4-day Padi Open Water Dive Course - Learn To Dive On The Great Barrier Reef

We had the most amazing experience completing our PADI Open Water course over the last four days! As complete beginners, we couldn't have asked for a better introduction to scuba diving. Everything was incredibly professional, and we felt safe and well looked after every step of the way. A huge thank you to our instructor, Frankie, who was simply the best! His calm, patient, and encouraging teaching style gave us so much confidence that we never felt scared underwater. He made every dive fun, enjoyable, and unforgettable. The whole crew, the group, and the time on the boat made this an experience we'll never forget. We absolutely loved every minute and would recommend this course to anyone thinking about learning to dive. Thank you, Frankie, we love you and miss you already!

We had an excellent experience completing our diving certification in Cairns. Our instructor, Frankie, was highly professional and very supportive throughout the course. We also enjoyed the days with our group. The boat was well equipped, and lunch was of good quality, with the opportunity to snorkel after the dives. Overall, we felt safe at all times, had a very fun experience, and would highly recommend it.

Francesco is a great instructor and even greater human being. I enjoyed this course even more than i expected and I am now fully addicted to Diving. Thank you for a amazing experience food was good and crew was nice. Please give Francesco a raise he deserves it.

From the friendly and approachable staff to the impressively-sized boat, all aspects of this Open Water Dive Course were an immense pleasure. My instructor Frankie was thorough in his teaching of practical techniques, with a particular focus on safety and fun. I can't recommend Down Under Cruise & Dive enough, and look forward to returning to them for future dives!

Really enjoyed the course especially when you go to the reef and scuba My instructer frankie was great easy to understand and really helpful Would highly recommend using this company

“Frankie’s kids” is the endearing term for students of instructor Francesco. I can absolutely confirm that Frankie took a watchful hands-on and reassuringly paternal approach to our dive training, with his skills and experience (and humour) ensuring we have the confidence to both enjoy and complete the 4-day course. I was particularly impressed with how my daughter was supported and encouraged throughout, as she was quite nervous of deep water. A fantastic experience and I highly recommend!

Simply put, if you want to go diving, this place is IT. I did The open water course, and it was incredible, franki (our teacher) is The most amazing guy. With his knowledge and passion he made this a 4 day adventure for us.

Excellent!!!If I can give 50 starts review,I would.The best thing I did to myself was booking this course.I always have fear of deep water and just in four days I was able to dive down to 16 meters.I still can’t believe I did that.All this thanks to Frankie,he was amazing,helped me so much.I will never be able to put in words how grateful I am.Make yourself favor and book this course if you want to learn to dive or if you want to face your fear ( like me).Also,really cool to tell people,you leant to dive in Great Barrier Reef.I high recommend it.

The 4-day open water PADI dive course was one of the best experiences I've had. Every aspect of the course was extremely high quality and professional, from the gorgeous boat and reefs to the hospitality of the instructor. Frankie was incredibly accommodating and went out of his way to ensure we had the best time possible, and the places he took us diving were incredibly beautiful. The course was also extremely good value for money. Couldn't recommend this experience to anyone more!

All round amazing experience! Explored the Great Barrier Reef while also getting our PADI open water certification! 1. The first two days of practice and theory was well run with: - concise notes with digestable learning - practice dives with clear instructions and tailored advice 2. The two days out at the reef were fabulous with: - Tours to fantastic dive locations at Saxon and North Hastings Reef - Friendly and helpful crew - Great spread of food on board - Saw an array of aquatic life, my favourite was the white tipped reef sharks and giant clams. 3. Franky who ran the course was Frankly amazing. Honestly made the experience so worthwhile with great knowledge, patience and banter. If you go, I hope you get Franky! Highly recommend! 5 Star!

I recently completed the PADI dive course with my 15 year old son. The course was well-structured and provided a thorough understanding of diving essentials. Our instructor Frankie, was incredibly knowledgeable, patient, and supportive throughout the entire course. I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in diving – it exceeded all my expectations!

