Advanced Open Water Diver

Exploration, Excitement, Experiences

That’s what the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course is all about. You don’t have to be “advanced” to take it – it’s designed to advance your diving, so you can start right after earning your PADI Open Water Diver certification. The course helps build confidence and expand your scuba skills through different Adventure Dives. You try out different specialties while gaining experience under the supervision of your PADI Instructor. You log dives and develop capabilities as you find new ways to have fun scuba diving.

Get credit! Each Adventure Dive may credit toward the first dive of the corresponding PADI Specialty Diver Course. If you’ve already taken a specialty diver course, ask your instructor if you’ve earned credit for an Adventure Dive.

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

Thinking Like a Diver
Underwater Navigation
Deeper water diving (typically anywhere from 60-100 feet)
An introduction to 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 Boat Diving, Digital Underwater Imaging, Drift Diving, Night Diving, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Search and Recovery, Underwater Naturalist, Wreck Diving, and much more.

Who should take this course?

Any Open Water SCUBA Divers looking to explore new adventures in diving and improve your skills. Young divers may only participate in certain Adventures Dives – check with your PADI Instructor. If you’re already an Adventure Diver, you only need to complete two more Adventure Dives to earn the Advanced Open Water Diver certification.

What You Learn

You’ll plan your learning path with your instructor by choosing from a long list of Adventure Dives. There are two required dives – Deep and Underwater Navigation – and you choose the other three, for a total of five dives.

During the Deep Adventure Dive, you learn how to plan dives to deal with the physiological effects and challenges of deeper scuba diving. The Underwater Navigation Adventure Dive refines your compass navigation skills and helps you better navigate using kick-cycles, visual landmarks and time.

The other knowledge and skills you get vary with your interest and the adventures you have – photography, buoyancy control, fish identification, exploring wrecks and many more.

The Scuba Gear You Use

Beyond using basic scuba equipment, you’ll need a compass, SMB, and dive knife or dive cutting tool. You’ll also use specialized gear depending on the Adventure Dives you choose. For example, you’d obviously use a dry suit for the Dry Suit Adventure Dive or an underwater camera during the Digital Underwater Adventure Dive. We will explain the equipment that you need and may suggest additional gear, such as dive light for night diving or lift bag for search and recovery diving.

How can you start learning now?

We offer group and private lessons. To determine the best option for you, review our AOW Class Schedule and then stop by, call, contact us or sign up below to enroll in a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course. If our group class options do not work for your schedule, contact us about private lessons!

Your Next Adventure

After you've tried a specialty in the Advanced Open Water Diver course, you'll probably want to take the Specialty Course and learn more : Taste the fun and adventure

For more information about this or other PADI courses have a chat with one of the CALYPSO of TAMPA BAY Team members.

ADVANCED OPEN WATER DIVER Exploration, Excitement, Experiences