Scuba Diving FAQs

Most divers finish the Open Water Diver course in a few days of practical training, spread over dates that suit them. The theory is PADI eLearning, worked through online at your own pace. Five confined water sessions follow in the heated indoor pool in Fourways, then four open water dives.

Nothing runs on a fixed class calendar, so training fits around work and family. The one limit is six months from your first confined water session to certification.

Ten is the minimum age for a PADI scuba certification and for Discover Scuba Diving. Divers aged 10 to 14 earn a Junior Open Water Diver card, which converts to the full rating at 15. Ten and eleven year olds dive to a maximum of 12 metres, with a parent, guardian or PADI professional.

Children from eight can start with the Snorkelling Course. There is no upper age limit, although the medical questionnaire applies at any age.

No, but you do need to be comfortable in water. The Open Water Diver course asks for a 200 metre swim, or 300 metres with mask, fins and snorkel, plus 10 minutes floating unaided. The swim isn't timed and any stroke counts.

If the swim is the worry, the Snorkelling Course or Discover Scuba Diving in the heated pool are a gentler first step.

Yes. Discover Scuba Diving is a single session in the heated indoor pool: a short online orientation, then time underwater with an instructor. It isn't a certification. If you carry on, start Open Water within 12 months and your pool session counts as its first confined water dive. Open Water is booked as its own course, at its normal price. The minimum age is 10.

The four Open Water qualification dives take place at Bass Lake or Miracle Waters, both inland sites within a drive of Johannesburg. Qualifying in the sea is available on request.

Both sites sit well above 300 metres, the height at which PADI treats a dive as an altitude dive. The guide to altitude diving from Johannesburg explains what that changes.

No. A PADI certification is valid for life. Skills fade faster than cards do, though. A diver who has been out of the water for a year or more tends to benefit from a refresher first.

PADI ReActivate pairs an online knowledge review with a pool session and ends in a ReActivate eCard. The shorter Refresher Course is pool-only, for divers who want a supervised skills check before a trip.

Open Water Divers are qualified to 18 metres with a buddy. Advanced Open Water Diver raises that to 30 metres and includes the Deep and Underwater Navigation Adventure Dives. Junior divers aged 10 and 11 are limited to 12 metres.

The card sets the limit. The logged dives are what build the experience to dive near it.

Yes. PADI allows enrolment in Open Water Diver and Enriched Air Diver together, so your first dives after certification can be on nitrox. The Nitrox Course can be completed with two dives or with predive simulation exercises in their place.

The minimum age is 12, and divers aged 12 to 14 are limited to 21 metres. The guide to what nitrox does and doesn't do covers the trade-off.

Yes. Dive centres, resorts and boats around the world accept PADI certification cards and eCards. The Open Water Diver course is also certified against ISO 24801-2, the international standard for an autonomous diver.

Bring your card or the PADI App eCard on any dive trip, along with your logbook. Operators abroad tend to ask when you last dived as well as which card you carry.

The PADI route runs through Open Water, Advanced Open Water and Rescue Diver, then Divemaster and the Instructor Development Course. Divemaster training needs Rescue Diver, first aid training within the last 24 months, 40 logged dives to start and 60 by certification, and a minimum age of 18.

The IDC needs 60 logged dives to begin and 100 before the Instructor Examination, which PADI staff run independently of the dive centre. Scuba Evolution is a PADI 5 Star Dive Centre, and the whole path from first pool session to the IDC runs through one centre.

Every PADI course starts with the PADI Diver Medical questionnaire. Answer no to every question and no doctor's visit is needed. Answer yes to any question and a doctor must sign you off as fit to dive before any in-water session, the pool included.

The form is linked on every course page, and you complete it inside the eLearning. Read the PADI Diver Medical form before paying: once the eLearning code is redeemed, a medical outcome can't be refunded.

