Earn Your Global Scuba License, Discover the Underwater World, and Change Your Life Forever!
Ready to stop watching ocean documentaries and start exploring the underwater world yourself? The SSI Open Water Diver course is your permanent passport to a lifetime of global adventure. As a fully certified Open Water Diver, you will gain the freedom to dive anywhere in the world with a buddy down to 18 metres. Under the guidance of our expert DDS Professional team, you will build safe diving habits, master buoyancy control, and transform from a land-dweller into a confident, capable underwater explorer.
Specific Timing & Facility Schedule:
Because the platform does not allow you to select specific times on the booking calendar, please note that your mandatory Friday pool sessions follow a precise, structured facility timeline:
- Reception Meeting Time: 18:30 sharp.
- Topside Briefing & Equipment Preparation: 18:30 – 19:30.
- In-Water Skill Development Session: 19:30 – 21:00.
- Important Arrival Rule: You must meet your instructor in the main reception lobby at 18:30. This hour before getting wet is critical for executing your safety briefings, equipment assembly checks, and learning to track your gas management metrics. Late arrivals cannot be accommodated once the team moves to the water's edge at 19:30.
Overall Service Scope & Inclusions:
When you book this comprehensive certification package, your offer includes:
- Digital Matrix Access: Instant, lifetime access to the interactive SSI Open Water digital learning platform and digital logbook via the MySSI app.
- Academic Review Workshops: In-depth, topside safety and dive planning reviews integrated into your training schedule to answer all of your questions.
- Heated Pool Training Blocks: Dedicated skill-development evenings at the BCP Dolphin Leisure Centre to perfect your watermanship before your ocean steps.
- Open Water Evaluation Dives: 4 complete open-water certification dives structured to build your confidence and cement your skills in a real diving environment.
- Full SCUBA Unit Hire: Complete use of a premium recreational scuba unit (including a balanced regulator set, BCD, cylinders, and weights) for all pool and open-water sessions.
- Global Digital Certification: Your official, internationally recognized SSI Open Water Diver digital certification card issued immediately to your profile upon graduation.
Training Locations & Ratios:
- Confined Water Location: BCP Dolphin Leisure Centre (Friday evenings).
- Open Water Training Location: Coordinated across our regional training hubs, primarily utilizing Sundays at Vobster Quay for highly controlled, predictable depth profiles.
- Instructor-to-Student Ratio: We enforce exceptionally small group numbers on our training rosters to guarantee direct safety monitoring, a relaxed learning pace, and personalized coaching.
- Language of Delivery: All training presentations, water instruction, safety briefings, and examinations are delivered strictly in English.
Equipment Handling & Personal Requirements:
- Mandatory Personal Equipment: To comply with standard health, personal hygiene, and customized fit criteria, all students must own and bring their own personal Mask, Snorkel, and Dive Boots. These cannot be rented. For your convenience, a wide selection of professional-grade sets can be custom-fitted and purchased directly from Dorset Diving Services ahead of your first pool night.
- What You Must Provide: Swimwear, a towel, appropriate thermal base layers for your open-water days, and a smartphone or tablet with the MySSI app active.
Booking Conditions, Age Limits & Policies:
- Age & Health Prerequisites: Minimum age is 10 years old (Participants under 18 require a parental or guardian signature on all training files). A formal digital health screening questionnaire must be signed and submitted through the MySSI app prior to any pool work.
- The DDS Flexibility Guarantee: We know life can get busy. If an unexpected conflict arises and you miss a scheduled module, our Flexibility Guarantee means you can catch up on that exact pool night or open-water slot on our next monthly course rotation completely free of charge.
- Cancellation and Retention Policy: Because pool lane space at BCP Dolphin Leisure Centre and open-water instructor rosters are strictly pre-allocated based on bookings, cancellations made with less than 48 hours' notice or failures to show up for a scheduled block will forfeit that session slot.
- Continuing Education (Your Next Chapter): Ready to take your skills further after graduation and explore deeper coastal shipwrecks? Talk to our crew about pairing your new license with our popular Thursday evening coastal excursions departing from Poole Quay aboard the Viper!