Learn to dive or level-up your skills at our Galapagos dive shop
We offer 3 levels of PADI dive courses at Academy Bay Diving.
If you’re looking to experience your first breath underwater, join our Open Water Course to learn to scuba dive and get certified as a diver.
To extend your experience, join our Advanced Open Water certification to add more skills and diving options!
(Ready to book a dive? Browse our Galapagos Islands Diving Tours)
Ready to take the next step? Pass on your diving knowledge as a certified Divemaster with our Galapagos Divemaster training program.
The Open Water Course is the first level of PADI dive course designed to give you the skills and knowledge you need to start diving. If you’re interested in learning to dive, there’s no better place in the world than the magical Galapagos Islands!
This dive course runs for a minimum of 3 days and covers theory, skills, and fun diving. At the end of it, you’ll leave with an internationally-recognized scuba diving certificate! You’ll be able to use it around the world, diving to a depth of up to 18 meters.
Day 1: Meet your instructor, go through dive theory, learn about scuba equipment, undertake a thorough skills session in the pool
Day 2: 2 Open water Dives up to 12 meters + more theory
Day 3: 2 Open water dives up to 18 meters + more theory & your final exam!
The Advanced Open Water course is the next step up from the Open Water Course. If you take this course at our Galapagos dive shop, our aim will be to give you a little more knowledge and experience in different situations you might encounter underwater.
The course includes 5 different types of dives, 2 of which are set and compulsory, while the other 3 can be chosen by you.
The deep dive to 30 meters and the navigation dives are mandatory. For scuba diving in the Galapagos, we then recommend you choose from a drift dive, a multi level dive, a buoyancy dive, a fish ID dive, a photography dive, or a boat dive.
This PADI course is run over 2 days with 3 dives performed usually on the first day. There is no exam, just chapter questions to complete and review with your instructor.
Professional-level Internship for 6 – 8 weeks
The PADI Divemaster course teaches you to be a leader and take charge of dive activities. Through knowledge development sessions, water skills exercises and workshops, and hands-on practical assessment, you develop the skills to organize and direct a variety of scuba diving activities. Topics and practical workshops include:
The course involves theory, skills practice, assisting the instructor with courses and Discovery dives, basic equipment service and repair and guiding practice. You will be required to participate in every stage of the program to a level deemed satisfactory by your dive instructors.
Your Galapagos Divemaster course will be completed in approximately 3 weeks. After this, you will be an Academy Bay Divemaster Intern.
During the course and your internship, you will be required to work in the Academy Bay office helping with and learning all aspects of operating a busy dive business. A successful dive business is not all about the diving!
Duties will include:
Note that qualifying certifications from other diver training organizations may apply – ask your PADI Instructor.
After your Divemaster experience ends at our Academy Bay Galapagos dive shop, we hope you will take with you an in-depth understanding of how a dive center operates, as well as lessons on how to interact with, guide, and assist fellow divers. We also hope you leave with lifelong friends and — of course — the unforgettable experience of scuba diving in the Galapagos Islands!
Please note that the maximum time any tourist can stay in the Galapagos Islands is 60 days per calendar year.
Ready to start your adventure? Get in touch about our Galapagos Islands Scuba Diving Courses today!
