The Beginner’s Guide to Scuba Diving

This guide is for people who have never dived. It covers how to start with Lak Scuba on Kavaratti, the equipment you use, and the safety rules you learn first.

Two ways to start

• Discover Scuba Diving: a half-day first try with a PADI Professional, from age 10. Non-swimmers are welcome. You start in shallow, sheltered water; the full programme adds one dive from the boat, to 12 metres at most. It is not a certification.
• A certification course. PADI Open Water Diver takes 3 days and lets you dive to 18 metres with a buddy anywhere in the world. PADI Scuba Diver takes 2 days and lets you dive to 12 metres with a PADI Professional; you can upgrade it to Open Water on a later trip.

Children from age 8 can try Bubble Maker, in water no deeper than two metres, or PADI Seal Team.

What the Open Water course involves

• Theory: PADI eLearning and the exams.
• Five confined water sessions, in shallow, sheltered water, where you learn the skills.
• Four open water dives, where you use them on the reef.

The equipment for the course is included in its price.

The equipment

• Mask, snorkel and fins: the mask lets you see underwater, the snorkel lets you breathe at the surface, and fins move you through the water.
• Wetsuit: keeps you warm in the water.
• BCD (buoyancy control device): a jacket you add air to or let air out of, to stay at the depth you want.
• Regulator: brings the high-pressure air in the tank down to a pressure you can breathe.
• Tank: holds the air you breathe, or enriched air (nitrox) once you are trained to use it.
• Dive computer: tracks your depth, your dive time and your no-decompression limits.

Certified divers can rent each piece at the dive centre. The prices are on our Diving options page.

The safety rules you learn first

• Dive with a buddy. We follow the buddy system on every dive.
• Plan each dive: maximum depth, time and safety stop. Our instructors brief you on safety and on the site before every dive.
• Equalise your ears as you go down, before they hurt.
• Watch your air, and start up when you reach the reserve you agreed in the plan.
• Keep your hands and fins off the reef.
• Leave time before your flight home. Wait 12 hours after a single dive, and 18 to 24 hours after more than one dive or several days of diving, before you fly.

Booking

We dive from October to May. Book at least 16 days before you arrive, so our team has time to arrange your entry permit.