Continue Your Adventure

Reach new depths and take your diving to the next level with peak performance buoyancy, improved underwater navigation and extended bottom times.

Advanced Open Water All Courses for Divers

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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.

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Find Your Next Course

Dive deeper into blue planet exploration with advanced dive skills and specialty scuba certifications. Whether you want to expand your dive knowledge or experience a new scuba specialty, our courses will prepare you for underwater adventure.

Must-Haves
Safety Focus
Special Interests
Advanced Skills
Cold Water
Conservation
Photography
Discovery
Freediving
Technical Diving

Learn more about PADI Specialty courses

Continuing-Education

Advanced Open Water Diver

Take your dive skills to the next level. Practice navigation and buoyancy, try deep diving, and make three specialty dives of your choice.

Continuing-Education

Enriched Air (Nitrox) Diver

Extend your bottom time, shorten your surface intervals and dive deeper on repetitive dives.

Continuing-Education

Night Diver

See the underwater world after sundown and learn how to navigate, ascend and descend, and use your dive light to communicate at night.

Continuing-Education

Dive Against Debris

Become a citizen scientist and learn how to properly conduct an underwater survey and marine debris cleanups to keep your favorite dive sites clean.

Beginner

Emergency First Response Primary and Secondary Care

Learn CPR, how to provide first aid to ease pain, and how to assess and respond to injuries in the critical moments until medical help arrives.

Continuing-Education

Rescue Diver

Learn to identify and fix minor issues before they become problematic, respond to dive emergencies, and recognize and manage stress with other divers.

Continuing-Education

Public Safety Diver™

Gain the basic knowledge and experience needed to work as a public safety diver.

Continuing-Education

Emergency Oxygen Provider

Gain experience assembling an oxygen unit, and learn to identify when and how to administer oxygen and aid for diving and water-related injuries.

Continuing-Education

Adaptive Support Diver

Increase your awareness of divers' varying abilities, and explore adaptive techniques to apply while diving or freediving with a buddy with a disability.

Continuing-Education

Delayed Surface Marker Buoy (DSMB) Diver

Many divers wouldn't think of diving without carrying a delayed surface marker buoy (DSMB, and in some locations it's considered required safety equipment. Knowing how to properly deploy and manage a DSMB are valuable skills learned in this course.

Continuing-Education

Enriched Air (Nitrox) Diver

Extend your bottom time, shorten your surface intervals and dive deeper on repetitive dives.

Continuing-Education

Digital Underwater Photographer

Share your adventures and learn how to use underwater strobes, reduce backscatter, safely photograph marine life, and choose photo equipment.

Continuing-Education

Dry Suit Diver

Learn how to control the air in your drysuit, buoyancy, common drysuit problems, and basic repairs and maintenance in order to dive more places.

Continuing-Education

Deep Diver

Reach new depths, discover new dive sites, and learn about deep dive planning, dive limits and gas management.

Continuing-Education

Underwater Navigator

Find the boat without surfacing, learn how to use a diving compass, and improve your navigation and underwater observation skills.

Continuing-Education

Peak Performance Buoyancy

Find the perfect balance: Dive with less weight, and improve your buoyancy control and air consumption.

Continuing-Education

Wreck Diver

Learn how to survey and explore wrecks responsibly with special finning techniques, lines and reels, and avoid common problems.

Continuing-Education

Night Diver

See the underwater world after sundown and learn how to navigate, ascend and descend, and use your dive light to communicate at night.

Continuing-Education

Search and Recovery Diver

Help recover lost items, plan a search operation, improve your navigation skills, learn underwater search techniques and how to use a lift bag.

Continuing-Education

Equipment Specialist

Avoid missing dives and learn how to manage basic gear repairs, fix equipment problems, and clean, maintain and protect your equipment.

Continuing-Education

Diver Propulsion Vehicle

See more, conserve air, and learn how to manage your depth, avoid issues and travel faster with a DPV.

Continuing-Education

Boat Diver

Learn boat diving etiquette, terminology, how to properly stow gear, and potentially practice using lines or deploying a surface marker buoy (SMB).

Continuing-Education

Peak Performance Buoyancy

Find the perfect balance: Dive with less weight, and improve your buoyancy control and air consumption.

Continuing-Education

Underwater Navigator

Find the boat without surfacing, learn how to use a diving compass, and improve your navigation and underwater observation skills.

Continuing-Education

Deep Diver

Reach new depths, discover new dive sites, and learn about deep dive planning, dive limits and gas management.

Continuing-Education

Night Diver

See the underwater world after sundown and learn how to navigate, ascend and descend, and use your dive light to communicate at night.