Learning how to dive with instructor Francesco and the team at Downunder Cruise and Dive was the best choice I could have made. The first two days consist of theory and exercises in the pool, day 3 and 4 are spent on the boat diving in two different beautiful reefs. I felt very comfortable and safe. The quality of the course is very high and the value for money compared to other providers is unbeatable in my opinion. The passion of the whole team and especially of Frankie is definitely transferred to the students and gives you unforgettable moments underwater. I highly recommend doing your Open Water Diver here. I had an amazing time and would always do it again.

We did our open water PADI course with down under dive. The 4 day course includes everything and more to become a great diver. Our amazing instructors Franky and Freddy did a great job teaching, finding the perfect mix of fun and engaging learning, while also maintaining a professional atmosphere. Even tough our two days out on the reef were accompanied with some very rough conditions, all the crew, Frankie and everyone else involved made the best of it and we had a lovely time. We leave Cairns with our certificate and a bag full of new great memories. Thanks Frankie and Freddie plus all of the crew for this unforgettable time! Robin&Alle

We had the most amazing time diving in the stunningly beautiful Great Barrier Reef. We were extremely lucky to get the most amazing teacher Frankie with 15+ years of experience. The theory part on the mornings of the first and the second day was extremely well structured, and he explained it all perfectly. He is also just a super fun person with great energy. During the dives he made us feel save the whole time. We practiced step by step what to do when something goes wrong to the point that I feel like we could master any problem on our own now. If you want to learn scuba diving I can't imagine a better way. Thank you so much!

Frankly is the most knowledgeable, funny, and entertaining instructor I could’ve imagined. the way he explains the open water course makes complicated topics simple, couldn’t have asked for a better instructor! the food on the boat was good but anything is good when you’re tired from a 45min dive the boat is beautiful and so is the reef. highly recommend!!!

Frankie was an amazing diving instructor! His expertise and teaching style made me feel perfectly prepared. The diving session with the team of five people was a great experience and we all had a lot of fun. I highly recommend Frankie and his team!

The dive course was just amazing! Franci was my dive instructor and I had the best time in the course, both during my dives and during the time on the boat and school. During the dives, we practiced some skills but spent most of the time exploring the Great Barrier Reef at two different locations. We saw dolphins, turtles, sharks, and soo many beautiful fish and corals. Franki knew all the good spots and we were able to get really close to sharks which was amazing. Apart from that, the theory lessons were really fun and the time on the boat was great. We could eat as much as we wanted (for free), snorkel (for free) or lay on the sun deck when we were not diving and got wine at the end of the trips. Moreover, the crew was so nice and helpful, the energy was amazing and there was a professional photographer capturing everything on board and in the water. It was by far the best thing I‘ve done while traveling Australia! 11/10 recommended!!!

Down Under Dives provided the experience of a lifetime. Frankie was incredibly knowledgeable, professional and passionate. He was was the best instructor I could imagine and made us feel incredibly lucky to learn under his expertise. All worries and fears disappeared the minute he put us in our gear. Couldn’t have asked for a better environment or instructor.

Best experience ever! I completed the PADI Open water course with Down under the cruise and I couldn't have made a better choice! In these 4 days I learned so many things about marine life and scuba diving. The course was interesting and super fun with a perfect mix of theory and practice. I especially enjoyed the 2 days on the ship that takes you to the Great Barrier Reef where I saw 2 small sharks, a huge turtle and so much more. I'm pretty sure there are many other good companies to get your PADI, but the reason why choosing Down under the Cruise is hands down the best choice is because of the instructor Francesco (Frankie), who really made a difference. He was professional but super fun and will go above and beyond to make sure your experience is exceptional. Thank you so much for this unforgettable experience! Rossella

My friend and I completed our open water course under the guidance of Frankie, and we couldn't have asked for a more exceptional instructor. Frankie's humor, patience, extensive diving experience, and genuine passion for the sport made him a fantastic teacher. Opting for in-person lessons over relying solely on eLearning was a wise choice, as Frankie's teaching was better than PADI's instructional videos. He made sure we truly understood each concept before progressing to the next. To ensure our comfort during our initial pool dives, he provided us with high-quality masks that were not available on the boat, and once on the boat, he picked the best masks out of what was available for us to use. On top of that, he surprised us with cheesecake to celebrate my friend's birthday, which happened to fall on the final day of the course. Initially I had some anxiety about diving, but Frankie's expertise and unwavering patience quickly helped me get over my fears. Thank you for making this an unforgettable experience Frankie!

