Plan Your Dive Week in Diani — Sample Itineraries | Scuba Duka
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Diver carrying her gear down the beach to the Scuba Duka boat

Planyour diveweek

Sixteen courses and nine kinds of trip is a lot to read through when all you want to know is what to do with the days you have.

SSI #RealDiving

Written by The Scuba Duka team · Reviewed by Ali, founder and Divemaster Instructor · October 2026

Diver making a back-roll entry from the Scuba Duka boat

Answer three questions and this page ends on one recommendation.

Question 01

How many days do you have?

Not how long your holiday is: how many mornings you can give to diving, after everything else in the trip.

Question 02

Have you dived before?

And if so, when. A certification from 2014 that has not been used since is a different starting point from one used last month.

Question 03

What do you want to leave with?

A certification, a wreck dive, better buoyancy, a day the family all enjoyed, or simply the feeling of having been underwater.

Find your row

One recommendation each, and one action. Everything else is optional reading.

One morning
Never dived

SSI Try Scuba

A supervised first breath underwater, finished on a shallow reef with an instructor beside you. It is not unusual for a guest who booked one session to come back the next day asking how to get certified.

Try Scuba
Two mornings
Never dived

SSI Basic Diver, or Try Scuba twice

More water time without committing to a full certification. The second session is where most people stop concentrating on the equipment and start looking at the reef.

Basic Diver
Three to four days
Never dived

SSI Open Water Diver

The certification that works anywhere in the world. Finish the digital theory before you fly and the days here are spent in the water rather than in a classroom.

Open Water Diver
One or two mornings
Certified, dived recently

Guided fun diving

Two dives, small group, site chosen on the morning from the conditions. If the wreck is on and your certification covers the depth, ask for it.

Fun diving
Any
Certified, over a year ago

Scuba Skills Update first

Half a day, no ego required. Skills fade faster than certifications expire, and the rest of the week is better for it. Then straight onto the reef.

Skills Update
Three or more days
Certified, want to improve

Perfect Buoyancy, then dives

The one specialty that improves every dive after it — and the one that most protects the reef you came to see. Four specialties and twenty-four dives builds towards Advanced.

Perfect Buoyancy
A full week
Certified and experienced

A planned diving week

Build-up dives first, the wreck and a Kisite full day when you are settled and the forecast suits, slack left for a rough morning, and the final dive scheduled around your flight.

Plan the week
Any
Mixed family or group

One private morning

Divers, learners and snorkellers on the same boat rather than four separate bookings. Nobody left on the beach, and the day ends when the youngest has had enough.

Family diving
Any
Not diving at all

Snorkelling or a kayak

The shallow reef is good snorkelling, and the lagoon is calm at the right tide.

Ocean experiences

Two rules that shape every week

Leave slack. A week with every morning booked has no room for a rough day. We plan a spare window on purpose.

Finish before you fly. Leave a proper surface interval before a flight. Send your departure time and we build the week backwards from it.

Still not sure?

Send the three answers in one message — days, experience, what you want to leave with — and we will come back with a plan rather than a catalogue.

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 Instructor

25+ years diving in Kenya and abroad. Born and raised in Diani Beach.

Kassim

Scuba Instructor

17+ years and 8,000+ logged dives, from Diani to Kisite Mpunguti. SSI and PADI certified.

Salim Swaleh
Scuba Instructor

4,000+ logged dives on Diani sites. Teaches SSI beginner to specialty courses.

Omari
Scuba Instructor

SSI and PADI Open Water Instructor, 1,000+ logged dives. Shoots underwater photo and video.

Sampuli
Dive Guide

Born and raised in Diani Beach. 100+ logged dives. Guides guest divers and runs equipment checks.

Michael
Dive Guide · Captain

20+ years scuba diving and captaining boats. Handles the boat and guides dives.

Meet the full team, with certification cards →
4.7 on Google144 reviews 4.9 on Tripadvisor186 reviews · Travellers’ Choice SSI Training Centerdivessi.com, centre no. 725540