Scuba Diving Starter PackWhat Can You Do With an Open Water Scuba Diving Certification? Top 10 FAQs About Getting Certified

Freediving and scuba diving are both forms of diving, but beginners often struggle to differentiate between them or decide which to learn first. The easiest way to tell them apart is by the diving gear each diver wears.

Scuba diving involves carrying equipment that supplies air, allowing you to breathe smoothly underwater and stay submerged for about 30-60 minutes, depending on your breathing habits and depth. This makes it ideal for observing marine life. Freediving, on the other hand, relies on a single breath to descend, allowing you to stay underwater for about 60-120 seconds, depending on your breath-hold duration and depth. It requires less equipment and offers a more fish-like experience of gliding through the ocean.

Additionally, scuba and freediving have significant differences in breathing techniques, diving skills, and equipment operation. Neither is inherently better or worse; it simply comes down to which way you prefer to explore the underwater world!

While freediving requires only light gear like a mask, snorkel, fins, and weights, scuba diving demands a full set of both light and heavy equipment. In addition to the mask, snorkel, fins, and weights, the essential heavy gear includes a tank, regulator, and BCD (buoyancy control device). The entire scuba setup weighs around 20 kilograms, which is considerably heavier than freediving gear. However, once you're in the water, the buoyancy of the ocean makes it feel much lighter. On land or when boarding a boat, though, it can certainly be a significant physical challenge for some.

You don't need to know how to swim to learn scuba diving. This is a common question for beginners, but swimming skills actually have no direct bearing on scuba diving; many divers with hundreds of dives under their belt are still "landlubbers." Scuba diving uses the gear on your back to "float" you in a weightless underwater world, much like astronauts floating in outer space—which is why the underwater world is sometimes called "inner space." So, whether or not you can swim doesn't affect your success in learning scuba diving.

What has a greater impact is a fear of water. If you normally tremble when you go to a pool, you'll need more time to confront your fear and relax when you're at the beach, where conditions are less predictable. But as long as you overcome that, you can still successfully complete a diving course.

A scuba diving certification is your ticket to the underwater world. With an Open Water (OW) certification, you can join local scuba diving activities at venues both domestically and abroad. Without a scuba diving license, you're limited to introductory "experience dives." A more advanced Advanced Open Water (AOW) certification opens up opportunities to explore deeper, more challenging, and unique dive sites. If you're serious about scuba diving, we recommend getting at least an AOW certification. This will deepen your knowledge of marine environments and diving techniques, better protect yourself and your dive buddy, and most importantly, give you a wider selection of dive sites to explore.

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Divers can reach different depths depending on their experience and ability. An Open Water Diver (OW) certification allows dives up to 18 meters, while an Advanced Open Water Diver (AOW) certification extends that limit to 30 meters. For recreational and tourism diving, the general depth limit is 40 meters; anything deeper falls into the realm of technical or industrial diving. But don't let that discourage you, as most corals and marine life thrive in shallow waters no deeper than 30 meters, offering plenty to captivate your gaze!

The four main scuba diving certification systems recognized worldwide are PADI, CMAS, NAUI, and SSI. A significant portion of the knowledge and skills taught by these four systems is similar, and no single system is definitively superior. You can use a scuba certification from any of these systems to join diving excursions at any dive venue. However, PADI is currently the most mainstream international scuba diving certification system, and because its assessment standards are similar to SSI, the two certifications are mutually interchangeable.

The Open Water (OW) Diver certification course, the entry-level scuba diving qualification, is divided into three parts: academics, confined water training, and open water training.

1. Academics: This segment uses physical or online materials, supplemented by instructor explanations, to cover fundamental scuba concepts and principles. Topics include equipment introductions, pressure principles and calculations, and diving safety guidelines and risks. The course concludes with an exam, which most students pass easily with a reasonable effort.
2. Confined Water Training: Typically conducted in a deep swimming pool or calm ocean area, this part begins with one tank of air to practice equipment assembly, basic scuba skills, and emergency procedures. The goal is to familiarize students with their gear before entering open water, preventing fumbling at sea.
3. Open Water Training: The final stage involves actual ocean dives. You'll complete four dives, each lasting about 30 minutes, to apply the scuba skills, knowledge, and emergency responses learned previously. A maximum of two dives can be completed per day.

Completing these three parts generally takes a minimum of three days, though this can vary by a day depending on individual ability and circumstances. Upon successfully passing all scuba course assessments, you will be a certified OW Diver!

Each of the four major scuba systems has its own certification types and levels. However, to participate in scuba diving activities, you must at least obtain the entry-level certification for that system. Below are the initial certification requirements for the four main systems. The assessment processes are largely similar, all ensuring that fundamental scuba diving skills and knowledge are acquired.

Open Water scuba courses typically take 3–4 days. To decide where to get certified, consider the location, your available time, and your budget. You can choose a convenient location close to home or travel to a more distant island or resort area to combine your certification with a vacation. Once you've picked a location, select a suitable local scuba venue. Here are some factors to consider when choosing a scuba diving venue, along with online reviews and recommendations from friends and family, which can also be very helpful.

Popular places to learn scuba diving in Taiwan include Xiaoliuqiu, Kenting, Penghu, Green Island, and Taipei. The cost of scuba diving certification courses varies depending on the system and location where you get certified. In Taiwan, an OW scuba certification typically costs around $11,000-$15,000, which usually includes the cost of five dives and certification fees. However, some expenses like transportation, pool or venue fees, and meals may be extra. If you travel to an outlying island or resort area to get certified, you'll also have additional costs for accommodation and other expenses. Dive venues often offer package deals or group discounts, so it's a good idea to compare prices from several places to ensure you get the best value.

Getting your Open Water (OW) scuba certification is like receiving a ticket to the underwater world, but the real key is consistent practice and building experience. Skills like neutral buoyancy, air consumption control, and dive buddy safety all require regular practice to master. The easiest and fastest way to do this is by joining Fun Dives (FDs) or organized dive trips. Through repeated FDs, you can explore more dive sites, broaden your scuba horizons, accumulate dive experience, and connect with other divers.

If you obtain a more advanced Advanced Open Water (AOW) certification (or an equivalent certification from another system), you can participate in a wider variety of dive experiences, including night dives, wreck dives, and deep dives. Night diving, in particular, offers a completely different environment from daytime diving and requires distinct skills and knowledge.

Recommended dive sites in Taiwan: Kenting Dive Sites, Penghu Dive Sites, Xiao Liuqiu Dive Sites.