Scuba Certification Courses in Bali
Part of the Bali travel guide — see every topic in All Bali Guides.
Bali is an excellent place to get certified. Water is twenty-seven to twenty-nine degrees, visibility is good for most of the year, the training sites are shallow and calm, and the cost is a fraction of Europe or Australia. The island has dozens of dive centres across Sanur, Amed, Tulamben, Padang Bai, Nusa Lembongan and Pemuteran, teaching every major agency. The main decisions are where to base yourself and how carefully you choose the school, because standards vary more than the price does.
The courses
An open-water certification — the entry qualification, allowing you to dive to eighteen metres — takes three to four days and costs 5–7 million rupiah including equipment, materials and certification fees. Advanced open water adds two days and around 4–6 million, covering deep and navigation dives plus three specialities. A discover-scuba day, one supervised dive with no certification, is 900,000–1,500,000 rupiah and is the right way to find out whether you like it. Nitrox, rescue and divemaster courses are all widely available.
Where to learn
Tulamben and Amed are the best training areas: shore entries, no boat, calm water, and the Liberty wreck as a training site from the second day, which is an extraordinary thing to see on an open-water course. Padang Bai has sheltered bays and easy boat access. Sanur is convenient if you are based in the south but the sites are less interesting. Nusa Lembongan is beautiful and the currents at the nearby Penida sites make it a poor place to be a total beginner. Pemuteran and Menjangan are calm, clear and quiet.
Choosing a school
Price varies by about thirty per cent and that is not where the difference lies. Ask: what is the student-to-instructor ratio, four is the maximum you want and two is better; is the equipment serviced and how old is it; how many dives are in confined water before the open-water dives; does the price include everything or are certification and material fees added at the end. Look at the compressor room and the rental gear. Read reviews for mentions of rushed sessions. A school that answers all of this readily is the one to book.
Practical notes
Do not book a course for the last days of your trip — you should not fly within eighteen to twenty-four hours of a dive, and a delayed session can compromise a flight. Complete the theory online before you arrive, which most agencies offer and which frees a whole day. Bring your own mask if you have one; a poorly fitting rental mask ruins a course. Declare any medical condition honestly on the form, because a dive centre that waves that through is telling you something. And take dive insurance; there is a chamber in Sanglah hospital, Denpasar.
Scuba Certification Courses at a glance
| Open water | 3–4 days, IDR 5m–7m all in |
|---|---|
| Advanced | 2 days, IDR 4m–6m |
| Try dive | IDR 900,000–1.5m for one supervised dive |
| Best training area | Tulamben and Amed — shore entry, calm, the Liberty |
| Ratio | Four students per instructor maximum; two is better |
| Flying | Wait 18–24 h after your last dive |