Continue Your Adventure
Expand Your Horizons
Your Open Water Diver certification introduced you to a new realm of exploration and made you keenly aware that you've only just scratched the surface of the underwater world. Continue your scuba journey with The PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course.
Experience new adventures with a PADI Instructor by your side. Fine-tune your buoyancy skills, build confidence in your navigation abilities, and try new activities like wreck diving, night diving or underwater videography. An Advanced Open Water Diver certification also opens the door to dive sites deeper than 18m/60ft.
Advanced Open Water Diver (AOW)
Experience new adventures with an instructor, designed for novice divers who want to improve their skills.
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The Advanced Open Water Diver course is all about advancing your skills. You'll practice navigation and buoyancy, try deep diving and make three specialty dives of your choosing (it's like a specialty sampler platter). For every specialty dive you complete, you can earn credit toward PADI® specialty certifications.
Here are a few of the many options: Deep, Digital Underwater Photography, Dive Against Debris, Dry Suit, Enriched Air Nitrox, Fish Identification, Night, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Search & Recovery, Underwater Naturalist, Underwater Navigation, and Wreck Diver.
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Use scuba gear
Explore below 18m/60ft
Improve your buoyancy
Use a compass
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Prerequisites: Open Water Diver/Junior Open Water Diver (or qualifying certification)
Minimum age: 12 years or older
Depth: The maximum depth depends on your age, but maximum depth is up to 30 metres/100 feet
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Advanced Open Water Diver eLearning includes interactive lessons on 13 popular specialty dives: altitude, boat, digital underwater imaging, drift, dry suit, fish ID, night, buoyancy, search and recovery, underwater naturalist and wreck diving.
You'll study deep and navigation diving plus three specialties of your choosing.
eLearning time commitment: 6-8 hours
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The course includes five dives: a deep dive below 18m/60f, a navigation dive, and three specialty dives. Gain experience, build confidence and discover your diving abilities.
Enriched Air (Nitrox) Diver
Nitrox helps you get more out of your scuba certification. Get Nitrox certified in as little as on day.
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Enriched air, also known as nitrox or EANx, contains less nitrogen than regular air. Breathing less nitrogen means you can enjoy longer dives and shorter surface intervals. No wonder Enriched Air Diver is the most popular PADI® specialty.
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Dive with nitrox
Use an oxygen air analyzer
Set your dive computer
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Prerequisites: PADI Open Water Diver (or qualifying certification)
Minimum age: 12 years or older
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Online learning makes it easy to fit scuba lessons into a busy schedule. Complete the knowledge development section of your course whenever, wherever it's convenient for you.
Work at your own pace, online or offline, using a computer or mobile device. Connect with your instructor for inwater training, or whenever you have a question.
eLearning time commitment: 2-4 hours
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After finishing your independent online study, you'll learn how to analyze a tank, fill out an enriched air log, and set your dive computer for nitrox. There are one or two optional dives.
Improve your confidence and become a better dive buddy through fun role-playing and skill practice.
Rescue Diver
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The PADI® Rescue Diver course will change the way you dive – in the best possible way. Learn to identify and fix minor issues before they become big problems, gain a lot of confidence and have serious fun along the way.
Discover why countless divers say Rescue Diver is their favorite scuba course.
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Help other divers
Fix minor gear issues
Use an emergency oxygen kit
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Prerequisites: Adventure Diver/Junior Adventure Diver (or qualifying certification) with completed Underwater Navigation Dive; EFR Primary and Secondary Care training (or qualifying training) within 24 months
Minimum age: 12 years or older
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Online learning makes it easy to fit scuba lessons into a busy schedule. Complete the knowledge development section of your course whenever, wherever it's convenient for you.
Work at your own pace, online or offline, using a computer or mobile device. Connect with your instructor for inwater training, or whenever you have a question.
eLearning time commitment: 8-12 hours
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The water training sessions are serious fun. You'll practice handling scenarios such as a leg cramp and assisting a tired diver by role-playing with other students and your instructor.
Deep Diver
Extend your limits and see more of the underwater world.
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During the PADI® Deep Diver course, you'll learn how to plan deep dives, manage your gas supply and how to identify and manage narcosis.
You'll learn about buddy contact procedures, safety considerations and buoyancy control at depth.
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Manage your gas supply
Identify and deal with narcosis
Recognize your personal limits
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Prerequisites: PADI Adventure Diver (or qualifying certification)
Minimum age: 15 years or older
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PADI eLearning makes it easy to fit scuba lessons into a busy schedule. Complete the independent study part of your course whenever, wherever it's convenient for you.
Work at your own pace, online or offline, using a computer or mobile device. Connect with your instructor for inwater training, or whenever you have a question.
eLearning time commitment: 2-4 hours
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During four dives with our PADI Instructor, you'll practice descents, buoyancy and safety stops. Through hands-on exercises, you'll discover how deep dives affect color, physical objects and your brain.
Improve your buoyancy control, dive with less weight and improve air consumption.
Peak Performance Buoyancy
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Excellent buoyancy control is what defines skilled scuba divers. You've seen them underwater. They glide effortlessly, use less air and ascend, descend or hover almost as if by thought. They more easily observe aquatic life without disturbing their surroundings. You can achieve this, too. The PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy Specialty course improves the buoyancy skills you learned as a new diver and elevates them to the next level.
PADI (Junior) Open Water Divers or higher, who are at least 10 years old, are eligible to take the Peak Performance Buoyancy course.e scuba course.
