PADI Courses — Teaching Philosophy
Taught throughout by PADI-certified instructors in small groups of up to 4 students. Our guiding principle, above everything else, is safe diving, safe diving, and safe diving again — so you can dive relaxed and dive comfortable, and open the door to the other 70% of the planet.
📅 Course Schedule (OW / AOW / OW+AOW)
Open Water Diver Course
- Confined water24 skills
- Open waterOpen Water Diver dives 1–3
- Open waterOpen Water Diver dive 4
- 4 open water dives2.5 days in total
💡 Note: theory sessions and exams are scheduled throughout the course.
Advanced Open Water Diver Course
- Open waterAdvanced Open Water dives 1–3
- Open waterAdvanced Open Water dives 4–5
- 5 open water dives1.5 days in total
💡 Note: theory sessions and exams are scheduled throughout the course.
Open Water Diver + Advanced Open Water Package
- Confined water24 skills
- Open waterOpen Water Diver dives 1–3
- Open waterOpen Water Diver dive 4 + Advanced Open Water dives 1–2
- Open waterAdvanced Open Water dives 3–5
- 9 open water dives4 days in total
💡 Note: theory sessions and exams are scheduled throughout the course.
💰 What’s included?
Instructor fees, course materials, full scuba equipment set, transfers between your hotel, the shop and the dive sites, insurance, and consumption tax.
🤷 Full Scuba Equipment
Tank, snorkel, fins, mask, weights, BCD, wetsuit, dive boots, weight belt, regulator set, dive computer
📖 Course Materials
Course materials are included in the price. We do not use E-learning, so there is no separate E-learning fee — the price on this page is the total price.
🚕 Transfers
Pickup at hotels along the route between Naha city center and Chatan (American Village). Shared transfers; your exact pickup time is confirmed the day before.
🎒 What do I need to bring?
- Swimsuit (please wear it in advance)
- Towel, sandals and a sun hat
⚠️ Prerequisites & Age
- Age: Open Water Diver — 10 years or older. Advanced Open Water — you must already hold an Open Water Diver certification and be 12 years or older.
- Water comfort: you do not need to be a strong swimmer, but you must be comfortable in the water. PADI requires Open Water Diver students to complete a 10-minute swim or float before open water dive 2, and to be assessed on a 200 m swim or 300 m snorkel before certification. You are here to learn to dive, not to learn to swim, so please honestly assess whether you can reach these requirements with coaching.
- Risk awareness: diving carries inherent risk and calls for the mindset and maturity to accept that risk yourself. Safe diving only happens when a responsible instructor and a responsible student work together.
- Age & depth limits: divers aged 10–14 receive a Junior Open Water Diver certification. Ages 10–11: maximum depth 12 m. From age 12: maximum depth 18 m. Ages 12–14, Open Water Diver: maximum depth 18 m; Advanced Open Water: maximum depth 21 m. From age 14: maximum depth 30 m.
- Flights and holiday planning: please allow at least 18 hours between your final dive and your flight. Because wind and sea conditions can change, we recommend allowing 5 days or more for the Open Water Diver course and 4 days for Advanced Open Water. If rough seas prevent us from finishing your course, you may complete the remaining training within 6 months.
📍 Meeting Point & Access
📍 Shop address: 沖縄県うるま市石川伊波1553−30 (searchable on Google Maps as “Oceaner Diving”)
🚌 Public transport: from Okinawa’s Route 58, take bus No. 120 or No. 20 to the Nakadomari bus stop, then walk 14 minutes to the shop.
🚕 Transfers: transfers are included throughout your course, with pickup at hotels along the route between Naha city center and Chatan (American Village).
💡 Transfers are shared with other guests and routes are adjusted accordingly, so we will confirm your exact pickup time the day before your course.
About Our Teaching
Oceaner Diving was founded in 2018 — just 92 years short of becoming a century-old shop. Our guiding principle, above everything else, is safe diving, safe diving, and safe diving again. Backed by seven years of professional diving experience, we do everything we can to help you dive relaxed and dive comfortable.
One. Every instructor you meet — whether briefing skills before the dive or teaching you in the water — is a PADI-certified instructor in current teaching status, covered by guest liability insurance, and able to teach in Chinese. Solid professional knowledge first, with your own language used throughout, so nothing is ever lost in translation.
