Exploration, Excitement, Experiences.  They’re what the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course is all about.  And no, you don’t have to be “advanced” to take it – it’s designed so you can go straight into it after the PADI Open Water Diver Course.  The Advanced Open Water Diver course helps you increase your confidence and build your scuba skills so you can become more comfortable in the water.  This is a great way to get more dives under your belt while continuing to learn under the supervision of your PADI Instructor.  This course builds on what you’ve learned and develops new capabilities by introducing you to new activities and new ways to have fun scuba diving.

 

You’ll hone your skills by completing five adventure dives that introduce you to:

• Underwater Navigation
• Deeper water diving (typically anywhere from 18-30 metres/ 60-100 feet)
• A sampler of three more Adventure Dives of your choice   

The Fun Part: Your Choice

One reason you’ll love the Advanced Open Water Diver course is that you and your instructor choose from 15 types of Adventure Dives to complete your course. You can try your hand at digital underwater photography, wreck diving, peak performance buoyancy, and much more.

• Get credit! Each Adventure Dive in the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course may credit toward the first dive of the corresponding PADI Specialty Diver course

Prerequisites

To take this course, you must be:

• A PADI Open Water Diver  (or qualifying certification from another training organization)
• 15 years old (12 for Junior Advanced Open Water Diver) 

What You Learn

The knowledge and skills you get in the Advanced Open Water Diver course vary with your interest and the adventures you have, but include:

 

• Practical aspects of deep diving
• Physiological effects of deeper scuba diving.
• More ways to use your underwater compass
• How to navigate using kick-cycles, visual landmarks and time
• How to better use your dive computer and Recreational Dive Planner (RDP)
• And much, much more, depending on the Adventure Dives you choose 

The Scuba Gear You Use

You use all the basic scuba gear including an underwater compass. Depending on which three adventure dives you pick, you may also try out underwater photography equipment, a dive light, lift bags, or other specialty gear.

 

The Learning Materials You Need
PADI’s Adventures in Diving Manual provides information on more than 16 types of specialty diving.  You’ll use it as a guidebook to improve your diving skills and prepare for new experiences and adventures.

 

Curious about night diving?  Flip to the night diving chapter.  Once you’ve previewed the skills, your instructor will guide you on your first night diving adventure.  Having trouble with underwater navigation?  Review the underwater navigation section then sign up for the Navigation Adventure Dive with your PADI Instructor.

 

Your Next Adventure
After you’ve tried a specialty in the Advanced Open Water Diver course, you’ll probably want to take the whole course and learn more:  deep diving, night diving, peak performance buoyancy, underwater nature study, underwater navigation, underwater photography, wreck diving.