The process.

Ten, for a Junior Open Water certification — with shallower limits and me never more than an arm's length away. Younger kids can do pool-based bubble programmes if a trip has a mix of ages. Honestly? Kids are often the best students in the family. Less to unlearn.

You'll need to swim 200 metres — any stroke, no time limit — and float for ten minutes. If that sounds manageable but unglamorous, you're exactly average, and average is fine. If it sounds daunting, tell me early and we'll build water-comfort time into the design.

Everyone completes a standard medical questionnaire before we start. Most people sail through. If something flags — asthma history, medication, an old injury — a doctor signs off first. It's handled quietly during planning, not at the boat.

Then we don't dive, and that call is mine. Course designs carry slack days for exactly this, so a postponed morning usually costs nothing.

The destinations are chosen so that the answer is no — these are places worth being at the surface of. And a Discovery Dive is always on the table if curiosity wins. No pressure. It often does.

No — certifications don't expire, but comfort does. We start with an unhurried refresher day and see where you actually are, not where the card says. Most people are back within a day, surprised how much their body remembered.

No. Quality equipment is arranged as part of every course. If you're ready to buy your own, I'll advise honestly — including telling you what not to buy yet.

Very possibly yes — plenty of committed divers are hopeless sailors. Site selection matters (shore entries exist for a reason), timing matters, and the irony is that underwater is the one place the seasickness stops. We plan around it; you're not the first.

Yes — courses are built around your calendar, not the other way round. Theory at home, pool work on one trip, open water on the next. The design flexes; the standard doesn't.

With a month's notice or more, the day-rate portion of your deposit is refunded in full. Inside that window, it becomes a credit note toward an alternative date. The course fee — student kit, equipment hire, and certification processing — isn't refundable once submitted. If we cancel for weather, safety, or any reason of our own, you choose between a full refund and rescheduling at no extra cost. The full terms are on our refund policy page and in your booking confirmation.

I read it — personally, within 12 hours — and reply with honest first thoughts and a suggested next step. Usually that's a call. No automated sequence, no “our team,” no newsletter you didn't ask for.