How a Scuba Refresher Course Works

If you haven't been diving in six months or more, it is easy for your skills to feel a little rusty. PADI recommends a refresher course to get you back in the water safely and comfortably. Let's look at how the PADI ReActivate program works.

Why Take a Refresher?

Scuba diving is a safe sport, but it requires specific skills and knowledge. Over time, we forget how to calculate our limits, how to assemble equipment, and how to handle emergency scenarios. A refresher builds your confidence so you can enjoy your next vacation dive instead of worrying about your skills.

Step 1: The Theory Review

Modern refreshers are highly efficient. You will start with an online digital review (PADI ReActivate eLearning) on your tablet or smartphone. You will go through various scenarios, answering questions on dive safety, dive planning, and equipment. If you answer correctly, you move on. If you miss a concept, the app reviews it with you. This saves you from sitting through long classroom lectures.

Step 2: Pool or Confined Water Session

Under the guidance of an instructor, you will head to a pool or shallow beach to practice hands-on skills:

• Equipment Setup: Refresh your memory on how to connect your regulator, BCD, and tank, and how to perform a pre-dive safety check (BWRAF).
• Buoyancy Control: Practice hovering, breathing control, and clearing a flooded mask or recovering a regulator.
• Emergency Skills: Practice out-of-air scenarios, sharing air with a buddy, and controlled emergency swimming ascents (CESA).

Step 3: The Open Water Dive (Optional but Recommended)

Once you have mastered the pool skills, you can add an optional open water dive. With your instructor by your side, you will explore a real dive site, practice buoyancy in a natural environment, and log a real dive to show future charter boats you are fully ReActivated!