Two. To deliver on relaxed, comfortable diving, we hold ourselves to the longest and most thorough pre-dive briefings in the industry. We walk you through every problem you might run into and show you exactly how to deal with it, weaving in plain-language explanations of the physics and physiology behind each skill — so you understand it in your head and can actually do it with your body.
Three. Let us settle the two questions we hear most often: “I can’t swim” and “I couldn’t get down last time.” Based on seven years of our own records, 99.9% of the divers we take out get down successfully; failures are rare, and almost always come down to someone giving up. And if you have already tried a Discover Scuba Diving experience and want to explore more of the underwater world, we would be honored to be the certifying instructor behind your certification.
It is our great good fortune. Oceaner Diving looks forward to diving with you.
Course Highlights · The Oceaner Advantage
🇻 Taught in Chinese · Small Groups
Instruction is fully in Chinese, in small groups (maximum 4 students per instructor). A private 1-on-1 VIP option is also available at 30% above the standard per-person price.
📖 Course Materials Included
Course materials are included in the price. Because we teach in Chinese, we do not use E-learning — so there is no separate E-learning fee to pay. The price shown on this page is the total price.
⌚ Free Dive Computer
A dive computer is provided free of charge for the entire course, so you start out the right way from day one.
🚕 Transfers Included
Transfers are included throughout your course, with pickup at hotels along the route between Naha city center and Chatan (American Village) — giving you far more choice of where to stay.
🌊 Course Dive Sites
Sites are chosen from the Blue Cave, Cape Manza, Sunabe and the Kerama Islands, based on the sea conditions during your course and on your training goals — so you get to experience both boat diving and shore diving.
🎓 Who We Take On
We only take students who genuinely want to learn dive theory and skills, who take diving seriously, and who want to build a real sense of safe diving.
🏊 Freshwater Pool for Confined Water
For the confined water portion of the Open Water Diver course, we guarantee a freshwater swimming pool — never an open-ocean shallows. It costs us more, and it buys you comfort and success.
📜 Rigor Is Our Standard
We will not send a student out the door who cannot use a dive computer, has never opened the manual, has no sense of safe diving, or does not know how to work out the right weights. We hope you agree that is how it should be.
Our Equipment
💨 Balanced Regulators
For a smooth, easy breath every time underwater. Serviced every year — we refuse to put leaking gear in your hands.
🧼 Mares Four-Line Fins
Mares four-line fins handle both flutter kicks and frog kicks with ease.
🤷 3MM / 5MM Wetsuits
We refuse to hand you a torn, worn-out wetsuit.
👁 GULL Masks
Shaped to fit Asian faces. Prescription masks are also available from 150 to 700 diopters, in 50-diopter steps (same correction in both lenses).
🧹 Brand-New Mouthpieces
If you would rather not use a mouthpiece someone else has used, we can provide a brand-new one (¥300 per piece).
The Oceaner Philosophy
Founded in 2018, Oceaner Diving is a dive shop with 92 years to go before its centenary. Our first and only benchmark is safety, safety, and safety again. With seven years of diving experience behind us, we aim to take you into a state of relaxed, comfortable diving.
Where do safety, relaxation and comfort come from?
- 1. Every briefing and every in-water session is led by a PADI-certified, currently-registered instructor who carries public liability insurance and communicates in Chinese. Professional knowledge delivered in your own language — zero communication gaps.
- 2. To deliver on relaxed, comfortable diving, we keep one of the longest and most detailed pre-dive briefings in the industry. We tell you every problem you might meet and exactly how to handle it, weaving in plain-language explanations of the principles so that you understand it in your body, not just your head.
- 3. The two questions we hear most: “I can’t swim” and “I couldn’t get down last time”. Backed by seven years of data, our in-water success rate is 99.9% — it rarely fails, unless you give up. Give us one chance to show you the Okinawan ocean and open the door to the other 70% of the planet. And if you have already tried Discover Scuba Diving and want to go further, we would be honoured to be the instructor who signs your certification.
Three lifetimes of luck. Oceaner Diving dives with you.
📷 Photos from the Field
What’s Included
💰 Instructor & Insurance
Chinese-speaking PADI instructor fee, public liability insurance and consumption tax are all included. No hidden on-site charges.