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Achieve neutral buoyancy
Hover effortlessly
Use the right amount of weight
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Prerequisites: PADI (Junior) Open Water Diver (or qualifying entry-level certification)
Minimum age: 10 years or older
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PADI eLearning makes it easy to fit scuba lessons into a busy schedule. Complete the independent study part of your course whenever, wherever it’s convenient for you.
Work at your own pace, online or offline, using a computer or mobile device. Connect with your instructor for inwater training, or whenever you have a question.
eLearning time commitment: 2-4 hours
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Determine how much weight you need and where to place trim weights to streamline your body position. During two dives you’ll fine-tune your weighting during buoyancy checks and master neutral buoyancy with inwater practice.
Digital Underwater Photographer
Capture underwater photos you’ll be proud to share. Learn pro tips that work with any camera.
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During the PADI® Digital Underwater Photographer course, you’ll learn how to take underwater photos you’ll be proud to share with others.
Avoid beginner mistakes and shorten the learning curve with tips from the pros. Learn how to use underwater photography lights (strobes), avoid backscatter and enhance color.
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Use underwater strobes
Photograph marine life
Choose photo equipment
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Prerequisites: Certified diver / Jr. OW Diver (or qualifying certification)
Minimum age: 15 years or older
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PADI eLearning makes it easy to learn underwater photography fundamentals. Learn about composition, shooting angles, lighting and photographer etiquette.
Study at your own pace, online or offline, using a computer or mobile device. Connect with your instructor for inwater training, or whenever you have a question.
eLearning time commitment: 2-4 hours
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During two dives you’ll get hands-on experience taking photos with a compact camera or action camera (use your own or ask about rental). You’ll use the SEA (Shoot, Examine, Adjust) method for getting great shots.
Pay the ocean forward by helping clean it up on your next dive. Learn about the problems of marine debris, conducting Dive Against Debris surveys, and how divers are a part of the solution to keeping our oceans clean.
Dive Against Debris
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Make a difference on every dive by activating your inner citizen scientist. During the Dive Against Debris® Diver Specialty course, you’ll learn how ocean plastic and trash cleanups not only keep your local dive sites healthier, but also how to contribute to a global database that documents our planet’s marine debris problem. Under the guidance of your instructor, you’ll participate in a Dive Against Debris survey and turn your passion for the underwater world into real action.
Join the PADI Torchbearertm movement of divers protecting our ocean planet and making every dive count.
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Identify which objects should and shouldn’t be removed from the ocean
Conduct a survey: Sort, record and report the marine debris you collect
Contribute to PADI AWARE Foundation’s global database
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Prerequisites: PADI (Junior) Open Water Diver, PADI Freedivertm or PADI Advanced Mermaidtm (or qualifying certification)
Minimum age: 10
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PADI eLearning makes it easy to fit scuba lessons into your busy schedule. Complete the independent study part of your course whenever, wherever it's convenient for you.
Work at your own pace, online or offline, using a computer or mobile device. Connect with your instructor for in-water training, or whenever you have a question.
eLearning time commitment: 2-4 hours
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You'll plan and execute a dive with a buddy to remove underwater marine debris while demonstrating appropriate judgment as to which objects should and shouldn’t be removed from the ocean. After the dive, you’ll conduct a survey by recording and reporting your Dive Against Debris data.
Night Diver
See the underwater world in a whole new light - after the sun goes down.
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The thought of dipping below the surface at night seems mysterious, yet so alluring. Although you've been scuba diving at a site many times before, at night you drop into a whole new world and watch it come to life under the glow of your dive light. The scene changes as day creatures retire and nocturnal organisms emerge. If you've wondered what happens underwater after the sun goes down, sign up for the PADI Night Diver Specialty course.
PADI (Junior) Open Water Divers or higher, who are at least 12 years old, can enroll in the Night Diver specialty course.
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Navigate underwater at night
Make ascents and descents in the dark
Use your dive light for communication
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Prerequisites: PADI (Junior) Open Water Diver (or qualifying entry-level certification)
Minimum age: 12 years or older
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PADI eLearning makes it easy to fit scuba lessons into a busy schedule. Complete the independent study part of your course whenever, wherever it’s convenient for you.
Work at your own pace, online or offline, using a computer or mobile device. Connect with your instructor for inwater training, or whenever you have a question.
eLearning time commitment: 2-4 hours
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Practice underwater navigation at night and learn how to find entry and exit points in the dark. Your instructor will share night diving tips, teach you how to stay in contact with your buddy, and avoid disorientation.
Wreck Diver
Every wreck dive is an opportunity for adventure and new discoveries.
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Whether purpose-sunk as an artificial reef for scuba divers, or lost as the result of an accident, wrecks are fascinating windows to the past. Ships, airplanes and even cars are fascinating to explore and usually teem with aquatic life. Each wreck dive offers a chance for discovery, potentially unlocking a mystery or spying something others have missed. The PADI Wreck Diver Specialty course is popular because it offers rewarding adventures while observing responsible wreck diving practices.
If you're at least 15 years old and have earned a PADI Adventure Diver certification or higher, you can enroll in the Wreck Diver Specialty course.
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Survey a wreck
Use lines and reels
Avoid common problems
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Prerequisites: PADI Adventure Diver (or qualifying certification)
Minimum age: 15 years or older
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Complete the independent study part of your course whenever, wherever it’s convenient for you. Learn about different types of wrecks and common wreck diving hazards.
Work at your own pace, online or offline, using a computer or mobile device. Connect with your instructor for inwater training, or whenever you have a question.
eLearning time commitment: 2-4 hours
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During four dives with your instructor, you’ll survey and map a wreck, practice special finning techniques and may use penetration lines.
