PADI courses · Learn to dive
PADI Open Water Diver course in Dauin, Philippines
Your first scuba certification, taught from the shore near Dumaguete. You learn the skills in our pool, then make four ocean dives on a house reef that slopes gently from the beach, in a class of two or three. Usually three to four days. PHP 22,500 with PADI eLearning, equipment and certification included.
At a glance
The Open Water course in Dauin at a glance
- Duration: usually 3 to 4 days in Dauin, after 8 to 12 hours of PADI eLearning at home. Weather or your own pace can add a day.
- Price: PHP 22,500 per person, including eLearning, equipment, four ocean dives, Dauin sanctuary fees and certification.
- Deposit: PHP 5,000 when you book, deducted from the total.
- Where: our pool at the dive centre, then Dauin North, our house reef, entered from the beach about 50 metres away.
- Class size: usually two or three students per instructor, never more than four.
- Depth: certified to 18 metres from age 15. Ages 10 to 11 are limited to 12 metres and dive with a PADI Professional or a certified parent or guardian; ages 12 to 14 may dive to 18 metres with a certified adult.
- Minimum age: 10.
- Languages: English, French, German, Spanish and Filipino.
- Start dates: most days of the year, arranged around your arrival. Ask about your dates.
The certification
What the PADI Open Water Diver course is
The most widely held entry-level scuba certification, accepted by dive centres and resorts around the world and valid for life.
PADI Open Water Diver qualifies you to dive with a buddy, without an instructor, to the depth limit for your age. You learn the theory online before you arrive, practise every skill in a pool, then make four open water dives in the sea, each a little deeper and more independent than the last.
- PADI eLearning. Five sections and a final exam, done at home on a phone or laptop, around 8 to 12 hours. The minimum before day one is the first two sections; we recommend finishing all five so your days here are spent in the water.
- Five pool sessions. Breathing from a regulator, clearing your mask, recovering your regulator, buoyancy, and what to do if something goes wrong, learned in our pool where your instructor can repeat anything as often as you need.
- Four open water dives. On Dauin North, from the beach, from a few metres down to 18. You repeat the skills in the sea, then dive the reef.
- Your certification. Once you complete the course, your instructor submits it to PADI; your digital certification card appears in the PADI app usually within a few days, with a physical card if you want one.
Why here
Why Dauin is a good place to learn to dive
A gently sloping shore, a pool for the first steps, no boat timetable, and a coast known for its small marine life.
- The shape of the coast. Dauin's shoreline is dark volcanic sand that slopes gently away from the beach. Our house reef starts in two or three metres of water, levels onto a slope at five to six metres and reaches 25 metres a long way out. Every depth the course needs is a short swim from the last one, and you walk in from the beach.
- Shore diving, not a boat schedule. With no departure time to meet, your instructor can start when you are ready, repeat a skill without holding anyone up, and spend the time between dives on you rather than on a boat ride.
- Usually calm, often clear. No large rivers reach the sea on this stretch of coast, so the water tends to stay clearer after rain than on many coasts, and the sanctuaries in front of the dive centre are closed to fishing and boat traffic. Conditions still vary with the season and the day; your instructor checks them every morning.
- A pool first. Every skill is learned in our own pool, a few steps from the dive centre and your room, before you do it in the sea.
- Small classes. Usually two or three students per instructor, four at most, and when a class reaches four an assistant joins.
- The marine life. Dauin is one of Asia's best-known muck diving coasts. On training dives you may well see frogfish, octopus and nudibranchs; sightings vary from dive to dive, which is part of it. A day of reef diving at Apo Island is a popular way to finish.
Other places in the Philippines are good for learning too, and which one suits you depends on what you want around the course. Our guide to where to learn to dive in the Philippines compares Dauin with Boracay, Panglao, Moalboal, Puerto Galera and Malapascua.
How it runs
The course, day by day: theory, pool and sea in turn
Each day you learn a little, practise it in the pool, then use it on a real dive, so every skill has a reason by the time you do it.
Some schools run the course in blocks: the theory, then all the pool sessions, then the four dives. That is a valid way to teach it. We prefer to alternate: a short theory review, a pool session, then an ocean dive that uses what you just practised, and the next layer the following morning. By the time you reach the emergency skills, such as the controlled emergency swimming ascent, you have already been in the sea twice and understand what the skill is for. In our experience it sticks better.
