Which try-scuba-diving session in Gran Canaria is worth booking for your first dive?
Updated October 7, 2026 · 9 min read
The short answer: for most first-timers, book Discover Scuba Diving with free transfers. It costs €89 per person, the group is limited to four, the page describes a dive of about 50 minutes to a maximum of 12 metres, and 163 reviews average 4.9 stars. If you want the most-reviewed option, hotel pickup from eight named southern towns, or instruction in French or Italian, the Try Scuba Diving for Beginners session is the same €89 with 4.8 stars from 487 reviews. And if a child under 12 is coming, the age limits differ so much between operators that you should read the section below before you pay anything.
See availability and prices for Discover Scuba Diving with free transfers
What a “try dive” actually is
It is not a course and it gives you no certificate. A discover or try dive is a supervised first dive: a short briefing, a few skills practised in shallow water (breathing from the regulator, clearing the mask), and then a guided dive with an instructor next to you. Three of the operators below name a PADI instructor, and one page, the two-hour session, describes itself as a PADI Discover Scuba Diving experience that can count toward the first PADI certification if you carry on. All five include the equipment and diving insurance, so you bring swimwear and a towel.
The numbers worth knowing are not the headline ones. Most pages sell three to four hours, but that is the whole outing: pickup, kit-up, briefing, practice, the dive, the drive back. One page says so openly. If you meet the instructor at the dive site instead of taking the pickup, the three hours shrink to about two. The time with a regulator in your mouth is a fraction of that, and travellers’ reviews put it between 20 and 50 minutes depending on the operator and on how fast you use your air.
The five compared
| Tour | Duration | From | Rating | best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discover Scuba Diving - Free Transfers | 4 hours | €89 per person | 4.9 (163) | most first-timers; groups of up to 4 |
| Try Scuba Diving for Beginners | 3 hours | €89 per person | 4.8 (487) | the most-reviewed; pickup from 8 named towns |
| Scuba Diving for Beginners | 2 hours | €90 per person | 4.8 (99) | the shortest; starts in Puerto Rico |
| Live an Adventure and Learn to Dive with an Expert | 4 hours | €85 per person | 4.5 (126) | the cheapest; lunch and photos included, children from 8 |
| Discover Scuba Diving Beginner Program | 4 hours | €99 per person | 4.5 (105) | groups of two; Mogán |
All prices are per person. None of the five is a boat dive; the pages describe dives from a beach, bay or harbour.
The first dive, one operator at a time
Leagues Ahead Diving, the free-transfer session. Complimentary pickup and drop-off is offered from anywhere in the south of the island, and the team gives you coffee at the dive centre before the drive to the site. The site is chosen on the day by the weather, usually Amadores or Tufia according to the page. The training on site takes about 30 minutes, and the dive itself about 50 minutes depending on air consumption, to a maximum depth of 12 metres. The group is limited to four. One honest caveat from the page: in high season it may take a larger group to the site and split it into two, in which case one half waits on the beach, usually around an hour. The tour is also weather dependent, and the operator says that on average it has to cancel about one week a year. Photos and videos can be bought at the centre. One recent review mentions being the only customer that day and getting a 1-on-1 dive, which is luck, not a promise.
Puerto Rico Diving, the most-reviewed one. A PADI instructor briefs you for 30 minutes, you practise in shallow water, and the itinerary then lists one hour for the dive. Be careful with that hour: it sits in a schedule that also includes practice, and a guest who dived on this tour wrote that they were underwater for about 20 to 30 minutes. The group is limited to eight. Pickup and drop-off are included from Arguineguín, Patalavaca, Puerto Rico, Puerto de Mogán, Platero, Taurito, La Playa de Mogán and Maspalomas; if you sleep anywhere else, the page says pickup is not included. Instruction is offered in English, French, Italian and Spanish, which is rare in this category. A GoPro can be rented for €20 per camera.
