How young is too young?
This can be one of those questions with quite many answers. Children develop physically and mentally at different rates, making it difficult to define an age at which kids can safely dive. You should take your child’s maturity, reasoning skills and physical limitations into consideration when determining if he or she is ready to begin scuba diving.
At the age of 8 kids can join the first diving programs where the depth is limited to maximum 2 meters. This is to make sure, that your child won’t suffer any pressure or other dive related injuries.
Should I get my child into diving?
That’s one of those things that needs to be decided on a case-by-case basis. Does your child really want to scuba dive? Or do you want your kid to scuba dive. Deciding to take up any kind of sport should always be the choice of the participant.
A great way to get your youngster interested in the idea of scuba diving and excited about the underwater world is to take them snorkeling. Snorkeling is a great activity for all ages and some kids start to enjoy snorkeling even as young as 3 years of age. Snorkeling will also get your child comfortable in the water and using mask, snokel and fins. If your kid is an enthusiastic snorkeler and would like to take the next step, nothing really stands in the way of trying to dive.
At what age can my child get certified?
Generally, the minimum age for starting a (junior) certification course is 10 years. As a junior diver kids can dive in specific conditions, at limited depth and under professional (or adult) supervision: The Junior Open Water Certification allows kids aged 10-11 to dive to a depth of 12 meters and 12-14 year olds to 18 meters. The must dive with a certified professional or certified adult over the age of 18.
What if my child has health issues?
There are some serious conditions such as epilepsy, active asthma, emphysema, heart disease or haemophilia that could prohibit any diving activity for both you and your child. Please check out the attached medical form. If you answer any of the questions with “yes”, then you need to see a doctor to get a fit for diving certificate for your kid. There are doctors on the Gili Islands that can examine you and issue this certificate, so don’t worry if you didn’t check the medical form beforehand.
Why should I enrol my kid into the Bubblemaker program with Divine Divers on Gili Meno?
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 Gili Islands 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.
Overall, the conditions are near to perfect for diving all year round. We can usually find some dive sites that are sheltered from strong currents and your chances for seeing turtles are pretty great!
In addition, we love kids and are of the firm belief that the more coming generations know about the underwater world, the greater are the chances of marine protection. Diving raises awareness in a special way and helps to look at nature from a different perspective. What better way is there than enabling your children to start snorkeling and diving at an early age?
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 the Gili Islands but our passion for diving didn’t start here. During our long dive careers, we have dived all over the world both professionally and recreationally. Sometimes you come to dive centres that just have the little extra. A place you enter and you feel instantly at home. Being surrounded by likeminded people in a chill yet professional atmosphere. This is exactly what we had in mind when setting up Divine Divers. Needless to say, we are a highly professional dive center with very experienced staff. Our main differentiator is our personal approach – and of course our location at the most perfect sunset point on the island. You can spend the time after your dive to dream about the fish you saw and more dives while hanging out on a bean bag with your feed in the sand.
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. We are committed to offering outstanding service and high quality dive experiences.
