Learning to dive isn't difficult, but like any activity worth doing, it requires some time and effort. While taking the PADI Open Water Diver course , you'll enjoy three phases: Knowledge Development, Confined Water Dives and Open Water Dives.

1. Knowledge Development - This develops your familiarity with basic principles and procedures. You learn things like how pressure affects your body, how to choose the best gear and what to consider when planning dives.

You complete Knowledge Development on your own, reading each of five sections of the PADI Open Water Diver Manual and watching the corresponding section of the PADI Open Water Diver Video (which also previews skills you'll learn). If you like learning with a personal computer, you can also get the Open Water Diver Manual and Video together as a CD-ROM You briefly review what you studied in each section with your instructor and take a short quiz to be sure you're getting it. At the end of the course, you take an exam that makes sure you've got all the key concepts and ideas down.

2. Confined Water Dives - This is what it's all about - diving. You develop basic scuba skills in a pool or in a body of water with pool-like conditions. Here you'll learn everything from setting up your gear to how to easily get water out of your mask without surfacing. You'll also practice some emergency skills, like sharing air - just in case. Plus, you may play some games, make new friends and have a great time.

There are five confined water dives, with each building upon the previous. Over the course of these five dives, you attain the skills you need to dive in open water.

3. Open Water Dives - After your confined water dives, you and the new friends you've made continue learning during four open water dives with your PADI Instructor at a dive site. This is where you have fun putting it all together and fully experience the underwater adventure - at the beginner level, of course. You may make these dives near where you live or at a more exotic destination on holiday.

You'll be diving in less time than you think. Typically, you complete the PADI Open Water Diver course over anywhere from three or four days to six weeks, depending upon how frequently you meet with your instructor. PADI courses are performance-based, which means your instructor's interested in you learning to dive, not in how long you sit in a class. This means that you progress at your own pace - faster or slower depending upon the time you need to become a confident diver who dives regularly.