Some people with asthma dive and some are advised not to. The deciding factor is how well controlled the asthma is, and that call belongs to a doctor, ideally one trained in dive medicine. The PADI Diver Medical questionnaire asks about it, so a yes means a doctor's sign-off before training.

The guide to scuba with asthma sets out what doctors look at.

Possibly, and a doctor makes that decision. Conditions like these, recent surgery and many prescription medicines all appear on the PADI Diver Medical questionnaire. A yes to any of them needs a doctor's signature before in-water training starts.

A doctor with dive medicine training is the best person to ask. DAN Southern Africa publishes fitness-to-dive information for divers and their doctors.

Glasses won't fit under a dive mask, but soft contact lenses are generally fine to dive in. DAN notes that soft lenses let gas pass through them, while hard lenses can trap small bubbles against the eye on ascent. Many masks can also be fitted with prescription lenses.

The usual problem is losing a lens during mask clearing, so divers who wear them keep their eyes closed for that skill.

Ear pain on descent is water pressure pushing on the eardrum faster than the air space behind it is being equalised. The biggest relative pressure change happens in the first few metres, which is why the pool and the shallows catch people out.

Equalise early, before you feel pressure, and every metre or so on the way down. Pain that won't clear means stopping, rising a little and trying again rather than forcing it. The guide to equalising your ears covers the techniques.

DAN's guidelines call for at least 12 hours after a single no-decompression dive, and at least 18 hours after several dives in a day or several days of diving. Dives with decompression stops need substantially longer than 18 hours, and PADI rounds all of it up to 24 hours.

The drive back up to Gauteng from the coast is a climb to altitude too. The guide to flying after diving covers both.

Reasonably fit. Most recreational diving is gentle. Carrying kit across a car park, finning into a current or handling a problem at the surface asks a lot more of the body.

The medical questionnaire covers the health side. The rest is on the diver: arriving tired, dehydrated or unwell takes that risk into the water.

Medical aid tends to pay the hospital bill, but it rarely arranges an evacuation from a dive site or puts you on the phone with a diving doctor in the middle of the night. DAN Southern Africa membership is built for that gap: emergency cover for diving injuries, run through a 24-hour hotline, on top of your medical aid rather than instead of it. In October 2026 annual plans started at R2,395 a year, and temporary cover for a single trip at R105 a day. Check dansa.org for current prices and terms.

Scuba Evolution is a DAN Southern Africa Industry Partner, but we don't sell DAN cover and it isn't part of our course or trip prices. You join DAN directly at dansa.org.

The course fee covers your PADI eLearning, your instruction and the use of all scuba equipment for the course, so there's nothing to hire or buy first. Two costs sit outside it. Dive site entrance fees are paid at the site on the day, and air is charged per fill and invoiced after each session.

Dry Suit Diver is the exception on equipment, because divers train in their own suit. The Instructor Development Course excludes PADI registration fees, as its course page sets out.

Divers breathe at different rates, and a nervous first-timer gets through far more air than someone on their fourth qualification dive. Building a worst-case allowance into every fee would have light breathers paying for heavy ones.

Charging per fill keeps the course price lower for everyone. The current fill rate is confirmed when your dates are booked, and it's available on request before that.

A course can be cancelled for a refund until the PADI eLearning code is redeemed. Once it's redeemed the course is non-refundable, because the PADI material has been delivered to you.

Booked sessions can be moved with at least 24 hours' notice. Cancelling inside 24 hours, or not arriving, is charged, since the instructor, equipment and slot were held for you. The full terms are in the return and refund policy.

The session moves to the next workable date. Nobody is put in the water in unsafe conditions, and PADI standards put that call with the instructor.

Moving a date costs you nothing and doesn't count against your six months to finish. If conditions keep moving the dates, training carries on until the course is complete.

Six months from your first confined water session. After that, skills need reviewing and repeating before certification, and the extra training is quoted to you before it starts.

Dates moved for weather or site closures don't count against the six months.

