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Learn to Dive in Cairns
Learn to dive in Cairns with PADI or SSI
Learn to Dive in Cairns. Cairns is arguably the best place to learn to scuba dive, anywhere in the world. Some of the world’s most experienced and awarded dive instructors and operators are based here, providing first class tuition, equipment, safety standards, professionalism and of course, dive sites, on the Great Barrier Reef.
As the closest point to the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns offers superior dive sites with less travel time and more time to dive, explore and enjoy. Cairns’ northern and southern reefs are unrivalled on the Great Barrier Reef system for their diversity, vibrancy, visibility, water temperature, condition and marine life.
Learning to scuba dive does take a few days (at least four), and you will need to allow for this when planning your trip to Cairns. Dive Courses can include a night or two on the reef but these are in most cases a little more expensive than the budget course.
Budget Dive Courses (4 Days)
Liveaboard Dive Courses (4-5 days)
Cairns Dive Course General Information
Learning to dive starts in the pool
The first two days of your Cairns learn to dive course are spent in the classroom and pool, of your preferred learn to dive operator. Cairns Dive Centre and Pro Dive Cairns offer 5-star facilities and have won multiple awards and acknowledgements from SSI and PADI, respectively.
In these two days you are given a thorough introduction and briefing on scuba diving. You learn about the equipment, safety signals (and how to communicate under the water), correct dive swimming techniques, how to equalise, how to avoid decompression sickness , breathing underwater, mask clearing, regulator retrievals, buoyancy control, buddy air sharing and emergency ascents. Textbooks are provided and tests are given and must be passed, before you can proceed to the open water component of the course.
All skills are practiced in swimming pools, where you will also be required to demonstrate that you are able to swim 200m and tread water for at least 10 minutes. Once everything has been completed to the satisfaction of your qualified dive instructor, you proceed to the openwater dive component of the course on the Great Barrier Reef.
It's very important you learn dive theory
To complete your Cairns learn to dive course and become a certified Open Water Diver, four (4) scuba dives need to be completed on the Great Barrier Reef. Under the watchful eye of your dive instructor, you will have to repeat and successfully complete all of the skills learnt and practiced in the pool in Cairns, once this is done, you are a certified diver!
If you choose a liveaboard learn to dive courses you are provided with extra dive time on the Great Barrier Reef, so that once you are certified, you can go forth and explore it on your own time, with your dive buddy. This is the best place on earth to scuba dive; the crystal clear waters are home to stunning, colourful coral reefs, schools of fish, giant clams, reef sharks, sea stars, graceful turtles, moray eels and so much more. Prodive 5 Day learn to dive courses include a night dive, when you will see an entirely different side to the Great Barrier Reef.
Learn to Dive in Cairns – Courses: Price Comparison Table
| Operator | Duration | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Cairns Dive Centre (Budget Course) | 4 Days | $460 |
| Cairns Dive Centre (Liveaboard Course) | 4 Days | $560 |
| Pro Dive Cairns | 5 Days | $775 |
Cairns Referral Dive Courses
Cairns also offers PADI referral dive courses. These courses are for those who are learning to dive and have already completed the ‘classroom component’ and written tests, but need to undertake their training certification dives.
Please note, to book a Cairns PADI referral dive course you will need evidence that you have completed above, have your dive referral paperwork completed by a qualified PADI instructor, and have a current Dive Medical Certificate, completed to Australian Standards AS 4005.1.
Cairns Referral Dive Course Options
Cairns Refresher Dive Courses
Deep Sea Divers Den offer refresher courses
Cairns operators offer a range of scuba diving refresher courses. These courses, which last anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days, are perfect for certified divers that have not dived in a while and want to brush up on their scuba skills before heading out to the Great Barrier Reef.
Different operators offer different refresher courses, so you can tailor your package to suit your needs. If you just want to be reminded of all of the equipment and how to use it, then book a practical refresher course with Cairns Dive Centre (they are free for anyone booking a dive trip on their MV Sun Kist day boat, or MV Kangaroo Explorer liveaboard boat).
Pro Dive Cairns also offer free dive refresher courses for anyone booking a 3 day / 2 night liveaboard trip aboard one of their Scubapro vessels. Alternatively, they offer private refresher courses for $125 per person.
Deep Sea Divers Den provides two half day or a full day refresher course, so you can update your dive theory, practice skills, or both, depending on how you feel and how much you remember about scuba diving.
To book a refresher course, you do need to be a certified scuba diver. These courses are guaranteed to bring your skills and confidence back up to speed quickly, which will allow you to get maximum enjoyment out of your dive trip to the Great Barrier Reef.
Open Water Course Video (Cairns Dive Centre)
What is the difference between PADI and SSI?