See availability and prices for Try Scuba Diving for Beginners
Blue Water Diving, the two-hour option. This is the compact one: a short theory part, confined-water practice and an open-water dive of up to 12 metres, all within a stated two hours. Group size is limited to eight, and the instructors speak English, Spanish and Ukrainian. Hotel pickup and drop-off are listed as included. The page also asks you to bring a charged smartphone and tells you that height, weight and shoe size are required for the equipment.
Zeusteam, the cheapest. The only one with lunch and water in the price, plus underwater pictures. It is also the shallowest: the description speaks of descending up to 6 metres in a protected beach bay, with a maximum of three people per instructor. Instruction is available in Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish. A parent’s review describes the instructor working one-on-one with their 12-year-old, which suggests it suits families with pre-teens. Its 4.5 stars are the joint lowest rating here, and one reviewer found the session a bit short.
Delphinus Diving School, the pair option. The page limits the group to two participants, with a meeting time of 9:30 a.m. at the dive centre and transfer by minivan or bus. Its list also shows individual mouthpieces at €4 and underwater photography at €34, which read as extras; confirm that when you book. At €99 it is the dearest of the five, and a reviewer who dived with it said they were underwater for 40 to 45 minutes.
Age, health and swimming: what each page says
Read these before you choose, because they decide the choice for many families.
- Under 8 excluded: Zeusteam.
- At least 10 years old: Blue Water Diving and Delphinus Diving School. Puerto Rico Diving excludes children under 10.
- Under 12 excluded: Leagues Ahead. Its list also excludes people over 70 and people over 130 kg.
- At least 14: the Las Canteras session mentioned below.
Medical questions are a matter for your own doctor, not for a blog. What the pages say is this: the Puerto Rico Diving page requires a medical questionnaire before the dive, and says that conditions such as asthma, epilepsy, diabetes, high blood pressure, sinusitis or heart disease, or certain prescription medication, mean the operator will want a doctor’s permission. Its exclusion list also covers back problems, respiratory issues, recent surgery and pregnancy. Leagues Ahead lists back, heart, kidney, blood pressure and epilepsy conditions, a cold and a low level of fitness. Blue Water Diving mentions a short medical form, and Delphinus Diving School says to check with your doctor beforehand and bring a medical certification if needed. If you are unsure, ask your doctor before booking; the free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead is not a substitute for that.
On swimming: Puerto Rico Diving and Leagues Ahead both list non-swimmers as not suitable. Blue Water Diving asks that you be reasonably comfortable in the water. The other two (Zeusteam and Delphinus) pages do not say, so ask them.
One rule that applies to all of them: do not fly right after. Two of the pages give a minimum of 12 hours before a flight after a single dive, and a third says 18 hours, so plan the dive for early in your trip, not on the morning of departure.
Who should skip this
If you are not comfortable putting your face in the water, or you have a medical condition from the lists above, a try dive is the wrong booking and snorkelling is the gentler version; the snorkelling and diving category has it. If you are already certified and want to see more than a shallow bay, these are the wrong products: they are short, shallow, beginner dives. The boat dives from Puerto de Mogán and the certified courses in the same category are the ones to look at. For a first dive for a teenager, the Las Canteras session in Las Palmas sets 14 as its minimum age and requires at least two people to run; it is not one of the five above, but it is in the same category.
For the wider family picture, see Gran Canaria with kids. For other ways onto the water at any age, boat trips with children covers the minimum ages.
Our recommendation
For most people: Discover Scuba Diving - Free Transfers at €89 per person. It has the highest rating here (4.9 from 163 reviews), a group of at most four, and a stated dive time of about 50 minutes. You are at least 12, under 70 and not over 130 kg, can swim, and have no condition on its list.
If you speak French or Italian, or want the most-reviewed option: Try Scuba Diving for Beginners, also €89, with 487 reviews at 4.8 stars. Children from 10 are accepted.
For a child aged 10 or 11: Scuba Diving for Beginners at €90 per person, the two-hour session that accepts ages 10 and up. For a child aged 8 or 9, the Zeusteam session is the only one of the five whose page excludes only under-8s; confirm the details with the operator first.
For the lowest price: Zeusteam at €85, which includes lunch and photos, but with 4.5 stars.
