Skip to content
Meet the full team, with certification cards →
SSIDive Guide
The first professional step: leading certified divers, evaluating sites, delivering briefings and managing groups to a professional standard.
In Diani it also means learning a coastline properly — its reefs, tides, entries and exits.
Written by The Scuba Duka team · Reviewed by Ali, founder and Divemaster Instructor · October 2026
Prerequisite
Advanced Open Water Diver · 40 logged dives totalling 25 hours
Sessions
5 academic · 4 confined · 5 open water
Maximum depth
30 m / 100 ft
Typical duration
5–7 days
Minimum age
18
Route
Verified with you before enrolment
Session counts, depths, ages and durations above are the public SSI programme figures. Your exact schedule, prerequisites and route are confirmed against current SSI standards, your instructor's ratings and the conditions of the week before your course begins.
What a candidate builds here
—Local site orientation and reef layout knowledge you cannot read in a book
—Tide and current interpretation, and entry and exit planning
—Briefing design — the difference between information and a briefing that works
—Group control with mixed-ability certified divers
—Emergency response, gas and equipment checks
—Marine-life interpretation, and respectful work with boat crews and local communities
The candidate portfolio
We ask candidates to build a record rather than simply accumulate hours: written site briefings, tide and current logs, a supervised site-evaluation record, equipment and gas-check procedures, a marine-life interpretation exercise, and observed leadership of real groups.
It is more work than the minimum. It is also the difference between a card and a professional.
Verification before enrolment
Before we accept a candidate we confirm current age and active-status requirements, certification and First Aid or Stress and Rescue prerequisites, logged-dive evidence, professional insurance, ratios and the exact published scope of the rating against current SSI professional standards. Public course pages are a planning document, not the standard.
Where you will train
The full local site list, in rotation, in varying conditions
Sites are chosen on the day for the conditions and for your stage of training, with a primary site, an alternate, and clear criteria for postponing. Tide, wind, visibility, current and entry condition are logged before every course day.
Before you arrive
Digital learning in MySSI
You create a MySSI profile, select The Scuba Duka as your Training Centre, and work through the digital materials on your phone at your own pace. Your training record, logged dives and certification card are kept in the app.
Medical disclaimer before you dive
A medical disclaimer forms part of the form you complete before diving. If anything on it applies to you, it goes to a physician — we are not doctors and will not clear you medically. Disclosures are kept confidential, and no schedule will be allowed to rush that.
What to bring
Swimwear, a towel and reef-safe sunscreen. Certification and logbook details if you already hold a qualification. Everything else — equipment, tanks, weights — is provided and fitted at the centre.
Two to four students
Small groups let the instructor watch your breathing, buoyancy and comfort, and repeat a skill until it feels easy.
Frequently asked questions
How many logged dives do I need?
The public SSI page states 40 logged dives totalling 25 hours. We verify the current requirement, and your evidence, before enrolment.
Can I do this on a two-week holiday?
Rarely well. This is a development programme measured in weeks of operating alongside the team, not days.
Does it lead to Divemaster?
Yes — Dive Guide is the step before Divemaster on the SSI professional route.
How much does it cost?
$945 per person, with the instructor, equipment, SSI digital materials and hotel pickup included. Certification and any park fees are confirmed at booking.
Where this sits in the pathway
Try Scuba→
Basic Diver→
Scuba Diver→
Open Water Diver→
Specialties & Advanced→
Stress & Rescue→
Dive Guide→
Divemaster
From the dive log
"Great time doing my SSI dive guide with Ali from Scuba Duka. Very knowledgable instructor and made the experience very enjoyable. Also the best price in the Diani area - great value." Salim, Kenya
We ask permission before quoting or photographing any guest, and we publish nothing without it.
Who you will dive with
Seven people run the centre, four of them born and raised in Diani Beach. Between the four instructors sit more than 13,000 logged dives on this stretch of the Indian Ocean. Two qualified dive guides, Sampuli and Captain Michael, guide dives alongside them.
Ali
Founder · Divemaster Instructor25+ years diving in Kenya and abroad. Born and raised in Diani Beach.
Kassim
Scuba Instructor17+ years and 8,000+ logged dives, from Diani to Kisite Mpunguti. SSI and PADI certified.
Salim Swaleh
Scuba Instructor4,000+ logged dives on Diani sites. Teaches SSI beginner to specialty courses.
Omari
Scuba InstructorSSI and PADI Open Water Instructor, 1,000+ logged dives. Shoots underwater photo and video.
Sampuli
Dive GuideBorn and raised in Diani Beach. 100+ logged dives. Guides guest divers and runs equipment checks.
Michael
Dive Guide · Captain20+ years scuba diving and captaining boats. Handles the boat and guides dives.
