PADI Open Water Course | East London, Essex & North Kent

PADI Open Water Diver Course in East London & Essex

Learn to scuba dive with small-group PADI training at our pool in Dagenham, East London, serving East London, South Essex and North Kent. You'll complete your open water dives at Vobster Quay or Stoney Cove, and your course includes dry suit certification, so you're trained for temperate-climate diving from the start.

PADI Open Water course at a glance

• Course fee: £599, or about £765 all-in with the required lake entry, dry suit rental, air fills and log book

• You'll earn: PADI Open Water Diver and PADI Dry Suit Diver certifications

• Start dates: courses can start most Wednesdays in 2027

• Experience needed: none

What you'll be able to do after the course

• Dive to 18 m anywhere in the world

• Hire kit and join dive trips and holidays with confidence

• Carry on to Advanced Open Water and specialty courses

  
  

PADI Open Water course prices

The course fee is £599. Lake entry, dry suit rental, air fills and a log book are all needed to complete your course, so we show the typical total up front.

Travel to the open water sites is not included. Enriched Air adds £151 to the course fee. It lets you make more of your time at depth, air supply permitting.

Prefer one-to-one? Training is £949 for all pool dives, or £1,499 for pool and open water dives. (Excludes Nitrox Option)

What your course fee includes

• PADI eLearning theory

• 5–6 weekly pool sessions, with up to six hours of pool time to reach mastery of each skill

• Four open water dives, plus a fifth dive for your Dry Suit certification

• All scuba equipment (dry suit rental is charged separately, above) and dive computer training

• PADI certification processing

  
  

How the PADI Open Water course works

1. Learn online. Complete your PADI eLearning at your own pace before the pool sessions start.

2. Pool training in Dagenham. Weekly sessions at Becontree Heath Leisure Centre, Althorne Way, Dagenham, RM10 7FH, on Wednesday evenings from 8pm to 10pm: an hour of theory, then an hour in the water, building core skills such as buoyancy control, breathing underwater and kit set-up. Selected Saturday sessions run from 5pm to 7pm, so contact us to confirm which Saturdays.

3. Open water weekend. Four qualifying dives, plus a fifth for your Dry Suit certification, at Vobster Quay or Stoney Cove. Lake entry is about £25 per day and travel is your own responsibility. See our Open Water training dates.

We can tailor the schedule around your availability where possible.

Learn to dive in temperate waters, with a dry suit

Diving in the UK means learning in temperate conditions, so dry suit training is part of your Open Water course, not an add-on for an additional fee. A dry suit keeps you dry and comfortable, and it is what our instructors wear. Don't be told a wet suit "will do" while the instructor dives in a dry suit.

Is the PADI Open Water course right for you?

• No diving experience is needed

• You must be able to swim 200 metres and tread water or float for 10 minutes

• You'll complete a self-declaration medical form. If you answer yes to any question, you'll need a doctor's sign-off before diving

• For the pool, bring swimwear and a towel. We provide the kit

  
  

Why learn to dive with Bespoke Scuba Diving

“We believe good dive training should produce capable divers, not just certification cards.”

• A PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Centre with an in-house PADI Course Director, the highest professional rating in the PADI system

• Training divers in East London and Essex for over 10 years

• Small groups, trained to mastery rather than to a stopwatch

  
  

PADI Open Water courses for East London, Essex and North Kent

Our pool at Becontree Heath is ideally placed for divers from Dagenham, Barking, Ilford, Romford, Hornchurch and Upminster. We also regularly train divers from Stratford, Brentwood and Basildon, and we welcome divers from Grays, Thurrock, Dartford and across North Kent. Find out more on our Find Us page.

What our Open Water students say

• edash80, on Tripadvisor (June 2026): went along alone, never having dived, and was taken “from nervous novice to a competent Scuba diver”.

• Jet815925, on Tripadvisor: after a Discover Scuba session, came back for the Open Water course and “couldn't choose better”.

• Connor B, on Tripadvisor: completed their Open Water Diver with us and was “blown away by the positive and welcoming atmosphere”.

Read more on Tripadvisor and Google.

What's next after your PADI Open Water Diver course

• Advanced Open Water and more courses: keep learning and dive deeper

• PADI specialities: extend your skills with specialty courses

• Membership: join the dive club

• Trips & holidays: dive abroad with us

• Dive travel insurance: cover for your dive trips

• Try diving: know someone who wants to try it first?

• PADI Instructor Development Course: go professional

  
  

Ready to start your PADI Open Water course?

Buy now, or reserve your place with a £175 deposit. Balances are paid off during the course, as agreed when you book. Questions first? Read our PADI Open Water Diver Frequently Asked Questions, contact us, or call 01708 837032.

Booking terms

All course bookings are subject to a 72-hour cancellation policy. Cancellations within this period are non-refundable. Performance requirements must be met to pass courses. If you can't complete the skills of a course, repeating the course or dive is at our discretion and an additional charge may apply.