COMMON QUESTIONS
Answers about learning to dive in London with SSI — cost, age limits, health requirements, how long it takes and what the certification is worth.
COMMON QUESTIONS
The things people actually ask before booking. If yours is not here, just ask.
No. The SSI Open Water Diver course has no certification prerequisites — you start from zero, with your first breaths underwater in the pool. Everything you need, you learn on the course.
From 10, and there is no upper limit — people in their sixties do Try Scuba too. Divers under 15 are certified as Junior Open Water Divers and dive with a dive professional or a certified adult. Ten- and eleven-year-olds are limited to 12 metres; the full Open Water limit is 18 metres. For anyone under 18, a parent or guardian signs the training forms.
Before any SSI training you fill in the Diver Medical Statement and Questionnaire. For most people that is the end of it. If an answer points to something that can affect diving — asthma, heart conditions, epilepsy, recent surgery, pregnancy — you need a doctor's approval before starting. Worth checking before you book rather than on the day.
SSI puts the programme at 16 to 32 hours in total: six theory sessions, six pool sessions and four open water dives, with at least 80 minutes of bottom time across those dives. In practice the length depends on you — the in-water part takes at least three days, and the theory runs online alongside live sessions with the instructor.
Try Scuba is £75, the SSI Open Water Diver course £550, Advanced Open Water Diver £395 and a Scuba Skills Update £95. Every course price includes the SSI online learning materials and the certification. Equipment is included on Try Scuba and Open Water Diver. Site entry fees are charged separately.
No. On Try Scuba and on the Open Water Diver course the equipment is provided — you need nothing of your own. On the courses after that you can dive your own kit, and if you do not have it yet, rental is available.
Pool sessions run at a pool in London, or in the heated indoor training pool at Stoney Cove. Open water dives take place at the inland sites London divers use — Wraysbury, Stoney Cove and Vobster Quay. Warm water training and dive trips also run in Lanzarote.
Some courses run on set dates through the year. Outside those, dates are arranged individually. Say roughly when suits you and you will get a straight answer on what is possible.
I teach in Polish or English, whichever you prefer. The SSI online learning materials go further — they are available in more than a dozen languages, so you can work through the theory in your own language even if we run the course itself in English.
Yes. Certifications from all diving federations are accepted, so you carry on from the level you already hold rather than starting again. Say what card you have and roughly how many dives you have logged, and you will get a straight answer on which course you can join next.
Yes. SSI Open Water Diver is certified to the international standard ISO 24801-2, and SSI — like PADI — is a member of the World Recreational Scuba Training Council. The two entry-level certifications sit at the same level and dive centres worldwide accept either.
There is no expiry date on the card. SSI does treat divers who have not been in the water for five years or more as inactive and recommends a Scuba Skills Update before diving again — a refresher, not a re-certification.
You can dive with an equally or more qualified buddy, down to 18 metres, in conditions similar to your training. From there most people either add specialties — Perfect Buoyancy, Enriched Air Nitrox, Deep, Navigation, Dry Suit — or take Advanced Open Water Diver, which samples five specialties across five dives.
Extended Range programmes build on recreational training. Decompression Diving, Extended Range Nitrox, Trimix and Advanced Wreck each carry their own entry requirements in certifications and logged dives. Mariusz teaches these as an SSI XR instructor. Send your certifications and dive count and you will get a straight answer on the next step.
Recreational diving stays inside no-decompression limits. Technical diving deliberately goes past that line: planned decompression stops, gas mixes such as trimix, and redundant equipment so that no single failure ends the dive. It asks for more training, more discipline and more kit.
Extended Range training runs at Vobster Quay in Somerset — deep, clear inland water suited to decompression work and staged gas. Travel-based options run in Lanzarote, Malta, Cyprus, Croatia and Poland.
Most of them, yes. The dives run at Wraysbury, Stoney Cove or Vobster Quay. Dry Suit Diving is the one worth doing here in particular — it is the specialty that makes British water comfortable year round.
The ladder runs Open Water Diver, then specialties and Diver Stress & Rescue, then Dive Guide at 40 logged dives, then Divemaster at 60. Divemaster is the first professional rating — from there the Instructor Training Course leads to SSI Open Water Instructor. Mariusz trains up to Divemaster.
Plenty of people take it without ever guiding professionally. The training is mostly about control of your own diving and about reading other divers — skills that make every dive afterwards calmer.
Use the contact form with your level, rough dates and preferred location. You will normally get a reply within 24 to 48 hours with what is available and what it costs.