PADI course sequence from zero to hero

SCUBA diving has proven to be a widely growing sport with millions of courses being conducted globally on an annual base. It offers countless opportunities for self-improvement and self-discovery while exploring a new world with more to discover every day.

Although SCUBA can be an addictive hobby, people are frequently discouraged to start for many reasons. Many are hesitant to initiate their underwater journey because they do not understand the learning process including the meaning of each certification level, and which would best suit their diving interests.  

At The Gate Travel Network we offer courses through PADI(The Professional Association of Diving Instructors), which is the world’s leading scuba diver training organization. With more than 6400 PADI Dive Centers and Resorts, and more than 133,000 individual PADI Professionals who have issued more than 25 million certifications around the world. This means after being PADI certified, you can dive virtually anywhere in the world with water.

This article is intended to further describe the specific courses offered by PADI from beginner level to instructor level. Please note that the article doesn’t include the extra specialities you can conduct between those levels, but you can always check our SCUBA courses tab to find more information about the specialities. 

1- Discover SCUBA diving:

• Depth: 12 meters
• Period: 2 to 3 hours
• No. of Dives: 2
• Goal: Helping those who have never dived to discover what SCUBA diving is about by conducting a 1-day course with an instructor who will be there step by step to learn about handling basic equipment, Buoyancy control, and how to have underwater fun safely.    

-2- Open water course:

• Depth: 18 meters
• Period: 3 to 4 days
• No. of dives: 5 confined water training dives + 2 open water 12 meters dives + 2 open water 18 meters dives.
• Goal: To learn the core of SCUBA diving in regard to equipment, responsibility, navigation, breathing and pressure equalizing techniques, basic physics and physiology, decompression theory and dive safe planning.

3- Advanced open water course:

• Depth: 30 meters
• Period: 2 days
• No. of dives: 5 dives
• Goal: Learn to dive deeper, better underwater navigation skills, and learn more advanced skills of your choice (e,g; Night diving, basics of cave diving, wreck diving, underwater photo/videography, altitude diving, drift diving, etc…)

4- Rescue diver course:

• Depth: Varies
• Period: 3 to 4 days
• No. of dives: 3
• Goal: Learn how to process a rescue in cases of in water emergencies and situations where your help is needed. The course gives you more confidence and ability to save lives when necessary. Highly recommended if you decide to dive continuously and regularly.

5- Divemaster course:

• Period: 3 to 4 weeks
• Goal: The dive master course is the first professional level in the diving career where you will learn handling logistics for diving, plan diving holidays for your certified diver customers, how dive centres operate, the technicality of equipment, filling tanks, paperwork, safety rules, marketing and business of diving.  

6- Assistant instructor:

• Period: 5 days
• Goal: To be able to assists during PADI courses with logistics and take semi responsibility with the instructor towards the students. It is a great preparation to become a PADI instructor where you can teach others how to dive.

7- PADI instructor:  

• Period: 20 to 30 days
• Goal: To be able to teach beginner students or the ones who would like to continue education by taking more student level courses until the Divemaster level, learn more about logistics, delegation, training sequencing, standards and regulations of diving, as well as all what it takes to teach others how to have a memorable and safe underwater experience.