- Before you arrive. We send your PADI eLearning once we receive your PHP 5,000 deposit. Finish at least the first two sections (all five is better). Then complete your dive paperwork online at forms.divebongo.com/start: about ten minutes, one set per person; use the private link if we sent you one with your booking.
- Day 1. Theory review, a swim and float assessment, then the first pool sessions: breathing, mask clearing, regulator recovery, basic buoyancy. In the afternoon, your first open water dive on Dauin North from the beach, in a few metres of calm water.
- Day 2. The next theory section and pool session, then open water dive two, a little deeper and a little more on your own.
- Day 3. The later pool sessions, including the emergency skills, then open water dive three to 18 metres, with navigation.
- Day 4. Dive four, any skill that needs another go, the final exam if you did not take it online, and your certification. Finish early and the day is a fun dive or an Apo Island trip as a certified diver.
That is the typical rhythm. Sea conditions and how quickly you take to the skills can both change the order or add a day; we plan the time with you rather than promising a finish date. Plan on about seven days in Dauin if you can, so there is room to finish comfortably and dive for fun afterwards. Our seven-day itinerary shows how a week fits together.
Price
What the Open Water course costs in Dauin
PHP 22,500 per person. Here is exactly what that covers and what it doesn't.
- Included: PADI eLearning, your instructor, five pool sessions, four open water dives on the Dauin coast, full rental equipment (wetsuit, BCD, regulator, mask, fins, tanks and weights), standard Dauin sanctuary fees, and your PADI certification.
- Deposit: PHP 5,000 when you book. It pays for your PADI eLearning, is deducted from the PHP 22,500, and is not refundable once your eLearning has been assigned. The balance is paid when you arrive.
- Paying: cash in pesos, Wise (about 1% fee), GCash, or PayPal and Maya with about 5% added to cover their fees. Ask us if you would prefer a bank transfer. Full terms are in our terms and conditions.
- Apo Island option: make your final open water dives at Apo Island's reefs instead of the Dauin coast for PHP 5,500 more, plus the Apo fuel surcharge, currently PHP 600. At today's rates that is PHP 28,600 in total; we confirm the surcharge when you book.
- Open Water + Advanced together: PHP 39,000 for both courses, against PHP 22,500 and PHP 16,500 separately.
- Not included: your room (dorm beds from PHP 500 a night, rooms from PHP 650), meals at our restaurant (about PHP 200 to 500 each), airport transfers (PHP 1,200 each way) and dive insurance, which we recommend and can arrange with DAN at the dive centre.
When you compare prices elsewhere, check whether equipment, certification and marine park fees are included; they are the usual extras. Add the course to your room and dives in the trip planner for a full estimate. Nothing is paid until we have confirmed your dates in writing.
Rain, wind and waves
What happens when the weather turns
Shore diving on a long coast gives us options a boat-based course doesn't have. It doesn't make the weather irrelevant.
Your instructor checks the sea each morning. Dauin's dive sites are spread along about fifteen kilometres of coast, each with a different angle to the wind and its own beach entry, so when the house reef is not ideal for a training dive there is often another site a few minutes' drive away that is. Pool sessions are not affected by the sea, so on a rough day we can bring the pool work forward and move the ocean dives to the next calm window.
Sometimes that is not enough. In a storm signal or a Coast Guard no-sail order, or when every site is churned up, we postpone training dives. Weather, like your own pace, can add a day to the course, and we tell you as early as we can so you can plan around it. Rain by itself is rarely a problem: little river water reaches this coast, so the sea usually stays clearer after a downpour than on many coasts.
Our month-by-month guide explains the seasons; the calmer months are generally better for a first course.
Who teaches you
The people and the standards behind the course
A PADI 5 Star Career Development Center and PADI Eco Center, with a training team that also trains instructors.
- Your instructors. Your course is taught by one of our PADI instructors. The team includes three PADI Master Instructors, Luna, Magnus and TJ, and is led by Course Director Anthony Cruz, who runs our instructor courses. 2026 is our tenth year of Instructor Development Courses in Dauin, and more than 100 Open Water Scuba Instructors have certified with us.
- PADI 5 Star Career Development Center. PADI's highest rating for dive centres that train dive professionals, awarded to us in 2026. In March 2026 PADI Asia Pacific also gave us the Platinum level of its Professional Development Excellence Award, the highest of its four levels, which recognises how many PADI professionals a centre trained in the previous year. Our PADI listing.
