Course overview

Earn your PADI Open Water Diver certification in North Malé Atoll, the closest atoll to Malé airport and an easy speedboat transfer from your resort. You train on calm, sandy-bottomed lagoons and gentle house reefs before progressing to open-water dives among turtles, sweetlips and reef fish, finishing licensed to dive independently with a buddy to 18 metres worldwide.

What you’ll learn

• Assemble, check and care for scuba equipment
• Master core skills such as mask clearing, regulator recovery and controlled ascents
• Achieve and hold neutral buoyancy over fragile coral
• Plan dives using tables or a dive computer to stay within no-stop limits
• Respond to common problems and assist a buddy underwater
• Apply entry, descent and exit techniques in open water

Prerequisites

• Minimum age 10 (10-14 certify as Junior Open Water Diver with depth limits)
• Comfortable in water and able to swim
• No prior diving experience or certification required
• Completion of a diver medical questionnaire; physician sign-off if any condition applies

What's included · What's not

Probability of sightings · month-by-month

What you're likely to see each month, based on historic operator logs.

Day-by-day itinerary

1. Day1
   Theory & equipment

   Complete knowledge development and learn to set up and check your gear at the dive base.
2. Day2
   Confined water skills

   Practise core skills in a calm lagoon or sheltered shallows beside the resort house reef.
3. Day3
   First open-water dives

   Apply your skills on two shallow reef dives among turtles and reef fish.
4. Day4
   Final dives & certification

   Complete the remaining open-water dives to 18 metres, pass the exam and earn your card.

Verified through iDive

Every partner school in the iDive network is vetted on safety, instructor credentials, equipment standards and student feedback. Talk to a iDive dive pro on WhatsApp for current availability and reviews specific to North Male Atoll.

Frequently asked questions