👓 Full Equipment
All necessary diving equipment is included in the price.
📷 Free Photos
Your instructor photographs the whole trip with an OLYMPUS TG-6/7. Download from the cloud afterwards, free of charge.
🚖 Hotel Transfer
Shared pick-up and drop-off along the Naha – Chatan American Village hotel strip (advance notice required).
Equipment provided
Optional Extras
🧹 Brand-new mouthpiece
¥300 each. All shared equipment is disinfected after every use, but a sealed new mouthpiece is available if you prefer.
🎬 DJI Action 4 rental
¥3,000 per unit. Shoot your own underwater video; we sanitise the housing after every rental.
📷 Cloud photo delivery
Instructor photos are uploaded to the cloud — download them free after your activity.
🏥 Medical Restrictions
For your health and safety, please do not book if any of the following apply to you:
- Middle ear or corneal surgery within the past 6 months
- Any history of lung injury, in particular spontaneous pneumothorax
- Severe obstructive pulmonary disease, e.g. chronic emphysema or severe asthma
- Congenital alveolar diverticula or pulmonary blebs
- History of epilepsy or convulsions
- Recurrent fainting of unknown cause
- Coronary artery disease, e.g. angina or a previous myocardial infarction
- Red blood cell disorders such as sickle-cell anaemia
- Insulin-dependent diabetes
- Long-term alcoholism or drug dependency
- Any surgery within the past 6 months
- Pregnancy
Booking Notes
- Flying after diving: leave at least 12 hours after a single dive and 18 hours after multiple dives before boarding a flight.
- Site changes: the dive site may be changed on the day for sea conditions, weather or safety. Thank you for your understanding.
- Contact & sizing: please leave a reachable contact (WeChat / WhatsApp / LINE / Kakao) plus each guest’s gender, height, weight and shoe size.
- Insurance scope: instructor liability insurance covers accidents during the dive itself. It does not cover injuries caused by the guest (e.g. concealing a medical condition, or slipping while boarding). Please arrange your own travel insurance.
🌱 Eco Guidelines
- Do not use shower gel or shampoo in the on-site showers.
- Do not wear chemical sunscreen in the water — it damages coral. Use reef-safe products.
- Never touch, stand on or collect coral and marine life. Take only photos, leave only bubbles.
Cancellation Policy
| When | Fee |
|---|---|
| More than 20 days before departure | Free rebooking or cancellation — 0% |
| 20 to 7 days before departure | 50% fee |
| Within 7 days of departure | 100% fee |
- No refund is given if you cannot join for personal reasons (period, fear of water and choosing to stay on the boat, no-show, wrong time, arriving more than 10 minutes late, etc.).
- A full refund is given for force majeure (weather, sea conditions, natural disaster, political situation, government order, aviation emergency, etc.).
- Please make sure your passport is valid for at least 6 months and that you hold a valid visa. Bookings cannot be changed, cancelled or refunded if you cannot join because of passport or visa problems.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is equipment rental included in the price? Are there hidden fees?
For snorkeling, Discover Scuba Diving and courses, all necessary equipment and photography are included. For Fun Dives the price is clearly shown with and without equipment rental (¥3,000/day). There are no hidden on-site charges.
I can’t swim. Can I still join?
Absolutely. Our in-water success rate is 99.9%. Your instructor will brief you thoroughly and stay with you the whole time. You only need to be comfortable in the water, not a strong swimmer.
Can you pick us up from our hotel?
Yes — shared transfers are included for hotels along the Naha to Chatan American Village route. Please tell us your hotel when booking; we confirm the pick-up time the day before.
What is your cancellation policy?
Free cancellation more than 7 days before the activity (20 days for courses), 50% from 7 to 3 days (20 to 7 days for courses), and 100% within 3 days (7 days for courses). Full refunds for force majeure.
How old do I need to be?
Snorkeling and DSD: 10 to 59. Guests under 12 need a parent or guardian to sign a consent form. PADI Open Water: 10 and above; Advanced Open Water: 12 and above with an Open Water certification.
Will the photos really be free?
Yes. Your instructor shoots with an OLYMPUS TG-6/7 throughout the activity and you get a cloud download link afterwards, at no extra cost.