SSI Scuba Explorer (ages 8–10)

Got a curious eight-, nine-, or ten-year-old? SSI Scuba Explorer is a half-day introduction built for them — calm, structured, and entirely about having fun underwater.

We replaced our older Scuba Rangers programme with Scuba Explorer because it does the same thing more simply: half a day, one instructor, no five-level paperwork. Kids walk away with an SSI recognition card and a story they’ll retell every dinner for a month.

Two ways to do it

• Pool only — 850,000 IDR. A 2-metre confined-water session at our centre. Perfect first taste for younger or more cautious kids. Your child learns to breathe underwater, clear a mask, and move along the bottom — all in waist-deep water their parents can stand in.

• Pool plus ocean — 1,350,000 IDR. The pool session above, then one short ocean dive on a shallow, calm site. Depth depends on age and comfort: 5 metres for eight- and nine-year-olds, up to 12 metres for ten-year-olds. Always one instructor per child, always close to the boat.

What’s included

• Pool session with a dedicated SSI Instructor
• All equipment scaled to your child’s size (mask, fins, BCD, regulator, tank, weights)
• SSI Scuba Explorer recognition card and progression log
• One instructor per child wherever possible
• The optional shallow ocean dive on the pool-and-ocean track

What to tell us before you book

Two things help us prepare: your child’s swimming ability (comfortable on their own, or still wearing a vest?) and whether they’ve ever snorkelled. We use both to decide whether to start in shallow water or jump straight into a full pool depth.

Looking for “PADI Bubblemaker” or kids’ diving?

You may have searched for “PADI Bubblemaker Gili Air” or “PADI Junior Open Water Gili Air”. We’ve moved fully to SSI certification — but our instructors hold both PADI and SSI ratings, and the kids’ programmes from both agencies are recognised interchangeably worldwide. Identical training, same depth limits, different paperwork. Bibi, our founder, was a PADI IDC Staff for many years before becoming an SSI Instructor Trainer in 2013; almost everyone on the team is dual-rated. Same dive, different card.