Scuba Diving with Kids: What to Know Before Your First Dive Together
My wife and I have been diving as a family activity for years now, but there’s a milestone we’re still waiting on: the day our kids are old enough to get certified and join us underwater instead of watching from the surface.
I’m convinced it’s one of the best things you can do with your kids once they’re old enough for it. Diving isn’t like most family activities where the adults do the “real” version and the kids get a watered-down kid version. Once your kid is certified, they’re doing the exact same dive you are, seeing the exact same reef, breathing the exact same air. There’s no scaled-down experience. That’s rare, and it’s worth planning for.
Note: PADI requires kids to be at least 10 years old to get certified
Why Getting Kids Certified Is Worth It
As it turns out, you don’t have to get certified to go on a dive trip! Many places have discovery dives where you can give SCUBA a try. That said, there are some real benefits to getting the whole family certified to dive.
They get the real thing, not a supervised version of it. One of the best parts of diving is the feeling of freedom you get while underwater. But supervised dives like Bubblemakers and discovery dives are not that. Especially with kids, the divemasters stick very close, often holding on to them to make sure they stay safe. It’s reassuring, as a parent, but my kids hated feeling like they weren’t in control of their own movements.
It opens up way more options on your trip. Once your kid can dive, a huge number of destinations and activities open up that used to be split between “what the parents do” and “what the kids do.” Suddenly it’s just what the family does. That alone makes it worth it!
Dives are less expensive for certified divers. While discovery dives and open water dives often end up happening at the same locations, certified divers are less of a risk for the dive company and require less hand-holding. That translates into lower prices for certified divers, and real savings for families with multiple divers.
It gives kids a taste of real responsibility. Diving requires paying attention, following a plan, and looking out for a buddy. Those are great habits for kids to build, and they have real impacts even on the surface!
How and Where to get Kids SCUBA Certified
The standard entry-level certification is the Open Water Diver course, or the Junior version for kids. It breaks into three parts:
- Knowledge development. Classroom or e-learning covering equipment, dive physics, and safety procedures. Most of this can be done online before a trip even starts.
- Confined water dives. Practice sessions in a pool or calm shallow water, building the core skills before anything is at stake.
- Open water dives. A handful of supervised dives in the ocean, instructor watching closely the whole time.
Most people can finish in three to four days, but it depends on the structure of your course. Getting the online coursework done ahead of time frees up actual trip days for the pool and open water sessions, which is worth planning around if you’re tight on time.
Stick with PADI or NAUI. Certifications from either are accepted at dive shops worldwide, which absolutely matters once you start planning dives.
I absolutely recommend getting certified at an awesome destination! I personally got SCUBA certified as a 16 year old in Ohio, and did my open water dives in a low visibility lake, which is no where near as fun as doing your open waters in a beautiful coral reef on Egypt’s Red Sea coast or on a tropical island in Indonesia!
Where to Take Newly Certified Kids Diving
The best spot for a new diver, kid or adult, has calm water, mild currents, and plenty to see at shallow depths. You’re not looking for a technical wreck dive on day one. You want something forgiving that keeps a nervous new diver relaxed and excited instead of white-knuckling their first hour underwater.
Southeast Asia does this well in a lot of spots. Warm water, decent visibility, and shops used to working with beginners and families every single day. Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines all have world-class dive spots that are beginner-friendly. Egypt has some of our family’s favorite spots, as well!
Or, if you prefer starting out closer to home, there’s some great spots for scuba diving in Florida!
Whatever destination you land on, prioritize a shop with solid infrastructure and a track record with new divers. I recommend booking directly with the dive shop, rather than booking through a third-party. It can be a bit more expensive, but the quality of the trip is often much higher!
What Gear Do You Actually Need?
There’s actually a lot less gear required than you’d think! And, in many cases, you won’t need any gear of your own. Life-support gear, meaning the BCD, regulator, dive computer, and tank, can all be rented from a reputable shop. No need to own any of it for a first trip or even a few after that.
So what’s actually worth buying personally? A mask, snorkel, and fins. As a bonus, if you own these items yourself, there’s a ton of places where you can go snorkeling for free in between your dive trips!
Fit matters the most for the mask. A bad seal will ruin a dive fast, and kids especially get frustrated by constant leaking or fogging. Plus, if you use corrective lenses, there are prescription masks available so you’ll still be able to see while diving.
Rent the rest until you know how often you’ll actually be diving. If it turns into a regular family activity, then it may be worth investing in your own BCD and regulator, especially if your kids have smaller mouths. Fit and familiarity make a real difference once you’re a few dives in.
How Old Do Kids Need to Be to Get Scuba Certified?
Before we get into it, it’s worth addressing the big question for parents with kids who want to dive.
Most major agencies, PADI and NAUI included, set 10 as the minimum age for a Junior Open Water certification. Junior certifications come with a few depth restrictions until the diver turns 12, and again until they turn 15, but the core training and experience are the same course adults take.
If your kids are younger than 10, but really want to give diving a chance, I’d recommend looking into one of PADI’s Bubblemakers programs! These are specifically designed to give kids a chance to get underwater and experience what SCUBA is like, and a certified divemaster will be right there with them the whole time to make sure nothing goes wrong.
Still too young to get certified? What We Do Instead
Right now, that’s us. Our kids aren’t old enough for certification yet, so on dive days, my wife and I dive while the kids either snorkel or do a Bubblemakers-style dive with a dedicated guide nearby. On our recent trip to the Cham Islands off Hoi An, Vietnam, the boat split divers and snorkelers into small groups, each with their own guide, and the kids had just as good a day as we did, just closer to the surface.
I’ve also heard that some families will split their dives up so one parent goes diving on one day while the other stays with the kids, and the next day they’ll switch. But, for our family, we really prefer sticking together!
