Frequently Asked Costs, courses, conditions and paperwork

Open Water and Advanced Open Water are both all-inclusive, and private one-to-one instruction is available on any course — ask us for the current price on each. The only costs outside that are accommodation, meals, and the island entrance plus Gili Eco Trust fee of roughly IDR 150,000 per person.

PADI eLearning or manual, certification processing and your e-card, full Scubapro and Aqualung equipment, your instructor, all boat transfers and filled tanks, drinking water and refreshments on the boat, and DAN-affiliated diver insurance for the duration of training.

Nothing we charge sits outside the quoted fee. Extra sessions, if a skill needs repeating, are free. The night dive carries a surcharge only when taken as an Advanced elective.

Open Water is three to four days; three if you finish the eLearning before you arrive. Advanced is two to three days. Booked together as the Zero to Hero package they run five to six days.

No. PADI asks for a 10-minute float or tread in water too deep to stand in, and a 200-metre swim — or 300 metres with mask, fins and snorkel — without stopping. There is no time limit and any stroke is fine.

Ten for Open Water, with a Junior certification for ages 10 to 14. Twelve for Advanced, and junior divers aged 12 to 14 are limited to 21 metres until they turn 15.

Everyone completes the PADI Medical Statement. If you answer yes to any listed condition you need written clearance from a physician before entering the water — arrange that at home, not on an island with no hospital.

Soft contact lenses are fine; keep your eyes closed during mask-clearing skills. If you wear glasses, send us your prescription when you book and we can usually source a corrective mask.

A maximum of four students per instructor, against the PADI standard of eight. We often run smaller, and private one-to-one is available on any course.

Diving runs all year. May to September gives flat seas and visibility to 30 metres. April and October balance good conditions against fewer crowds. November to March has lower visibility inshore but the best macro life. Accommodation and flights run 20–30% lower; our own course prices are flat all year.

All three share the same dive sites and the same standard of instruction. Trawangan is the most social, Air the balance, Meno the quietest. The boat journey between them is under 15 minutes.

Your own mask if you have one, reef-safe sunscreen, a personal first-aid kit, and your certification card if you already dive. We supply BCD, regulator, wetsuit, fins, tanks and weights.

Course insurance is included while you train with us. Check your own travel policy covers recreational diving to your certified depth — many exclude scuba entirely, including hyperbaric chamber treatment.

A 20% deposit secures your place; the balance is due on arrival. Wise and international transfer carry no surcharge, Visa and Mastercard add 3%. We take cash in IDR, USD or EUR at the centre.

Two weeks normally. Three to four for July to August and December to January, when instructor availability is the limiting factor rather than the weather.

Not on our fun-dive boats — those are for certified divers. If you have never dived, the Open Water course is the route in, and it takes three days.

PADI recommends a minimum 18-hour surface interval after repetitive diving before flying. Plan a full day between your last dive and your flight.

Rain does not stop diving; unsafe sea state does. Because we operate around three islands there is almost always a sheltered side, so we move sites rather than cancel.