I did my PADI OWD course AND the advanced OWD at Meedhupparu 3 years ago. They will not let unqualified people do 'dives' The only thing you would be allowed to do is a free 'taster' and that is only to about 5m on the house reef. The OWD course only takes 3 to 4 days and is very relaxed, you only need to do about an hours studying in your own time, and the lessons are only about 2 hours tops. It is WELL worth doing the course. If you are lucky, your instructor will be Sascha, the dive base leader....... probably the best instructor in the world!

Cheers mate- that really is a great help!!! Did you pre-book the OW course before you went or did you book it when you arrived???? Our tour operator (Thomas Cook) is after £330 for the course but looking on the Internet the price on the island is $460....I would prefer to give my money direct to the island but not sure if the course would get prebooked up or exclude certian things????? One last thing- what is the structure of the OW course with regards to how many pool dives and how many ocean dives you get??? THANKS again for the help!

Jizzy, have done the OW course in Egypt and think the structure is the same worldwide. Have been to Lily Beach in the maldives and they also have a very good diving team (Ocean Pro), have attached their price list to look at. http://www.oceanpro-diveteam.com/angebote_preise/preisliste_lily.pdf

The 9 dives as mentioned in the list was split in Egypt as 4 pool, 5 Open Water.

With regard to booking the course, can you contact the dive school direct via e-mail ? They should be able to tell you the exact cost, as you sometimes need to add on the cost of the OW manual and also the cost of the certification once you pass.

Believe me once you've done it all the rest of your holidays will have to be in the warmer climes and with dive sites available.

Am back in Lily Beach in April and wanting to do the Advanced Open Water, but can't decide which of the dive options to do Wreck, Photo, Night etc. Anybody got tips about these ?

Sean

I emailed the resort directly and actually got a reply from Sascha- very helpful indeed and the cost of the course is £100 cheaper than booking via Thomas Cook!! He also gave me an itinerary- there the OW course is about 16hrs and you get 4 OW dives!! So doesn't look like my holiday is gonna be spent training and will be able to get my teeth into some proper diving!!! Whoa- can't wait! Thanks again for ya help guys!!!

jizzy, it normally takes 4-5 days to do the course, it depends on how well you do. Not only does it give you 4 OW dives (to 18m max), but it lets you explore the wonderful underwater world.
The way I did it though was to do the Scuba Diver course in Egypt first (first 3 sections of OWC). That allows you to go down to 12m with an instructor. Then I finished the last 2 sections in Velavaru just before Xmas. Bit more expensive that way though.
No competant dive shop would let you have a 10-dive package or go to 15m without the proper training and certification.

Sean, the wreck is a must. I would go for photo and drift too.

Sean,

The underwater navigator dive and the 'deep' dive (to approx 30m but no deeper) are compulsory. Then, I would highly recommend the night dive as one of the other 3. To see the 'nightshift' fish come out and the 'dayshift' fish sleeping in the small holes in the rocks and coral is amazing, along with the massive lobsters and the plankton that lights up when you wave your hand around! The Maldives must be one of THE best places to do a night dive. Other than that, all dives are boat dives and most are drift dives anyway! You may not be able to do a wreck dive if there isn't one in close proximity to Lily Beach (I will be at Vilamendhoo which is next door to Lily from Feb 7th), there is a wreck that they do dive at our islands, but they might not let you do it as part of the course. Do the course then do the wreck after. I agree with Everest, it is a 'must do'. As for the Photo, they may want you to pay extra for the kit! You will probably find though, as I said earlier, as all dives are boat and most are drift, they will just take you on a normal dive and count them as part of the 3. Good luck and have fun!

I concur - the night dives at Lily Beach are a real "must do". Personally I'd have a go at photo too - it will help considerably in the future if you do decide to try a bit of snapping !!

What about PPB (peak performance bouyancy!) - I think they ought to make this one mandatory as well. It's not especially onerous - in terms of the book work - makes good practical sense (although the padi video is as cringe-worthy as usual) and will make you into a better diver - which is, after all, what it is all about!!

Thanks very much, the Night Dive sounds a must so I'll opt for that one, think I'll do the photo as well, am in the process of trying to buy an underwater housing for my digital camera (hoping to get one in New York in February). Already have a reef master, but it's a bit cumbersome. Think I'll see how the land lies on the third until I get there, see what's available at the time. Can you tell me if you have to but more manuals as weel as another certificate for the AOW ?

You need the PADI "Adventures in Diving" manual which covers all the basic specialities and syllabus for AOW, knowledge reviews (same as in the OW) etc

Each speciality has it's own manual and video etc - but these are usually supplied by the course provider.

If you are planning on the night dive I would strongly recommend taking your own back up torch (BC pocket size is fine) as that way you know when the batteries were last used!!! I've done three night dives abroad in which I have experienced torch failure - the first time both my buddy and I lost our source of light simultaneously and from that point on if I'm not carrying my own main torch (which I don't very often as the weight is an issue for baggage allowance) I sure as **** make sure I know that the back up has some life in it!!!