Continuing-Education

Full Face Mask Diver

Diving with a full face mask allows you to breathe from your nose and mouth, and provides added comfort in colder water. The mask can also be fitted with communication gear, which can be useful for various types of specialty diving.

Continuing-Education

Self-Reliant Diver

Although diving with a buddy is the norm, there are reasons for an experienced diver to develop self-reliance and independence while diving. Learning to carry out dives without a partner can make you a stronger diver in most dive situations.

Continuing-Education

Drift Diver

Gain confidence diving in currents and practice buoyancy control, entries and descents, and using surface signaling equipment.

Continuing-Education

Boat Diver

Learn boat diving etiquette, terminology, how to properly stow gear, and potentially practice using lines or deploying a surface marker buoy (SMB).

Continuing-Education

Search and Recovery Diver

Help recover lost items, plan a search operation, improve your navigation skills, learn underwater search techniques and how to use a lift bag.

Continuing-Education

Sidemount Rec Diver

Learn a different scuba configuration and how to properly assemble and configure sidemount equipment, manage gas, trim your weight, and attach and remove cylinders.

Continuing-Education

Dry Suit Diver

Learn how to control the air in your drysuit, buoyancy, common drysuit problems, and basic repairs and maintenance in order to dive more places.

Continuing-Education

Ice Diver

Ice diving is one of the most adventurous scuba specialties. Learn the roles and responsibilities of support personnel, tenders and safety divers. See beauty few others ever experience.

Continuing-Education

Night Diver

See the underwater world after sundown and learn how to navigate, ascend and descend, and use your dive light to communicate at night.

Continuing-Education

Cavern Diver

Gain the knowledge and skills to explore caverns correctly and safely. This course guides you to enter far enough for adventure, but stay within the light zone for an easy exit to open water.

Continuing-Education

Underwater Naturalist

Get a better understanding about the local ecosystem and the differences between terrestrial and aquatic worlds. See new things, even in the most familiar dive sites.

Continuing-Education

Fish Identification

Enjoy dives even more when you can recognize and identify fish families and their characteristics.

Continuing-Education

Coral Reef Conservation

This course helps you appreciate the complexity of coral reef habitats and teaches how you can help conserve these vital systems.

Continuing-Education

Dive Against Debris

Become a citizen scientist and learn how to properly conduct an underwater survey and marine debris cleanups to keep your favorite dive sites clean.

Beginner

PADI AWARE Specialty

Learn 10 Tips to Save the Ocean, recognize ocean threats, take responsible underwater images, become an Eco-Tourist and develop a conservation plan.

Continuing-Education

AWARE Shark Conservation

Sharks are an essential part of a healthy ocean. This course explores why they are vulnerable, the importance of a healthy shark population, managing threats and how to take action to protect them.

Continuing-Education

Digital Underwater Photographer

Share your adventures and learn how to use underwater strobes, reduce backscatter, safely photograph marine life, and choose photo equipment.

Continuing-Education

Underwater Videographer

Capture the sights, sounds, and the dynamic motion of the underwater world as a videographer. Cover the fundamentals and create interesting, entertaining video worth watching again and again.

Continuing-Education

Self-Reliant Diver

Although diving with a buddy is the norm, there are reasons for an experienced diver to develop self-reliance and independence while diving. Learning to carry out dives without a partner can make you a stronger diver in most dive situations.

Continuing-Education

Fish Identification

Enjoy dives even more when you can recognize and identify fish families and their characteristics.

Continuing-Education

Discover Technical Diving

This short experience is designed to introduce divers to basic technical diving skills and procedures in a confined water setting. Discover Tec may credit toward the Tec Basics and Tec 40 Diver courses.

Continuing-Education

Discover Local Diving

Have an experienced dive professional help you understand a local dive environment so you can better enjoy the dive adventure.

Learn more about freediving or check out the available courses.

Beginner

Basic Freediver

Learn basic freediving principles and focus on practicing breathhold techniques in a pool or confined water site.

Beginner

Freediver

Your first step toward discovering why freediving is becoming a popular way to explore beneath the waves. No previous freediving course is required.

Continuing-Education

Advanced Freediver

Designed to refine and improve your freediving skills, allowing you to progress slowly while learning how your body performs during apnea (suspension of breathing).

Continuing-Education

Master Freediver

For advanced freedivers who want to approach elite freediving levels. You'll learn to bring your static apnea, dynamic apnea, free immersion and constant weight skills to the next level.

Professional

Freediver Instructor

Turn your freediving passion into a profession. This instructor course is for the avid freediver who spends a lot time thinking about freediving and sharing details of their latest adventures.

Learn more about tec diving or check out the available courses.

