For anyone looking to do the academic portion of the basic open water diver course online, be warned there are many bogus websites out there, such as onlinescubalessons.com, claiming they can provide a new diver with an academic referral which is good at any agency worldwide. This is false.

From PADI:

SPECIAL NOTICES:

Aquatrophics, USA — Please note that neither David Holt, Aquastrophics,

SDA (Scuba Divers of America), nor onlinescubalessons.

com have been PADI Members at any time. Please also note that

the academic program offered by these three entities is not valid

for PADI Open Water Diver referrals or certification. WRSTC

Posting April 3, 2006: “At a recent meeting, the members of the

Recreational Scuba Training Council (RSTC) determined it was

important to provide collective clarification regarding agency-neutral

online training programs. Over the past two or three years,

a number of websites not affiliated with a training agency have

launched online scuba-training programs. On these sites, the customer

is led to believe that all training agencies will accept these

programs to meet their academic requirements for scuba training.

This is not correct. Because of concerns about the educational

validity of these programs and the inability to monitor the quality

of education and services, as well as liability and insurance issues,

each RSTC member organization has independently determined

it cannot accept these non-affiliated training programs to meet its

academic requirements. Before customers sign up for any online

training program, they should first check with the retail store,

instructor or training agency they wish to receive certification

through to verify if that online program is acceptable for meeting

the training agency’s requirements.”

To legitimately complete the academics portion of the basic open water diver course, RSTC members PADI, SDI, SSI, and NAUI each offer an eLearning option which allows you to complete the academics using independent study, the results of which you then take to one of their respective dive centers or instructors who will review your exam results and prescriptively teach any topics which you have not fully grasped.

PADI eLearning

SSI Online Services

SDI Online Training

NAUI eLearning

Aaah! The theory portion online... I was wondering how you got certified online, images of waterproof wifi dongles in the bath came to mind...