Learning to Dive in Pulau Tioman: My PADI Open Water Course

In 2014, I flew to Pulau Tioman in Malaysia to face my fear of scuba diving and take my PADI Open Water course, officially the PADI Open Water Diver course, with B&J Diving in ABC Village. Here’s what learning to dive was actually like as an anxious, first-time diver, from my confined water pool sessions to my first ocean dives.

My PADI Open Water course in brief:

• Where: ABC (Air Batang), Pulau Tioman, Malaysia
• Dive school: B&J Diving, one of the bigger PADI dive centers on the island
• Course: PADI Open Water Diver certification, the core course every new diver starts with, covering academic work, confined water dives and four open water (ocean) dives
• Experience level: Complete beginner, not remotely a scuba diver yet, borderline terrified of any body of water deeper than a bathtub
• Why Tioman: I was already backpacking through Southeast Asia and decided it was time to face my fear head-on

A note on dates: I took this course in 2014, so the ferry, accommodation and pricing details below reflect my experience at the time and have very likely changed since. These days, PADI’s Open Water course usually pairs your in-water training with the online PADI Open Water eLearning course for the academic work, instead of working through a printed PADI Open Water Diver manual like I did. I feel old now that I’ve written that 🫠

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Why I Decided to Learn to Dive

I had written about my first close encounter with scuba diving off the shores of beautiful Koh Tao, Thailand. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that I would not in a million years try it for myself. The thought of letting myself deflate towards the bottom of the dark ocean sent shivers down my spine that clutched me at the ribs and left me panting for air. But somehow all that changed with my dive on Pulau Tioman.

A very anxious person by nature, I struggle for air well above sea level at the best of time, so having a pressurized whip cream canister and a sippy straw as my only air supply did not sound like a cool idea. Couple that with the fact that I am an overall well-rounded wimp — count me out of any extreme sport or anything involving heights, suspended walkways, speed, fast-moving water, or narrow spaces — and you can damn well assume that scuba diving and I were never meant to be.

But for some reason, my fear of diving kept nagging at me long after I left Koh Tao and got me in a perpetual state of questioning. With the lifestyle I had chosen for myself (leaving everything behind: a roof over my head, my friends and family, and a budding career to pursue backpacking full time at the ripe old age of 34, when everyone around me was getting settled into family life and prosperous careers), wasn’t the fear of the unknown what had been fuelling me for most of my adult life?

Yet, there I was, scared shitless and wondering if fear hadn’t become a hindrance rather than a motivator in my life. Was I getting in my own way? Or was that what getting older was supposed to feel like? Anais Nin once wrote that “life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage”, so seeing no other way out of this catch-22, I decided to grab the bull by the balls and signed up for a PADI Open Water course with B&J Diving in the little Kampung of ABC Chat in Pulau Tioman, Malaysia.

Either the bull loses its balls or I do, I thought. It felt like the first step towards a lot of new adventures I wasn’t ready to admit I wanted yet. And I so decided to take the PADI open water course.

Learning to Dive in ABC, Pulau Tioman

ABC was more than I could have hoped for. What I had read about Tioman and the fact that I would be arriving in the midst of Singapore National Day Holiday had left me thinking the place would be overdeveloped with resorts and overrun by Singaporean tourists, but it was thankfully neither. ABC is a quaint little one-street village by the sea with wooden bungalows sprinkled along the shore out of which I reckon I had picked the best one: a spacious chalet at a place called Bamboo Hill, high atop a cliff with amazing views over the sea at the far north of the town and a very lively jungle wildlife right next door. The room had the best bed I’ve seen in months, a kettle with an unlimited supply of tea and a hand towel in the bathroom.

A friggin hand towel! 🤩

Sure, getting to Tioman involved the rites of passage that are the godawful city of Mersing and the unpredictable and rather cramped ferry ride (it goes with the tide), but upon setting foot on the sandy shore of ABC, everything is quickly forgotten. With my traditional island getaway fruit stash in tow, I was ready to take on diving (and the bull’s balls) the next day.

I cannot recommend this local PADI dive shop enough if you are in this neck of the woods and wish to either take your PADI Open Water course or improve upon your existing skills. The owner, was great at working out the logistics before my arrival over emails despite the very busy time of year, and I was able to come and do my course on very short notice. Their accommodation was unfortunately fully booked, but this turned into somewhat of a blessing as I really enjoyed my stay at Bamboo Hill instead. B&J felt very homey, had safety as a top priority, small classes (we were 3), and a lovely crew of passionate divers to boot. They were mostly from the UK, which was cool; I love me a slice of Blighty wherever I go.

Taking My PADI Open Water Course

For some reason, the prospect of the boat dives was what made me the most nervous, having watched other divers disappear underwater before like some doomed extras in Titanic, never to be seen again, with tears in my eyes on an especially hormonal day. Fortunately, the first two open water certification dives with B&J were conducted from a pier, and this very much contributed to easing my nerves and leaving all my teary Titanic-filled nightmares behind.

And so the day came. Clutching my PADI Open Water Diver manual, my well-thumbed blue guidebook (its knowledge reviews and final exam looming ahead of me) in one clammy hand and a freshly mango picked on the walk there in the other, I walked into B&J feigning self-assurance to the best of my ability. A brief first morning of academic work in the B&J classroom, going through the required skills and medical conditions checklist with my instructor, and I was fast into my confined water sessions, trying out my personal gear in pool-like conditions, so fast in fact that my nerves forgot to come along.

