Funchal: Scuba Diving Experience for Beginners

Recommended by 98% of travelers

Badge of Excellence

Madeira, Portugal

High interest

Booked 2 times today.

3 hours (approx.)
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Explore Madeira’s fascinating underwater world for the first time with this guided scuba diving excursion for beginners. Join your PADI-certified instructor and a small group of just eight to learn the basics of breathing and get comfortable with your gear in the safety of a pool. Then head out to the shallow private reef at Madeira Divepoint for a guided dive, marveling at colorful fish and coral for the first time just below the surface.

An ideal introduction to scuba diving for anyone 10 years and older
Pick up scuba diving basics with an initial orientation and pool dive
Dive with confidence accompanied by a certified instructor
Explore a shallow reef with tropical fish and coral formations

What's Included

Use of Scuba equipment

Use of SCUBA equipment
PADI Instructor
Safety and training session
Dive in the sea (when Ocean Dive option is selected)
Full Insurance

Hotel pickup and drop-off
Food and drinks

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Madeira Divepoint - Dive&Snorkel
Largo Antonio Nobre 1 Hotel Carlton, São Martinho, 9004-531 Funchal, Portugal
The dive center is inside the Pestana Carlton Hotel. Use the 2 elevators to go down to sea level to reach it.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Service animals allowed
Near public transportation
Not recommended for pregnant travelers

No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
Most travelers can participate
People with pre-existing medical conditions
Children under 10 years
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 8 travelers

Supplied by

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Featured review

Nataliia_P

I like the activity. Trainers are very helpful and friendly. We enjoyed. It was quite deep for the first time but it worked for me.

Reviews

4.9

based on 54 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Nice and excited

Nataliia_P, Sep 2025

I like the activity. Trainers are very helpful and friendly. We enjoyed. It was quite deep for the first time but it worked for me.

An incredible diving...

Gabor_S, Jul 2025

An incredible diving experience! The team is absolutely professional, and the instructors are true experts who make you feel safe and confident every step of the way. You'll be amazed by the variety of fish and marine life you encounter. Highly recommended!

Response from Host, Sep 2025

Thank you, this feedback means a lot to us!

Miguel is the best!

Becky_C, May 2025

This was my first scuba diving experience and Miguel did an amazing job. We started with a on land theory training about equipments and breathing and moved on to pool training. Breathing with mouth and a regulator was so different from breathing with noses and swimming. I had problem getting used to it at the beginning and miguel reassured me that i would be alright. And when we moved to the ocean dive, i panicked after some water leaked into my regulator and i inhaled/ swallowed some water through both noses and mouth. I didn’t know what to do at the time with a regulator in my mouth because my instinct was to cough but i didnt know how to cough in the water. I had to tell miguel and he brought me up back to the surface. He asked me what happened and calmed me down. We practiced again and i ended up being able to enjoy it more than i imagined. If it wasn’t for Miguel, i would have aborted the whole thing at the beginning. Miguel was the best! Highly recommended! PS. All equipments may not be brand new but they are clean. The experience took place in a hotel so the pool, showers and changing rooms were very clean. They even had hot water in the showers.

Response from Host, May 2025

Thank you Becky, We are happy to read this and will for sure pass it on to our colleague Hope to see you again someday Mark

Great experience

Jade_B, May 2025

Our instructor Miguel was very helpful and friendly - me and my partner were complete beginners and felt so safe. Great customer service, we booked the 2pm session at around 10.30am the same day and they phoned to say due to the bad weather the night before we could go tomorrow instead or a bit earlier for better visibility and we went over straight away and they did it for us. Highly recommend

Response from Host, May 2025

Thank you so much for your feedback, we are happy to hear you enjoyed it. We look forward meeting you sometime in future!

What a great time experience

Anthony_P, Dec 2024

Super friendly and sincerely patient. Explained everything thoroughly and showed me an experience I had never had before! Saw so many fish and octopus and everything else!

Disappointing and unsafe

Anna_S, Dec 2024

I have booked this experience as a gift for my partner as intro to scuba and this is their review: ''I went for a first time experience in scuba diving in Madeira late November. What to expect? We had a 30 mins “class room” introduction given by an experienced diver. He was really good and explained all that could go wrong and how to fix it. He explained about the ear adjustment under water and how they could get bruised if you don’t “pop” them often. You must go down slowly, meter by meter, to let the ears adjust. We then dressed up, put heavy weight on, got our bottle on and went into the pool. We were taught how to sink, how to position our legs, not to use our hands for swimming and few other techniques like mask filling with water or losing your regulator… It was 5 of us, all new to Scuba and 2 could not get the instructions right, they failed the initial test from the earlier brief and then they were not able to comprehend the exercises under water. A second instructor had to join us in the pool to let our instructor dedicate his time to this couple. It delayed the whole group and the instructors. Most of the attention was given to that couple not understanding any of the instructions which meant we were left on our own to practice. Eventually, after 1 hour we were told that we were all ready to go to sea. I was a bit baffled as I was still very insecure about using my buoyancy (inflate/deflate) and getting to swim around with all the equipment. I was even more shocked that this couple who clearly had no idea about theory nor practice, however basic, were even allowed into the ocean. Anyhow, we were out the pool walking to the sea. I was told to step into the sea, no idea what he meant but jumped and made a rather bad plunge, we were asked to swim around to get to a chain and hold on. We will be picked up 1 by 1 to go under. After a little while i was picked up and was lowered down. Immediately after the first 2-3 meters my ears were hurting so much I thought my head was going to explode. The instructor told me to pop my ears but it wouldn’t and the pain increased, if that was even possible. I told him I wanted up but he refused and asked me to pop more. It eventually worked, I felt better and happier, but as soon as I told him I was ok he very quickly dragged me further down too rapidly which immediately brought back the pain with a vengeance, I was in agony. I kept telling him I was not ok but he just carried on with the process until we finally reached the bottom and I was able to stabilise my ears popping them frequently. Under water was not great, the waves were strong which meant you can easily get sea sick, fortunately I was not. There is almost nothing to see under water other than a few fishes, one star fish, black stones, black sand and nothing else. Be aware there is no reef here. Water visability condition was also rather low. I was getting tired and my ears were not great. I was looking forward to end that event. We managed to get all back somehow alive. Both instructors were busy with that couple ‘manhandling’ them literally. It was a new experience which i enjoyed in the pool but none of us were ready to go further. You need more time and practice in the pool before being dragged in the Madeira non calm sea. I have now bruised ears and headaches. It will last few days and it made the flight back really unpleasant. I personally would not recommend this experience unless you stick to the pool''. And as from me, a certified scuba diver with 50+ dives - in short - this was by far the worst dive I have ever experienced (and I have even scuba in English lake!): 1. Theory prep was very well explained but should have ensured everyone understood. 2. I have never seen people being allowed into the sea with this amount of manhandling required compromising on other safety as well as enjoyment. If I was the operator I would simply offered partial refund or advised more practice in pool. 3. Diving spot with little to offer and just not worth it. In summary - AVOID

Aanrader

Arjan_V, Aug 2024

Goede instructie. Na een korte training uitgebreid in zee het rif verkend. Was leuk en leerzaam. We kregen ook instructie/uitleg over wat er te zien was.

wunderschön

Melissa_D, Feb 2024

super nettes team, angenehme menschen, ich hab mich direkt sehr sicher gefühlt. professionelle einweisung, einfach unglaublich tolles erlebnis beim ersten tauchgang schon so eine schöne unterwasserwelt erleben dürfen🫶🏻 must do auf madeira!!