision of an instructor, the basic techniques of using scuba diving equipment in shallow water and you will learn some important things you should know about scuba diving.

Open Water Referral

The Open Water Referral is intended to allow you to perform the pool and theory elements of the complete Open Water course in your own country and once these are completed you can certify yourself as Open Water Diver by taking the 4 remaining open water dives at any certified dive center around the world, including Aruba.

The minimum age to take the open water referral course is 10 years old and the remaining 4 dives need to be taken within 12 months after completing the open water referral course.

Dive operators: Red Sail Aruba

Scuba Diver

The scuba diver course is a short version of the open water course including part of the theory, 3 pool dives and 2 open water dives. This course is a good start in preparation of the open water course and can be followed by people who are short on time or expect to only dive together with a dive guide. The minimum age to take the scuba diver course is 15 years old and during the course you will learn the basics about Scuba Diving and the basic techniques of using Scuba Diving equipment.

As a certified scuba diver you are qualified to dive under direct supervision of a dive instructor to a maximum depth of 12 meters (40 feet).

You can complete the open water course at any time by taking the few additional dives and theory.

Open Water Diver

This course is the most popular course in the world and is the first step in learning how to scuba dive. During the course you will learn the fundamentals of scuba diving, including dive equipment and techniques. The course starts with theory to help you understand the essentials of diving and allows for at least 5 pool dives and 4 dives at local dive sites under the supervision of an instructor.

The minimum age to take the open water diver course is 10 years old, but children in the ages 10 & 11 will be required to join the open water referral program.

Advanced Open Water Diver

This course can be taken right after the Open Water Diver course and is a good course to get more dive experience. During the course you will be introduced to new dives like digital underwater photography, wreck diving, boat diving, drift diving, night diving and much more.

The minimum age to take the advanced open water diver course is 15 years old and during the course you will learn more about underwater navigation and deep water diving between 18-30 meters (60-100 feet). A total of 5 adventure dives need to be made; underwater navigation, deep water diving and 3 adventure dives of your choice.

Two Tank Dive South Coast

The first is a guided dive to a maximum of 100 feet. The second dive is a shallow, buddy dive to approximately 50 feet. Aruba is famous for spectacular shipwrecks and the coral formations that dominate its underwater realms. Most of Aruba's dive sites lie along the protected western and southern coasts, just a short distance from Palm Beach. The warm waters are teeming with exotic marine life, including sting rays, moray eels, manta rays, barracudas, and yellow tail. Interesting coral formations are found even in shallow water, usually depths of 20 to 100 feet (6 to 30 m) that offer divers flat surface conditions.

Dive operators: Red Sail Aruba

Rescue Diver

This course focuses on all the necessary skills that are required in the events of a diving incident. During the course you will learn more about self-rescue, rescuing other divers, emergency management and equipment.

The minimum age to take the rescue diver course is 12 years old and you must be in the possession of an advanced open water diver, first aid and CPR certificate.

Dive master

On completion of the dive master course, you have achieved the highest non professional level in the diver education, which means that you have received considerable training and attained experience in a range of different dives.

The minimum age to take the dive master course is 12 years old and you must be in the possession of a rescue diver, first aid and CPR certificate. It is also required to have taken a minimum of 5 specialty diver courses and a minimum of 50 logged dives.

National Geographic Diver

The Open Water Diver course forms the basis for the National Geographic Diver Course. In addition this course will broaden your awareness of the marine life and improving your skills for better underwater exploring. During the course you will learn how to observe your surroundings, get experience in gathering information to create a visual presentation of a dive site, improve your underwater navigation skills and will be introduced to a large number of marine life.

Besides completing 2 dives, divers also need to complete an exploration project that includes gathering information and creating a visual presentation of the dive site. The minimum age to take this course is 10 years old and divers need to be in the possession of an open water diver certificate.

Enriched Air Diver (Nitrox)

During the Enriched Air Diver Course you will learn more about enriched air scuba diving equipment considerations and new techniques for getting more dive time. With enriched air you can safely extend your no decompression time, which means that you can stay down underwater longer and that you can back into the water sooner.

The minimum age to take the enriched air diver course is 12 years old and divers need to be in the possession of an open water diver certificate.