Perhaps it was the fact that my PADI instructor James got me feeling very safe from the get-go, or was it all the Britishness around me? I think I was too busy drinking James’s every word to think of my own state of mind. He ran our instructor sessions like he had all the extra time in the world, letting me go at my own pace through my confined water skills instead of rushing me toward mastery of the skills. That head start in the pool made all the difference. Whatever it was, in the blink of an eye I was underwater with as much ease as one can have trying to get the hang of buoyancy skills for the first time with an alarming quantity of outlandish equipment on my back.

By the end of the confined water training, basic dive skills that had felt impossible on day one, clearing my mask, sharing air, controlling my buoyancy, started to feel like something close to muscle memory. Whether you’re one of the many open water students who start their confined water dives on a weekend or squeeze them into a weekday like I did, that’s completely normal. Nobody masters this stuff instantly.

My First Open Water Dive

The next morning, James announced that it was time for my first of four open water certification dives, out in the open ocean instead of the pool. That’s when it hit me, once I shushed that little voice inside me who briefly said ‘dafuq you doin man’ and followed the rope down to the bottom like a very brave and fearless gorl on my dive on Pulau Tioman. My first breath underwater, entirely through a regulator, in open water rather than a swimming pool, is a moment I still remember clearly. We stayed well within the training limits for a new diver, nowhere near maximum depth for a certified diver, but even at those depths, the underwater world completely rearranged what I thought I knew about fear.

That’s when I understood. How calm it was under the waves. How strange and magical and eerie and amazingly wonderful this underwater garden was. I spent most of that first dive on fish identification, pointing at anything that moved and hoping James could tell me what it was. And unlike snorkelling, where I just felt like a mere observer from above, I was now a visitor in my own right to this fabulous supernatural enchanted forest, in a body of water I’d spent weeks being afraid of. To this unexpectedly soothing place I never knew existed.

What My First Dive Taught Me

My fear of open water diving was based mostly on ignorance, and I am so so glad I took the leap and did my first dive on Pulau Tioman. I’m not saying that I’ll be jumping out of a plane tomorrow morning, but I’m feeling all sorts of amazing right now, and I want to high-five myself a little bit. So. Yay!

By the final step of the course, the last of my ocean training dives signed off in my logbook, I wasn’t the same nervous wreck who’d walked into B&J a few days earlier. Coming out the other end of the course as a certified diver, with an actual scuba certification card to prove it, felt like less of an end of the course and more like the start of a much longer story.

What Comes Next After Your PADI Open Water Course

If you’re wondering what the next step looks like after your PADI Open Water certification, here’s the short version. It’s the core course, but it’s really just a head start toward the next level. From here, most new divers work their way toward a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course, which throws you into adventure dives like deep diving and navigation and gets you a step closer to an advanced open water diver certification. Some people do it as a set of referral courses, splitting the academic work and confined water dives in one place and the open water certification dives somewhere else entirely, on actual dive trips.

Once you’re certified, the diving itself gets a lot more fun, literally. Fun dives, PADI’s term for the no-pressure recreational dives you do once you’re not being tested on anything, are where you actually get to enjoy the sport instead of white-knuckling your way through skills checks, ideally with a better dive buddy than my anxious 2014 self. Tioman has plenty of these among the best dive locations in Malaysia, and B&J, like most PADI dive resorts, runs regular boat trips out to them.

If it’s been a while since your last dive, PADI also has an online refresher, and a free ReActivate program if your skills have gone a little rusty, so you’re not stuck starting from zero again before your next dive. And if you’ve got a family member or a favorite ocean lover in your life who keeps talking about learning to dive, an Open Water course genuinely does make a perfect gift, one that outlasts pretty much anything else you could wrap up for them.

If you’re heading into the water on your own trip, please don’t forget your travel insurance. I’ve also put together a guide to reef-safe sunscreen for snorkeling and diving trips.

FAQs About Taking a PADI Open Water Course

Is the PADI Open Water course suitable for complete beginners?

Yes. I had never dived before, I was genuinely scared of the water, and I still passed. You don’t need prior experience, just a signed medical conditions statement confirming you’re fit to dive and, depending on your local PADI dive shop, a minimum age of around 10.

How hard is it to learn to scuba dive?

Physically, less than you’d think. The confined water sessions build your basic dive skills gradually and your instructor won’t rush you into anything. For me, the hardest part was entirely in my head, not in the water.

What does a PADI Open Water course actually cost?

This varies a lot by dive shop and country, so I won’t quote you a base price that’ll be outdated by the time you read this. Budget for the course itself, plus personal gear rental if you don’t own any, and sometimes an additional cost for your manual or eLearning access. Ask your local PADI dive shop about their upcoming class schedule and student discount options while you’re at it.

What’s the difference between confined water and open water dives?

Confined water dives happen in a swimming pool or somewhere with pool-like conditions, shallow, calm, controlled, so you can practice the required skills before doing it for real. Open water dives are the actual certification dives, in the ocean, a lake, or whatever body of water your dive shop uses.

Where did you take your PADI Open Water course?

I did mine with B&J Diving in ABC (Air Batang), Pulau Tioman, Malaysia. They’re still operating today as a PADI 5-star Career Development Centre.

Amélie

Amélie is a health and wellness junky. Certified yoga instructor with Yoga Alliance in the Vinyasa and Ashtanga styles, she has a Yoga Instructor Certification – Level I (300 hours) and Yoga Instructor Certification – Level II (200 hours) under her belt. She also has a certified Open Water Diver certification with PADI and SSI Scuba Schools International Freediving Level I certification with SSI Scuba Schools International. She’s been vegan for over 15 years and is obsessed with anything wellness-related.