Learning to Dive in the Maldives Islands

For both beginners and the more advanced

From the fringing reef to the ocean slopes, the waters of the Maldives teem with underwater life of all sizes, shapes and colour. Don't miss the opportunity to experience some of the best scuba diving in the world. The Maldives are recognised as a great place to learn to scuba dive. The turquoise lagoons are incredibly beautiful and form a natural swimming pool, perfect for your diver training.

There is a Dive School on every resort island in the Maldives, each of an international standard teaching the main diver training courses. PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) is the most widely recognised of the training agencies and their courses are available on all our islands.

Scuba diving is not as difficult as most people expect but, if you are hesitant, you do not have to commit yourself to a full course. Why not try one of our short resort courses that will allow you to see whether you like your underwater experience?

Once hooked, (and we’re sure you will be !) you can embark on a PADI Open Water Diver course which will give you a certificate that will allow you to dive around the world without further training. This course takes 4 to 5 days and usually includes 9 dives and a number of theory lessons. From hereon, there’s a huge number and variety of speciality courses, from Wreck Diver to Night Diver, and you may even choose to progress to Instructor level.

An alternative route to learning to dive is to take your theory in your home country and complete the open water dives, required for certification, in the Maldives. This is called a Referral Course and it has the advantage that it maximises the time you have to spend on your resort enjoying the diving.

Kid's bubbles

There are even options for budding junior divers. Many of our resorts offer the PADI Bubblemaker course which has been designed for children aged from 8-10 years old. The course lasts two hours and includes a theory lesson and a shallow dive. The PADI Junior Open Water Course is then available for children of 10 years old and over. This gives children proper certification and allows them to dive to a depth of 12m until they are 12 years old and then to 18m thereafter.

Please ask us to recommend resorts that are particularly suitable for children.

Course prices

To give you an idea of how much it will cost you to dive, below is a table of sample course prices give in US$. This is an indication only and does not apply to any one island.