You can’t decide whether to get your first scuba diving certification while on holiday or at home before your travel? With an Open Water Referral, you don’t have to choose. You simply combine: Theory and pool at home and the diving in paradise.
Enjoy a 10% discount by booking online!
2 DAYS – 4 OPEN WATER DIVES – A RELAXED WAY TO ENTERING A NEW UNIVERSE
OVERVIEW
You have decided to become a diver with Devine Divers Gili Meno – great! The Open Water Diver ticket is the first scuba certification. As Open Water Diver you are an independent diver and can dive unsupervised with your buddy to a maximum depth of 18 meters. The certification is recognised worldwide and is valid for your entire life.
Becoming a certified diver has three phases:
Phase 1: Knowledge development – this can either be done with an eLearning option or classroom lessons with an instructor wherever you are.
Phase 2: Confined water – you learn and practice all necessary scuba skills using dive gear in a swimming pool.
Phase 3: Open Water – this part includes four ocean dives. Two dives
The Open Water Referral Course is popular among those who wish to maximise the independent time during their vacation. It enables participants to complete the theory and confined water parts (phases 1 and 2) of the Open Water Course before arriving. This means, that you won’t have to study for your diving exam on holiday. You simply complete the four open water dives with Divine Divers Gili Meno in order to get certified. Once you have your diving ticket, the Open Water Diver Certification, you can spend the rest of your holiday exploring the Gili Islands or even gain additional dive experience.
SCHEDULE
The course schedule is flexible and we can fully adapt to most wishes and requests. To give you a general idea, the two days of your course look like this:
Day 1 (08:30 – 16:30)
Day 2 (08:30 – 16:30)
DETAILS (FOR THOSE WHO LIKE TO KNOW MORE)
Would you like to find out more information about the open water referral? Or you would like to know what are the advantages or disadvantages of splitting your course? Then please check our FAQ’s for some more details.
Our courses are conducted in accordance with PADI and SSI standards. If not mentioned otherwise, you are booking an SSI course. Should you prefer PADI, it is absolutely no problem. Just leave us a note when placing the order. You will also find the difference between PADI and SSI in the FAQ’s.
You will the full (onsite) price list, the cancellation policy and our terms and conditions in the download section.
CONTINUE THE ADVENTURE
The Open Water Diver Course does not need to be the end of your dive career. If you are interested in continuing your diving education, here are some ideas for you to look into. However, we fully understand that you might just want to enjoy a few more fun dives or just hang out on the beach.
Advanced Adventurer / Advanced Open Water Diver Course
and many more.. 🙂
OUR COURSES ARE ALL-INCLUSIVE AND YOU WILL ENCOUNTER NO HIDDEN COSTS DURING YOUR DIVING JOURNEY.
TO ENROL INTO THE COURSE PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING:
SECURE YOUR PREBOOKING DISCOUNT
Please make sure you book the course one day before your arrival. We know it is tempting to just learn about the prebooking discount and then quickly book online but if everyone does that, we will at one stage have to adapt our prices to meet that behaviour.
Plans change. We know that too. Our cancellation policy is flexible and we are trying our best to meet your holiday schedule and potential interruptions of it.
To secure your prebooking discount you can either pay for your course or dive experience in full in advance (online) or you pay for it upon arrival. Please book it through our online system through.
We can however only send you the login details for the eLearning packages once you have paid in advance since it also involves costs for us. In the (hopefully unlikely) event that you can’t start the course as planned, you will get of course more time to make it to the island and if even that isn’t going to happen, you will get all your money back minus the arising expenses. Those we will however push through to you as much at cost price as possible. You will not be empty handed through because you are still in procession of the dive theory.
If you’d like to know more, please check our cancellation policy and terms and condition.
HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO FINISH THE COURSE?
An open water referral is valid for 12 months. We recommend you to not wait an entire year to finish the course though, It is better to complete your training while your knowledge and skills are still fresh.
WHAT IF I CAN’T FINISH THE REFERRAL BEFORE I TRAVEL?
Your instructor in your home country will fill in a referral form that details exactly what you have done and what skills you master. We will simply pick up where you left off.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ELEARNING AND A REFERRAL?
eLearning allows you to start your knowledge development online. A referral in general includes both, the knowledge development (theory lessons) and the confined water (pool practice).
WILL I GO INTO OPEN WATER RIGHT AWAY?
No, once we have sorted you out with scuba gear, your instructor will jump into the swimming pool with you and check your scuba skills before proceeding on an ocean dive.
