Hey everyone,

I’m planning a trip to Fernando de Noronha and I’m trying to understand whether it’s actually a good place to get a PADI Open Water certification, or if it’s just a beautiful island with insanely inflated diving prices.

Here’s the situation:

I’m already a PADI Advanced diver (+ Nitrox + DPV), and my partner wants to do her Open Water. The problem is that Noronha has very few dive centers, and the ones we contacted are quoting $1,000–$1,200 USD for a basic OW course...

I get that Noronha is remote and protected, so higher prices are expected. But these numbers seem way outside the normal range, even for premium destinations.

So I’d love to hear from people who actually dove there or trained there:

  1. Is Noronha truly worth doing an Open Water course, or is it a waste compared to doing it elsewhere and saving the fun dives for Noronha?
  2. Are there any legit alternatives, hidden operators, or strategies to avoid paying $1.2k for an entry-level cert?
  3. For certified divers: did you feel the higher price tag was justified by the overall experience?

I’m not looking to cut corners on safety, just trying to figure out whether the pricing is aligned with the actual value, or if it’s just the “Noronha tax.”

Any insight or experience would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks in advance and safe diving! 🌊🤿

  • Never been there, but with respect to #1, I would always recommend doing your course locally, if possible. If you have more than one local dive shop option, you can more easily vet each one and choose accordingly. I’m not completely against doing courses while on vacation, but when I’m on vacation, I don’t want to spend it studying and training.

    Doing a referral style course is an option too—do the classroom and pool work locally, and then do the checkout dives while on holiday.

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  • Saving your post OP out of curiosity. I am looking into doing a short internship as a DM in Florianópolis next year after I get certified. I'm doing a DM course in Utila Honduras first in January. From what I gathered in the dive community it's one of the best locations economically speaking.

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