Where to get your PADI certification on the Great Barrier Reef
How-to
By Sophia McMeekin
What better place to learn to dive than the Great Barrier Reef? Warm, clear waters, practically no current, and the pride that comes from knowing that you learnt to dive in the world’s best underwater playground. Glide among rays, dive through schools of colorful reef fish, and come face to face with a gentle turtle with the sound of your breath and the swell of the ocean in your ears. But choosing where to get your PADI certification on the Great Barrier Reef is another story.
The Reef is a big place (it’s larger than Italy), made up of almost 3,000 reefs and 300 coral cays, and the only living organism visible from space. So it pays to narrow down your ideal region before choosing a dive school.
Whether you’re planning a relaxed Great Barrier Reef holiday with a few dives in the mix, or you’re chasing the best diving in the world, there’s a Great Barrier Reef dive experience for you.
(And, did you know learning to dive here can help the reef, in more ways than one?)
Here are the best spots to get SSI certified or PADI certified on the Great Barrier Reef.
What will you see?
The best part of the Reef isn’t visible from space – or even from the beach. The magic of the Reef lies below the surface, where a vibrant community of marine life is waiting to meet you.
You’d do well to start with the Reef’s Great Eight. Including whales, manta rays, clownfish, potato cod, giant clams, maori wrasse, turtles and sharks, each is impressive to spot and fun to tick off, but they’re just a taster of the marine life you might encounter. Bumphead Parrot Fish roam like a herd of buffalo across the coral meadows; small, brightly coloured sea slugs slide along beside you; and schools of a thousand fusiliers whistle past on your dive.
How to get certified
Not all dive certifications are created equal. Before you enrol, make sure your course is the SSI (Scuba Schools International) or PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) Open Water Certification, which qualifies you to dive to 18 metres. Discover Scuba Diving (DSD), Try Diving and any Resort Dive Program might include basic theory, basic skills and an open water dive but do not lead to a qualification.
PADI certification is typically a four-day course, which includes one day of theory – either classroom or eLearning; one day in confined water (a swimming pool) learning and practising the skills of scuba diving, then four dives over two days in the open ocean practising the skills and enjoying the thrill of making some news friends on the reef in their natural environment.
Some schools allow you to do the theory by eLearning, making it a three-day course, while others allow you to tag on more dives at the end making it a five or six-day course and dive holiday.
The only prerequisite is a medical questionnaire and demonstrating basic swim skills. Download the questionnaire before you enrol and confirm you can tick all the boxes. If you have pre-existing health conditions it's important to seek medical advice from your doctor to determine if you're fit to dive.
Where to get PADI certified on the Great Barrier Reef
Southern Great Barrier Reef
Characterised by coral cays, the Southern Great Barrier Reef offers some of the best wildlife and the best diving you’ll see on the Reef, and is just four hours drive from Brisbane.
One of the largest of the cays, Lady Elliot Island has plenty of uncrowded, easily accessible dive locations and is known as one of the top spots in the world to view manta rays - over 100 manta rays have individually been identified by Project Manta.
Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort offers a PADI dive course spread over a full week so you can learn to dive and enjoy some free time, with a minimum of two dives a day and optional night dives. Catering to all experience levels, the dive shop has equipment for hire and all dives are escorted by professionals. With whale season, manta season and turtle season to experience, there’s plenty to see all year round.
Over on Great Keppel Island, Keppel Dive & Water Sports offers a wide range of certified diving, Discover Scuba and PADI courses. The experienced, local team will assist you in finding the right activity for you, and show you some of the best the Great Barrier Reef has to offer.
Home to one of the best dive sites in the world, with 20 dive sites within 5 to 15 minutes of the island, Heron Island offers plenty of marine life - but this is a paradise for turtle lovers. Not only do turtles nest and hatch on the island, a dive around Heron promises turtles in the water as well as some of the most pristine coral reef environments you’ll find anywhere. Heron Island Marine Centre offers a range of certified PADI dive courses for everyone from beginners to advanced divers - dive and stay at the resort right here for the perfect holiday.
The Whitsundays
Photo by @exploregroupaus
Head north to the Whitsundays and you’ll find continental islands with fringing coral reefs in sheltered bays – the perfect place to learn to dive. And the outer reef is just an hour away.
Dive amongst batfish, titan triggers and angelfish at Hardy Reef, home to popular feeding spot, the Reefworld Pontoon. A giant Queensland grouper lives under the pontoon, and turtles visit regularly.
If you’re staying at Airlie Beach, Whitsunday Dive Adventures offers SSI diver certification, and if you’re on Hamilton Island head to Explore Group’s storefront on the marina. With both, the training is local and the qualifying dives are on the outer reefs where you’ll meet at least half of the Great Eight.
Townsville and Magnetic Island
Both Townsville and nearby Magnetic Island have dive schools offering PADI dive certification and beautiful stretches of reef to explore.
Magnetic Island boasts some of the easiest shore diving, and the local shipwrecks mean the area is a mecca for fish. Dive boats often visit nearby Lodestone Reef, which has channels full of schooling fish, anemonefish, wobbegongs, and the chance to see a passing manta.
Townsville-based Remote Area Dive and the eco-certified Adrenalin Snorkel and Dive offer regular open water courses. On Magnetic Island itself, Pro Dive offers an open water course, and if you’re heading north to the peaceful coastal town of Mission Beach you’ll find Mission Beach Dive on your doorstep, literally – they’re only 100 metres from the beach.
Cairns and Port Douglas
When we think of the Great Barrier Reef, we think of Cairns. The outer reefs are about 90 minutes – and a world away – from this popular starting point.
On any of the reefs you can expect to see clownfish and giant clams, a reef shark or two, and each reef seems to have its own resident Maori wrasse that seems to welcome divers and snorkelers as they get off the day boats. The dive boats out of Port Douglas offer a similar experience on their local reefs.
Learn to dive with Pro Dive Cairns, Divers Den or Down Under Cruise and Dive. All offer PADI dive certification, and day trips (the first two also offer liveaboards) to complete your training. In Port Douglas, learn to dive with Blue Dive and visit the Agincourt Ribbon Reefs.
Where to from here?
Now that you're certified, what's next?
The Wild North is home to some of the most remote and spectacular diving on the Great Barrier Reef - including the famous Cod Hole, where divers usually come face-to-face with a dozen or so massive potato cod in a natural aquarium. A playground for advanced divers, this region typically explored on a liveaboard boat experience. If you want to be land-based, the only resort at the northernmost end of the Great Barrier Reef is Lizard Island - and there's spectacular dive sites to be explored in the surrounding islands and reef.
Get inspired to earn your SSI or PADI dive certification on the Great Barrier Reef and discover:
- Queensland dive sites rated the best in the world
- Enchanting shipwrecks you can dive
- Under the radar reefs to discover
- How to explore the reef with a Master Reef guide