My partner and I just completed the 4 day open water diver course and loved every moment of it! We had the best instructor, Frankie. He was very knowledgeable and patient. From my first dive in the pool on day one where I panicked once I got to the bottom and tried to go up to the top to the last day in the ocean where I was able to put everything Frankie tought me into action. Frankie taught us all of the safety techniques we needed to know to be able to successfully go out on a dive and then took us on the most amazing dive along the great barrier reef where we saw the all the little Nemo's living in their homes. This week has been one to remember for the rest of my life and tho I may never see Frankie again I owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude for showing me the beauty of the ocean. Thank you so much PADI and most of all Frankie!!

The most amazing experience, highly recommend! Our trainer Frankie was incredible! Patient, knowledgeable & engaging, we have made lifelong memories while learning great skills and seeing the most beautiful marine life. Thank you Frankie for an incredible course and the whole team on the boat who made it so much fun.

Awesome course! The dive master Franky was awesome! Always felt safe and good prepared! Equipment was modern and in perfect condition. Theory was well explained and practice was the first goal! Security and safety was important and practised well but not boring and didn’t make you feel scared. The two dives in the boat were awesome, beautiful, gorgeous reef and well guided dive brought us to the best spots! Loved down under five and will come back !

My 4 day PADI open water course was excellent, very well structured and delivered to us in a very easy manner. The instructor, Frankie, was exceptional, very informative and looked after us in the water and in the classroom very well. I always felt in complete control and safe at all times during the dives and learnt a huge amount in the classroom sessions in a short amount of time. The 2 boat trips to the reefs were well organised with great crew on board that were always looking for ways to help guests. The food provided was also lovely, there was definitely plenty of it! I would definitely recommend this course to anyone who would like to learn to dive, it is a great qualification and a once in a life time experience.

Amazing experience, had a great time, our teacher named Franky was a wonderful and passionate man full of knowledge of the reef, how to dive etc. The trips where at an exclusive professional boat (think the best boat in town). Big compliments to Franky and the rest of Down under diving company👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 def. Would recommend this one💪🏻💪🏻

My partner and I signed up to do the 4 day PADI open water course and after our days on the reef immediately signed up for the advanced. We had an amazing experience on the reef, it's like nothing you've ever seen before! Ryan Whiteman, our instructor, was so great. I felt very safe diving after all the training he'd done with us. He explained everything so well and took the time to show us techniques, especially if anyone struggled to get it first time. The small class sizes they have allowed everyone to get the attention they needed to learn to be a great diver. We signed up straight away to do the advanced course, where we learned even more dive skills to allow us to enjoy this activity more. If the other instructors are even half as good as Ryan, then you'll have a fantastic experience learning to dive with this company. The boat, Evolution, was one of the best run I've been on in Australia. Friendly and helpful staff may the journeys to and from the reef a dream and the food was delicious - steaks, seafood, loads of salads, and veggie burgers! I would recommend them to anyone who wants a great reef experience, for any experience level with diving or snorkeling!

Affordable 4 day padi course, way cheaper than others in the same area. Would recommend this company over others. Dive instructor mr. White is extremely patient and friendly even though when one is very slow in practical.

We passed our first PADI open water level in this center and I can only recommend it. So we spent 4 days with our instructor Franky who taught us everything in a good mood and with a lot of pedagogy. If you have any apprehensions about diving it will make you comfortable. Finally the last two days on the boat to implement what we learned are a pure treat!!