- PADI Eco Center and Green Fins member. PADI Eco Center is a rating for centres that meet PADI's conservation requirements, including Green Fins membership and local conservation work. Green Fins is the environmental standard for dive operators led by The Reef-World Foundation and the UN Environment Programme; in practice it means no touching, no feeding, no contact with coral, and briefings that explain why. You learn to dive that way from your first dive.
- The house reef survey. The 560+ fish species on Dauin North, and the 825+ along the Dauin coast, come from a fish survey led by Bart Hazes of Biodives with our dive guides, funded by the PADI AWARE Foundation and running since 2023.
- Languages. Our instructors teach in English, French, German, Spanish and Filipino. PADI eLearning is available in many more.
- Safety. Emergency oxygen and first-aid equipment at the dive centre, instructors current in Emergency First Response, and Dauin's own hyperbaric chamber a few minutes away. We recommend dive insurance for every student and can arrange DAN cover at the desk.
- What guests say. 4.8 out of 5 from 510 reviews on Google and 4.8 out of 5 from 246 reviews on Tripadvisor, as of October 2026. Many are from people who learned to dive here.
Before and after
Who can take the course, and what comes next
You don't need to be a strong swimmer or especially fit. You do need to be comfortable in water and honest on the medical form.
- Age. 10 and up. Students aged 10 to 14 earn the Junior Open Water Diver certification: ages 10 to 11 are limited to 12 metres and must dive with a PADI Professional or a certified parent or guardian; ages 12 to 14 may dive to 18 metres with a certified adult. From 15 the certification carries the standard 18-metre limit. Families often do the course together.
- Swimming. A 200-metre swim (any stroke, no time limit) or a 300-metre snorkel, and ten minutes floating or treading water.
- Medical. The PADI Diver Medical questionnaire is part of the online paperwork. Some answers lead to follow-up questions; some require a physician's evaluation before you dive. Follow the questionnaire's instructions, and if an evaluation is needed, get it at home before you travel; it is much easier than arranging one in Dumaguete. Ask us early if you are unsure.
- Flying. Leave at least 18 hours between your last dive and a flight. We plan your course around your departure.
- Started elsewhere? If you have completed eLearning or pool sessions with another PADI centre, bring your referral paperwork and finish the ocean dives with us.
After Open Water, most people do a few fun dives on the Dauin coast and an Apo Island day: coral walls, turtles and some current, a different kind of diving. The next course is Advanced Open Water, five adventure dives over two or three days that extend your limit to 30 metres (21 metres for Junior Advanced divers aged 12 to 14) and add navigation; taken together with Open Water it is PHP 39,000 for both. From there the path runs to Rescue Diver and, for some, to Divemaster and instructor training.
Questions about the Open Water course
How much does the PADI Open Water course cost in the Philippines?
It varies by place and operator. Ours is PHP 22,500 in Dauin, including PADI eLearning, all equipment, four open water dives, Dauin sanctuary fees and the certification. When comparing, check whether equipment, certification and marine park fees are included.
How many days does the Open Water course take?
Usually three to four days in Dauin, after finishing the theory online at home. Weather or your own pace can add a day. Stay about a week if you can, so there is time to dive for fun once you are certified.
Is Dauin or Dumaguete a good place to learn to dive?
Yes. The coast slopes gently from the beach, so you learn from the shore rather than a boat, in a pool first and then on a protected house reef, in classes of two or three. The dive centres are in Dauin, about 45 minutes from Dumaguete Airport.
Do I need to know how to swim?
You need to be comfortable in water: a 200-metre swim or 300-metre snorkel with no time limit, and ten minutes floating or treading water. You do not need to be fast or fit.
What is the minimum age?
Ten. Students aged 10 to 14 earn Junior Open Water: ages 10 to 11 are limited to 12 metres and dive with a PADI Professional or certified parent or guardian; ages 12 to 14 may dive to 18 metres with a certified adult.
What happens if the weather is bad during my course?
Your instructor assesses conditions each morning and may move to a more sheltered site, bring pool sessions forward, or postpone a training dive. Most courses finish on time; occasionally the weather adds a day, and we tell you as early as we can.
Can I try diving first before committing to the course?
Yes. Discover Scuba Diving is a supervised introduction of about three hours for PHP 3,500, with a pool session and a shallow dive on the house reef. If you go on to Open Water, the skills you learned count towards it.
Prices are our direct rates as of October 2026 and are confirmed when you book. Age, depth and medical requirements follow PADI's current Open Water Diver standards and the PADI Diver Medical questionnaire.