Yes, through Mobicred, once a Mobicred account is approved. Course pages show an estimated monthly instalment, and the Need Finance? link in the site footer opens the application.

Card payments through PayFast and Yoco, and EFT, are accepted too.

Scuba Evolution in Glenvista takes regulators, BCDs, cylinders and dive computers for servicing, testing and battery changes. Every service job is routed to the manufacturer's appointed agent, which is what most manufacturer warranties expect.

Drop kit off during trading hours: Monday to Friday 09:00 to 17:00, Saturday 09:00 to 16:00, Sunday 09:00 to 13:00.

Most manufacturers set the interval by time, typically every one or two years depending on the model, and many tie the warranty to that interval being kept and recorded.

A regulator that sat in a cupboard still needs it. Seats take a set under spring pressure whether or not anyone dives them. Book the first stage, both second stages and the buoyancy compensator in together, since they share hoses.

A cylinder needs a current visual inspection and a current hydrostatic test before it can be filled. Under SANS 10019 the visual inspection falls due every two years and the hydrostatic test every four.

A cylinder outside either date is refused rather than filled. A visual inspection that finds water inside usually leads to a chemical clean as well, which is quoted separately.

No. An enriched air fill needs an Enriched Air Diver certification, a cylinder in current visual and hydrostatic test, and oxygen cleaning where the fill method requires it. The mix is analysed before the cylinder leaves the counter, and both parties sign the fill log.

Analyse it again yourself before the dive and set your computer to the measured mix. The Nitrox Course is where the certification comes from.

Yes, for scuba cylinders. Fills are for certified divers, and the cylinder must be in current test with a sound valve and o-ring.

Fills go to the pressure stamped on the cylinder, 232 or 300 bar, and not above it. Pre-charged pneumatic rifle cylinders rated to 300 bar are filled to the same air standard.

Once a year, or after a season of diving. The service strips and rebuilds the inflator and checks the dump valves. The bladder then gets a pressure test and stands overnight, because a slow leak shows up over hours rather than minutes.

Book it with the regulator it dives with, since the two share a low pressure hose. A bladder, valve or hose that needs replacing gets its own quote.

Many computers allow it, and the battery is the easy part. The o-ring decides whether the computer survives its next dive, so a new seal goes in with every cell. A flooded computer is rarely repairable.

Some models lose the dive log when they shut down flat, and transmitters often need pairing again after a battery change. Check the warranty position before opening the hatch. The guide to dive computer algorithms covers the settings side.

Delivery is R150 on orders under R1,000 and free on orders of R1,000 and over, anywhere in South Africa. Most orders are dispatched within 24 hours, and weekend or public holiday orders go out on the next business day. Some items take longer.

The Courier Guy then delivers the next business day in Gauteng, and takes 3 to 4 business days to other main centres and 3 to 5 to outlying areas. The shipping policy has the detail.

Yes, at no charge. Choose Pick up at checkout and wait for the email saying the order is ready, usually within 24 hours.

Bring your order number and ID to Shop U44, Glenvista Shopping Centre, during trading hours. Someone collecting for you needs their name emailed through first and a copy of your ID.

An email with your waybill number arrives as soon as The Courier Guy collects the parcel, and tracking runs at thecourierguy.co.za/track.

If the tracking hasn't moved in two business days, email shop@scubaevolution.co.za and the shop will chase it.

Yes, but it travels empty, with the valve removed or fully open, because couriers won't carry pressurised cylinders. It arrives needing a visual inspection and a fill before it can be dived.

Choose collection instead and the cylinder is handed over tested, filled and ready to dive.

Orders ship within South Africa only. Buyers outside the country can email shop@scubaevolution.co.za for a quote.

You're contacted before anything ships. The choice is yours: wait for stock, swap for something else, or take a full refund to your original payment method, delivery charge included.

Orders aren't part-shipped without asking first.

Card payments through PayFast and Yoco, Mobicred instalments and EFT. All prices include VAT, and delivery is shown in the cart before you pay.

