We get asked all the time how long it takes to complete the PADI Open Water Course.
For years, our answer was shaped by what the industry considered “normal.” The standard reply? Somewhere between 2.5 to 3 days.
That answer wasn’t necessarily wrong — but it was rooted in confirmation bias. It was simply what everyone else was doing. And for a long time, we did the same at Anti Gravity Divers.
It has been common practice across the industry to complete confined water training in as little time as possible. Instructors who moved quickly were often seen as efficient — even superior. Skills were “ticked off.” Sessions were ended early, sometimes with 120 bar still left in a student’s cylinder.
We now believe that approach was fundamentally flawed.

As our founders and managers moved deeper into higher-level technical diving, we were exposed to a very different training philosophy. One that challenged the “this is how it’s always been done” mindset.
Technical divers don’t rush training. They maximise repetition. They prioritise comfort and mastery. They use every minute underwater with intention.
That exposure forced us to take a hard look at how entry-level training is typically delivered.
And we decided to change it.

In the PADI Open Water Course, there are:

• 5 Confined Water (CW) training sessions
• 4 Open Water (OW) training dives

Traditionally (and this is still the norm), the structure often looks like this:

• CW 1 combined with OW 1
• CW 2 & 3 combined into one session (1–1.5 hours total)
  
• CW 4 & 5 combined into one session (another 1–1.5 hours)
  
• CW 2,3,4 & 5 are also often combined into one long 2 - 2.5 hour session (THIS IS JUST WRONG!!!)
  
• OW 2, 3 & 4 conducted at 30–60 minutes per dive
  

If you’re lucky, that results in around 6 hours of total underwater time.
For a course that forms the foundation of someone’s diving career, that simply isn’t enough.

From March 2026 onwards, Anti Gravity Divers will be running the Open Water Course differently.
We will treat each confined water dive as its own dedicated session:

• CW 1 (may be combined with OW 1) – approx. 1.5 hours
• CW 2 – minimum 1 hour
• CW 3 – minimum 1 hour
• CW 4 – minimum 1 hour
• CW 5 – minimum 1 hour

Open Water dives will also be planned around reserve pressure air consumption to maximise meaningful dive time — not just minimum standards.
In total, students can expect a minimum of 8 hours underwater.
And that minimum applies whether there is 1 student or 4. With 4 students, sessions may take longer.
Being a quick learner doesn’t mean the course should end sooner. If anything, cutting time short only means you’re shortchanging yourself.

More underwater time means:

• More repetition
• More comfort
• More control
• More real experience

And that leads to:
Better dive training = More confident divers = More competent divers
We’re not interested in producing divers who just meet standards.
We want to produce divers who are genuinely comfortable underwater.
Because comfort creates safety.
And safety creates longevity in diving.

PADI Course Director Anand Chandra Sekaran
Anti Gravity Divers,
Perhentian Island, Malaysia.

Proper weighting is one of the most overlooked yet critical aspects of scuba diving. Being over or under weighted affects your trim, air consumption, buoyancy control, and overall comfort underwater. Most divers carry too much weight, often just to be safe, but this leads to poor positioning, increased effort, and a reliance on inflating and deflating the BCD more than necessary.

The most accurate buoyancy check should be performed at the end of a dive, with about 50 bar remaining in your tank. This reflects your true buoyancy when the tank is at its lightest and ensures you'll be able to stay comfortably neutral during your safety stop without struggling to stay down.

How to do a buoyancy check at the end of the dive:
After your safety stop, when you’re back at the surface with around 50 bar left, remove any air from your BCD and hold a normal breath. You should float at about eye level. As you exhale, you should begin to sink slowly. If you sink quickly or struggle to stay up while holding a breath, you're still over weighted. This is the most reliable point to assess your actual weighting needs.
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Of course, we understand this isn’t always practical, especially when you can only perform the check after the dive is over. That’s why it’s also important to know how to perform a buoyancy check at the beginning of a dive while accounting for the heavier full tank.

How to do a buoyancy check before the dive:
With a full tank and while floating vertically, deflate your BCD fully and hold a normal breath. You should begin to sink very slowly just below the waterline. As you exhale, you should sink a little further. If you're weighted correctly, you can expect to sink slowly even while holding a breath. This takes into account the added weight of a full tank of air, which weighs more than many divers realise. If you can’t sink even after exhaling, you’re under weighted.

Appropriate weighting helps maintain horizontal trim, protects marine life by keeping you off the reef, and reduces fatigue by improving your hydrodynamics.

In the PADI Open Water Diver Course, this skill is practiced at least five times, both in confined water and during open water dives. If something is emphasised that often in your very first diving course, it’s a clear sign of just how important it is for safe, confident, and enjoyable diving.
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Master your buoyancy. Start with a proper weight check every time.

PADI Course Director Anand Chandra Sekaran
Anti Gravity Divers,
Perhentian Island, Malaysia.

New for the 2018 season: Dive Like A Pro Clinic

We have decided that we now want ALL our new divers to be certified not just as PADI Open Water Divers, but GOOD PADI Open Water Divers. If this means spending more time with our students, then that's what we will do. Which is why we have now decided to add in an extra session called the 'Dive Like A Pro Clinic' into the course to make it a standard part of our course, instead of making you pay more for it.

What does this extra dive involve?
On top of the 4 open water dives that you will do as part of the course, this extra dive will entail working on good buoyancy, efficient fin kicking techniques, optimal weighting and how to move better underwater. We will also teach you how to minimize the use of your hands when diving (a bad technique). All of this is to help you build your confidence as a diver and to conserve energy, leading to better air consumption.

Will this really make me a better diver?
Basically, the more you dive, the better you are going to be as a diver. Our additional dive focuses more on the good habits and techniques you will need to make you a better diver. We cannot guarantee that you will be a great diver after our course (that takes practice), but you will definitely be a better diver than if you were to do a standard Open Water Course anywhere else.