Digital learning
SSI digital lessons and a digital logbook, yours to keep and revise from at any time.
SSI Scuba Diver
Scuba Diver Certified
The short-on-time certification: dive to 12m with a professional, and credit it all toward Open Water later.
SSI Scuba Diver
The short-on-time certification: dive to 12m with a professional, and credit it all toward Open Water later.
Certified, faster
Scuba Diver is the first half of the Open Water course, turned into its own certification. You learn the core skills and dive to 12m with a dive professional at your side, perfect when the island clock is against you.
The SSI Scuba Diver course is the first half of the Open Water Diver course, made into a certification of its own: the opening digital theory, your pool skill sessions, and two open water dives. You learn how your body and your gear behave underwater, then prove every skill in calm water before the sea.
All prices in IDR · Marine Park fee of IDR 100,000 not included.
What is the Scuba Diver course?
The SSI Scuba Diver course is the first half of the Open Water Diver course, made into a certification of its own: the opening digital theory, your pool skill sessions, and two open water dives. You learn how your body and your gear behave underwater, then prove every skill in calm water before the sea.
You finish certified to dive to a maximum of 12m under the direct supervision of a dive professional, anywhere in the world. It counts in full toward Open Water Diver, so you can pick up exactly where you left off later, here or at any dive centre, and only complete what is left.
Two days on the island, plus whatever theory you get done before you land.
Download the SSI app and start the first chapters for free before you even pack. The rest unlocks once your course is booked. It is short reading on pressure, equalisation, your equipment and dive planning, and getting it out of the way at home means your two days here are spent in the water rather than on a screen.
We go back over the theory together and answer whatever the app left unclear, then move to the pool. You learn every core skill in shallow water: breathing underwater, clearing a flooded mask, recovering a lost regulator, sharing air with a buddy and controlling your buoyancy. You repeat each one until it stops feeling strange, and there is no clock on it.
Two training dives over the gentle reefs off Gili Air, to a maximum of 12 m, with your instructor beside you the whole time. Boat rides are 5 to 15 minutes. You repeat your pool skills in the sea on the first dive, and by the second one you are mostly just diving: turtles, reef fish and the strange calm of being weightless.
Once your instructor has signed off every skill, your SSI Scuba Diver certification and a digital logbook land in the SSI app on your phone. It is recognised worldwide, it does not expire, and every part of it credits toward Open Water whenever you decide to finish the second half.
Message us on WhatsApp and we'll fit your Scuba Diver course into your island schedule.
Everything you need is included, so you can focus on the diving.
SSI digital lessons and a digital logbook, yours to keep and revise from at any time.
A qualified SSI instructor with you from the pool to your final dive.
Full rental gear, your pool skill sessions and two open water dives.
Course insurance, your certification fee and your worldwide SSI card, with nothing to pay on completion.
Course requirements
Scuba Diver is designed for complete beginners. To join you only need to:
Why Gili Air
Gili Air sits in warm, sheltered water off Lombok. Sea temperatures stay around 28 to 30 degrees all year, visibility is generous and the reefs closest to shore are calm and shallow, ideal for your first dives.
You will very likely share your dives with green turtles, over some of the friendliest reefs in the archipelago.
A handful of students at most, so you are never a number in a crowd.
Instructors who grew up diving these reefs and know every site by heart.
Study online at your own pace, then spend your water time actually diving.
Clear prices and quality rental gear, with no hidden extras beyond the Marine Park fee.
Scuba Diver is the first half of the Open Water course: two open water dives instead of four, a 12m depth limit instead of 18m, and you always dive under the direct supervision of a dive professional rather than independently with a buddy. Everything you do credits in full toward Open Water when you upgrade.
To a maximum of 12m, always with a dive professional beside you.
None at all. It starts from zero, with a pool session before any ocean dive.
Yes, and nothing is wasted. Everything you do here counts toward the full Open Water certification: you simply complete the lessons and dives that are left whenever you are ready, here or at any dive centre in the world.
Not independently yet. A Scuba Diver always dives with a dive professional, which is the main difference from Open Water. Upgrade to Open Water to dive with just a certified buddy, down to 18m.
Usually two days: theory and pool skills on the first day, then your two open water dives on the second. Finishing the digital learning before you arrive keeps it relaxed.
Everyone completes the SSI Diver Medical Statement and questionnaire before getting in the water. It is a short list of yes or no questions about your heart, lungs, ears and sinuses, neurological conditions, diabetes, epilepsy and pregnancy. If every answer is no, you sign it and we go diving. If any answer is yes, a physician has to confirm you are fit to dive before you enter the water, so tell us early and we will point you to a doctor. A parent or guardian signs for anyone under 18.
Soft contact lenses are fine under a mask, plenty of divers wear them. Glasses do not fit under a mask, so it is either contacts or a prescription mask. Tell us your prescription when you book and we will see what we can arrange.
On your period, yes, there is no medical reason not to. Pregnancy is different: every major dive agency advises against scuba diving while pregnant, so we do not take pregnant guests diving. Snorkelling over the same reefs is a lovely alternative and we are happy to sort that out instead.
Rarely here. The dive sites are only 5 to 15 minutes away by boat, so there is not much crossing to be seasick on. If you are prone to it, take a remedy well before the trip and check with us first, because some motion sickness medication makes you drowsy underwater.
Wait at least 18 hours after your last dive before flying, and 12 hours is the minimum even after a single no-decompression dive. Because the Mount Rinjani trek on Lombok climbs to real altitude, treat it exactly like a flight and allow a full 24 hours. Tell us your departure day when you book and we will plan around it.
The course covers your SSI instructor, the digital learning materials, all your equipment for the two days, the pool session, both ocean dives, your certification fee and a digital logbook. Paid separately: the Gili Matra Marine Park fee of IDR 100,000, a one-off valid around 30 days, collected in cash and paid to the park rather than to us, the optional IDR 50,000 donation to the Gili Eco Trust, and anything personal such as accommodation, meals, insurance and tips.