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF AN OPEN WATER REFERRAL?
Doing an open water referral course, you can take as much time as you need in order to complete the theoretical parts and pool work. This can however also be a disadvantage because some people take too much time or wait super long before they finish the course. It is usually better to finish the referral just before your holiday.
You will also be using different scuba gear (or thicker wetsuits) in your home country. Switching gear throughout the course can be an adjustment – same as riding someone elses bike.
DO I HAVE TO NOTIFY DIVINE DIVER GILI MENO BEFOREHAND?
Yes and No. It is always nice to know you are coming and by booking in advance you will also secure a 10% discount. But if things are too hectic before your departure and you forget to notify us, it is also no major issue.
WHAT WILL I LEARN ON THE OPEN WATER DIVES?
The fun part are the open water dives. You will experience different dive sites at different depths and also repeat a certain skill set that you have already learned during the confined sessions. The skills will take up five to ten minutes of your dive time but most of your time underwater will be spend exploring. The first two open water dives are limited to a depth of 12 meters and the final two dives will take you to a maximum of 18 meters. After the dives we will take some time to log your dives and learn about the fish you have met.
HOW LONG DOES MY CERTIFICATION LAST?
Your entire life! There is no expiry date to the certification itself but it’s highly recommended that you keep in practice by just going diving. If you haven’t dived in a while, it might be wise to refresh your skills on a Refresher or Scuba Tune Up with an instructor. Continuing your scuba education is also a great way to keep your skills fresh and up to date.
WHAT IF I HAVE HEALTH ISSUES?
There are some serious conditions such as epilepsy, active asthma, emphysema, heart disease or haemophilia that could prohibit any diving activity. Please check out the attached medical form. It Is most likely the same medical questionnaire that you have filled in with your sending dive center before you started the confined skill practise. If you needed to bring a fit for diving certificate before, it is best to get a copy since you will need it again to finish your course with Divine Divers Gili Meno. There are also doctors on the Gili Islands that can examine you and issue this certificate should you face additional heath issues that you didn’t have beforehand.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PADI AND SSI?
If you are interested in getting your scuba diving certification, you’ve probably come across PADI and SSI, the two major training agencies in the world. But is there a big difference or is one better than the other?
Instructors of both agencies will teach you how to be a skilled diver, as there is a certain skill set that every diver needs to have. Therefore, all diving agencies follow a legal framework laid down by the World Recreational Scuba Diving Council. The training agencies also accept each other; hence you could do an Open Water Course with the one and an Advanced Course with the other agency.
The main difference is in the theoretical education, requirements and costs. And of course, much comes down to personal preferences and other factors such as the teaching skills of your instructor and the conditions of the water.
SSI allows more flexibility in teaching methods and allows a more personalized approach in teaching. Therefor we have chosen SSI as our primary teaching agency. Should you prefer a PADI course, just let us know in the booking – this is also absolutely no problem.
If you bring a referral from a PADi dive center, we simply continue with a PADI course. Should you have chosen SSI, we will go the SSI way. That way both you and us are totally flexible.
WHY SHOULD I DO A DIVING COURSE ON THE GILIS?
Postcard-like white sandy beaches, azure and year-round warm waters (28 to 29 degrees), the reef on your doorstep and a great lifestyle – does this sound like paradise to you? To us it does! The Gilis are known as the turtle capital in the world – rightfully so, because both green and hawksbill turtles are abundant. Reef sharks are also frequently spotted and there is a broad range of marine life to be met on all dives. The dive sites are rarely more than a 15-minute boat ride away and diving is great all year round. The dry season is running from May to October and the rainy season from November to April. Rainy season sounds more extreme than it actually is because it hardly ever rains an entire day – expect showers at different severity but therefore less people.
WHY SHOULD I CHOOSE DIVINE DIVERS GILI MENO?
We love what we do and we do it well! We have been in the game for over 10 years as Divine Divers on Gili Meno but our love for diving didn’t start there. Being passionate divers ourself, we have dived all over the world. Sometimes you come to dive centres that just have the little extra. Sometimes you can explain why and sometimes it is just that special vibe. Overall, our main differentiator is our personal approach and of course our location at the most perfect sunset point on the island. What better way is there to end a perfect diving day than watching the sun disappear into the ocean with a cold drink in your hand?
Apart from that our groups are small and our instructors hand chosen for their personality and excellent teaching records. Safety is our primary concern; our equipment is in excellent order and of course regularly maintained. Most importantly, we are committed to offering first-class service and high quality dive courses.
