PADI Open Water Certification
Should You Get Certified?
Yes. Here’s Why.
Every diver starts with one question. We’ve answered it 10,000 times. This is what we tell them.
The Question Every Future Diver Asks
You Already Know the Answer.
You Just Need the Confidence.
There’s a moment – usually somewhere between watching a nature documentary and scrolling through someone’s underwater photos – when the thought appears: I want to do that.
Then the doubts start. It looks expensive. Complicated. Maybe I’m not fit enough. Maybe I’m too old, too busy, or not a strong enough swimmer. Maybe it’s just not for someone like me.
Over 25 years and more than 10,000 students taught, NB Divers has heard every version of this hesitation. And every single time, the answer is the same: start sooner than you think you should.
The divers who waited a year almost always say the same thing: “I wish I’d started earlier.” Those who started? They’re already planning their next dive.
The Real Cost
Is Scuba Diving Only for the Wealthy?
This is the most common first concern. And it’s based on a misunderstanding of how the cost works.
The ocean is free. What you’re paying for is access – the equipment, the certification, and the training that keeps you safe inside it. Think of it like learning to drive: there’s an upfront cost that unlocks a lifetime of freedom.
The PADI Open Water Diver course – the global entry-level certification – gives you a credential recognised at dive sites in 183 countries. Once you hold it, you can rent equipment anywhere in the world. The certification itself never expires.
PADI eLearning
Online Theory First
Study at your own pace. The PADI knowledge component is available online – roughly 8 hours of digital learning you complete before you enter the water. No classroom schedule. No commute.
In-Water Training
Pool + Open Water
Confined water skills in a training pool, then 4 open water dives to verify what you’ve learned. Most people complete the in-water portion in 3–5 days – or spread it across several weekends.
What you’re really buying with a premium course is the quality of the experience – smaller class sizes, better equipment, instructors who have time for you. The difference between cheap and premium diving education isn’t the certification card at the end. It’s how confident you feel holding it.
It’s “Can I afford to wait another year before experiencing this?”
Safety First
Is Scuba Diving Safe?
Statistically, scuba diving is safer than many everyday activities – including driving. According to DAN (Divers Alert Network), serious diving incidents are rare and most occur when divers ignore training or dive beyond their certification level.
The PADI Open Water course is specifically designed with safety as its foundation. You learn buoyancy control, gas management, buddy procedures, and emergency protocols before you ever go beyond 12 metres. The system works – when it’s taught properly.
Not all dive education is equal. Here’s what to look for – and avoid:
- Avoid: Centres advertising unusually low prices. Safety infrastructure (quality equipment, high instructor-to-student ratios, proper site management) costs money to maintain.
- Avoid: 1-instructor, 8-student ratios. PADI standards limit Open Water to 8 students per instructor, but effective learning happens with much smaller groups.
- Look for: Long operational history, PADI 5 Star or IDC status, and instructors whose full-time job is teaching diving – not a side project.
NB Divers has been teaching since 2000. With over 10,000 students certified and zero serious incidents, our record speaks for itself. Safety isn’t a selling point – it’s the minimum standard.
Time & Fitness
You Don’t Need to Be an Athlete.
You Need a Weekend.
The PADI Open Water course takes most people 3 to 5 days to complete. That’s a long weekend, or a few evenings plus one weekend if you spread it out.
As for fitness: PADI requires that you can swim 200 metres unassisted and float for 10 minutes. That’s the full extent of the physical requirement. Scuba diving is, by design, a low-impact activity – buoyancy does most of the work. Children as young as 10 earn the Junior Open Water Diver certification. People in their 60s and 70s dive regularly.
The training schedule is adapted to the student, not the other way around. You don’t train to meet the course. The course is built around you.
A Common Concern
What If I’m Not a Strong Swimmer?
You don’t need to be a swimmer to start. The PADI Open Water course requires only basic water comfort – not competitive swimming ability. The pool component of the course builds your confidence in the water progressively, and many students discover that the buoyancy provided by scuba equipment actually makes the water feel far more manageable than they expected.
If swimming is a real concern, we recommend one or two swim lessons beforehand – not because it’s required, but because being comfortable in water makes the learning experience better. Your progress in the pool is instructor-led and paced to your level.
Korea Context
Why Seoul Is One of the Best Places
to Start Your PADI Certification
Korea is not the first country people associate with scuba diving – and that’s exactly why starting here is an advantage. Fewer divers means better access to sites, more attentive training, and instructors who genuinely invest in each student.
Seoul has excellent deep training pools that allow confined water skills to be completed year-round, regardless of weather. The pools at NB Divers’ training facility are purpose-built for diving instruction – far superior to the shallow practice tanks common in tropical resort certifications.
Once certified, you have direct access to some of Asia’s most underexplored diving. The East Sea coast offers visibility up to 15 metres, dramatic underwater topography, and cold-water marine life you won’t find in warmer seas. Jeju Island delivers world-class diving with soft corals, rays, and occasional whale shark sightings. Korean haenyeo (women divers) have worked these waters for centuries – you’re entering a dive culture with deep roots.
For Expats in Korea
English-First Instruction
NB Divers teaches in English. All materials, briefings, and in-water communication are available in English. Many of our students are international residents using their time in Korea to earn a certification they’ll use around the world.
After Certification
Dive Korea First
Most dive courses take you to a warm-water site for your open water dives. We take our students into Korean waters – real conditions that build genuine skill and make you a better diver anywhere you go next.
Learn to dive in Korea, and you’ll dive with confidence everywhere. Explore Korea’s dive sites →
Why NB Divers
25 Years. 10,000+ Divers.
One Standard of Excellence.
NB Divers is a PADI Career Development Center – one of fewer than 30 facilities in all of Korea to hold this designation. Our founder, Charlie Jung, is a PADI Course Director: the highest level of PADI instructor qualification. He trains the instructors who teach the instructors.
We cap class sizes deliberately. We don’t offer the cheapest certification in Seoul – we offer the best. Our students dive with confidence because they were taught properly, not rushed through a qualification checklist.
“Diving is our culture.” That’s not a tagline. It’s the reason we built NB Divers the way we did – as a place where people don’t just learn to dive, but fall in love with it.
Ready to Start?
Your First Dive Is Closer Than You Think
We offer a free consultation before you commit to anything. Tell us where you are, what you’re hoping for – and we’ll tell you exactly what your path looks like.
Enquire Now – It’s FreeFAQ