Yes, with a Scuba Evolution Gift Voucher. Vouchers come in eight amounts from R250 to R10,000, arrive by email, and can be spent on PADI courses, servicing, cylinder tests and fills as well as equipment.

A voucher also leaves mask, fin and boot fit to be settled in person, which is where most gifted kit goes wrong.

Yes. The wetsuit builder makes a scuba suit to your measurements or in a standard size, with arm, ankle or neck zips if you want them. Measure yourself with the guide, or have us measure you at the shop in Glenvista.

Your suit takes about two weeks from when your size or measurements are confirmed. A suit made to measure, or with zips or colour panels added, is made for you and can't be returned if you change your mind. A plain standard suit follows the normal 7 days.

Online orders can be returned within 7 days of delivery, unused, dry, complete and in the original packaging. Most people swap for the right size or take store credit. Where you'd prefer the money back, the price of the goods goes to the payment method you used.

The shop books the collection with The Courier Guy and deducts only what the courier charges. The R150 delivery charge on the original order isn't refunded, and dropping the item at the shop saves the collection cost. The return and refund policy has the full terms.

Yes, within 7 days, unused and with the slip, for an exchange or store credit. That's a goodwill arrangement rather than a legal right, because counter purchases fall outside the online cancellation rule.

Faulty goods are covered for six months either way. Store credit is valid for three years and can be spent online or in the shop.

Faulty, unsafe or incorrect goods can come back within six months of delivery under the Consumer Protection Act. The shop collects the item at its own cost, assesses it and repairs or replaces it, and the repair or replacement carries a further three months.

Manufacturer warranty claims are lodged and managed for you, and you can ask for the price back instead. Misuse, accidents, wear and tear, or servicing by an unauthorised workshop aren't covered.

Anything that goes in or against the mouth, nose or ears can't come back once it's unsealed or used. That covers mouthpieces, snorkels, second stages that have been breathed from, ear plugs and drops, opened defoggers and fitted suit seals.

Personalised or engraved gear, made-to-measure suits and special orders bought in the shop are excluded too. So are oxygen sensors, batteries, filled cylinders, gift cards, redeemed eLearning codes and anything used in water. A special order bought online follows the normal 7 days. None of this applies to a faulty item, which is covered regardless.

Email shop@scubaevolution.co.za within 48 hours with photos of the item and the outer packaging. Keep the item and all its packaging until the claim is closed, because the courier assesses the goods themselves.

If the box is visibly damaged on arrival, note it with the driver before signing. Your order travels at the shop's risk, so the item is replaced, or refunded in full where there's no replacement.

No. The shelves carry genuine new stock only, with no grey imports and no second-hand or refurbished equipment. That keeps the manufacturer's warranty in place, and warranty claims are handled by the shop on your behalf.

Yes. The shop plans and leads both local and international trips. Local trips go to Mozambique, Aliwal Shoal and Sodwana Bay. International trips have gone to the Maldives, the Red Sea and Indonesia, among others. Shark trips run as well.

Each trip is announced by email and in the Scuba Evolution WhatsApp group. There is no trip calendar on the site at the moment. Ask the shop to add you to the list and the group, on 010 335 1000 or shop@scubaevolution.co.za, or send a trip enquiry.

Not at present. Trips are not sold in the online store, and a travel section is planned for later. Booking is arranged directly with the shop once a trip is announced. To hear about the next one, send a trip enquiry.

Mozambique, Aliwal Shoal and Sodwana Bay. Each announcement carries the dates, the dive plan and what the trip covers.

The Maldives, the Red Sea and Indonesia have all featured, and the list changes from year to year. Destinations for an upcoming trip are set out in its announcement.

Yes. Requirements and the dive plan are set out in the announcement for each one.

It depends on the destination and the dives planned. Each trip announcement states the certification level and any experience the dives call for. If you are short of it, the shop can map out the course that gets you there.