Diving with Nemo on the Great Barrier Reef
Essentially, there is no difference at all between PADI and SSI; both are just a “brand” of dive learning and certification which were developed to provide divers with a “standard” of learning and professionalism. Much like Coke and Pepsi are both cola soft drinks, with a slightly different taste, so it is with PADI and SSI diving.
PADI – the Professional Association of Diving Instructors – and SSI – Scuba Schools International – both offer internationally recognised diving certifications, qualifications and licenses.
Cairns, being the best place to visit the Great Barrier Reef, attracts divers and want to be divers from around the world. It is home to some of the best and most professional learn to dive centres in the world, offering both PADI and SSI courses to suit beginners and advanced divers.
Hang out with the turtles at Michaelmas Cay
Qualified PADI and SSI scuba instructors and dive masters are on hand to teach the skills you need, to dive safely and comfortably on the Great Barrier Reef. Both PADI and SSI have dive manuals, in a range of languages, which provide the practical knowledge you need as a scuba diver.
How to choose? The good news is that there is no right or wrong choice to make. Cairns is a safe place to learn to scuba dive. PADI and SSI standards are internationally recognised and Cairns professional dive centres provide training from the beginners, right up to those wanting to learn Advanced, Adventure and Stress and Rescue diving.
Cairns Dive Adventures lists a range of products available, so you can easily review duration, price and qualification, selecting the best operator and tour to suit your itinerary and budget.
Cairns Dive Medicals
Dive Medicals ensure your safety under the water
If you are planning to learn to dive in Cairns, then it is a good idea to get a dive medical first. An approved Dive Medical Certificate, completed in compliance with Australian Standards AS 4005.1, is a compulsory part of learning to dive in Cairns. This is for your own safety and ensures that you have the health requirements to complete scuba diving, please note most dive schools over a medical on the first day of the course at an additional cost payable direct to the doctor.
For most fit and healthy people learning to dive completing the dive medical on the first day of the course is an ideal option but we would recommend undergoing a dive medical before you start your course if you feel a health condition may prevent you from diving.
What is diving on the Great Barrier Reef like?
Scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef is like nothing else on earth. It provides a portal into a magical underwater world.
Descending into the waters of the Coral Sea you are surrounded by a myriad of reef fish. Large schools of bat fish, sweetlips, fusiliers, snapper and bass greet you into their world, while lower down, nestled amongst the corals, the smaller residents dart in and out of anemones, plate corals, staghorns corals and bombies, which are being grazed by parrotfish and patrolled by angelfish, surgeonfish, butterfly fish, wrasse and more.
Well over 1,000 different species of fish reside on the Great Barrier Reef. Their colours, sizes, shapes and characters vary as much as their numbers. From the tiny, jewel coloured Damsel fish (over 141 species of which live on the Great Barrier Reef) which measure around 8cm and reside amongst the hard plate corals to the long, skinny, knife-like Trumpet fish (also in a range of colours) and the giant Maori Wrasse, which can live up to 30 years and grow to over 2m in size, there are no similarities, except for their choice of abode.
These amazing marine critters will astound you. No mind could have imagined these shapes and sizes; they would be just at home on the fictitious world of James Cameron’s Avatar, as they are here in the waters off Cairns. Most Great Barrier Reef fish are harmless, but some are poisonous and other aggressive and should be avoided, including but not limited to the Clown Triggerfish, various species of Puffer fish and Lionfish.
Scuba divers can descend deeper than swimmers and snorkelers, staying under the water for longer. It is almost like being in space. As a part of learning to dive, you will discover neutral buoyancy, which means your breathing controls your movement through the water. Despite the weight belt, scuba tank and equipment, you feel weightlessness, swimming as easily through the warm waters as the graceful sea turtles.
Each Cairns Great Barrier Reef site offers a completely different diving experience. From flat coral gardens, to coral bombies and towers, swim throughs, drop offs and caves, festooned with a combination of hard and soft corals, coral fans, sea stars, anemones, brain and mushroom corals.
Each Cairns dive site and Great Barrier Reef trip is different, with memorable moments to suit all tastes and personalities. Whether are you interested in shark diving and seeing eels, snakes, stingrays and manta rays, or simply want to hang out with nemo, watch the black and white minstrels of the sea (humbugs) darting in and out of the corals, or swim through schools of glass fish, Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef has it all.
Cairns, Queensland, Australia have some of the best, safest scuba diving standards and records in the world. So not only are you diving on one of the seven natural wonders of the world, you can do it with the confidence of knowing you are with experienced operators, who value your safety and experience highly with professional instructors, boats and equipment.
Check out our video on what you might see when you learn to dive in Cairns!