Continuing-Education

Discover Technical Diving

This short experience is designed to introduce divers to basic technical diving skills and procedures in a confined water setting. Discover Tec may credit toward the Tec Basics and Tec 40 Diver courses.

Continuing-Education

Tec 40 and Tec 40 Trimix

Consists of seven knowledge development sections, four practical application sessions and four training dives. Designed for the diver transitioning from recreational diving to technical diving.

Continuing-Education

Tec 45 and Tec 45 Trimix

Extend your depth limit to 45 metres/150 ft. Learn to plan and execute repetitive decompression dives using a single stage/decompression cylinder.

Continuing-Education

Tec 50 and Tec 50 Trimix

Make extended range dives up to 50 metres/165 ft. Learn how to make dives with multiple decompression stops, using two decompression gases.

Continuing-Education

Tec Trimix Diver

This course turns experienced tec divers into extreme divers. During this course, you'll make dives as deep as 90 metres/300 feet, use multigas trimix computers, & handle up to 4 stage/deco cylinders.

Continuing-Education

Tec Trimix 65

Extend your depth range the right way with a blend of helium, oxygen & nitrogen (trimix). The Tec Trimix 65 course introduces you to using trimix down to a maximum depth of 65 metres/210 feet.

Continuing-Education

Tec Sidemount

Wearing more than one tank has become increasingly popular for technical diving. With the Tec Sidemount Diver course you can apply what you learn to other TecRec courses.

Continuing-Education

Tec Gas Blender

Being a gas blender is a key job at a busy PADI Dive Center or Resort. This course teaches you how to blend enriched air nitrox and helium-based gases using one or more blending methods.

Continuing-Education

Discover Rebreather Program

Breathe without exhaling bubbles as a rebreather diver. You'll get longer no stop limits, learn to reuse the gas you exhale by recycling the good part and replenishing it for your next breath.

Continuing-Education

Rebreather Diver

Get longer no stop limits, reduced gas consumption (reuse most of your exhaled gas), & unmatched wildlife encounters because you don't release annoying bubbles.

Continuing-Education

Advanced Rebreather Diver

Dive in silence and train to dive as deep as 40 metres/130 feet. Learn about scrubbers, oxygen consumption and bailout requirements including how to configure a bailout cylinder system.

Continuing-Education

Tec 40 CCR

The Tec 40 CCR course is your entry into the tec diving realm. Learn the details of proper setup, predive checks, dive planning, failure and problem management and teamwork for CCR diving.

Continuing-Education

Tec 60 CCR

The next step in becoming a tec CCR diver. Learn to complete multiple decompression stops, manage life-support problems, and dive with trimix/heliox as a diluent. It's a considerable challenge.

Continuing-Education

Tec 100 CCR

Significantly more challenging than the Tec 60 CCR Diver course. You'll learn to plan and make dives with hypoxic trimix/heliox using a Type T (technical) CCR to a max depth of 100 metres/330 feet.

Diving is More Fun Together

Open the door to adventure for your family and friends. Share everything they need to know about becoming PADI® Open Water Diver-or gift the eLearning course to them! Live Unfiltered.

INVITE FRIENDS & FAMILY GIFT ELEARNING

Maintain Your Diver Status and Connect With Fellow Divers!

If you’re a diver, you’re in! PADI Club™ not only keeps you connected to the world’s largest dive community, but it’s a resource you can use to maintain your dive skills and become a more competent and prepared diver. Club is your place to Meetup with divers, ask Celebrity Speakers your questions, and chart your next dive adventure. Many divers are already doing this, are you?

Stay connected and keep an active diver status with free online courses, 20% off select PADI eLearning courses + invites to exclusive events, dive travel, Meetups, and more!

JOIN PADI CLUB TODAY

Need a quick refresher?

Haven’t been diving lately and want a quick scuba refresher? PADI ReActivate is the perfect way to update your dive skills and knowledge from the PADI Open Water Diver course before jumping back into the water.

Whether you want a few reminders or need to go over the basics, ReActivate ensures you’re prepared for your next PADI course or diving holiday. Brush up on scuba fundamentals using the interactive online program, then meet up with a PADI Professional to review your in-water skills.

Get ReActivate for free when you join PADI Club.

REFRESH MY SKILLS

PADI Master Scuba Diver™

Fewer than two percent of divers ever become Master Scuba Divers. The Master Scuba Diver rating denotes significant experience and expertise, some call it “the black belt of diving.

Learn More

Start Your Scuba Career

Continuing your dive education allows you to explore new places and deepen your knowledge of the ocean. Along the way, you may discover a passion for sharing your experiences and knowledge with others.

If you like helping people and want a meaningful job that supports ocean conservation, becoming a PADI Divemaster is the first step.

Learn More

More Information

Your questions, answered

Your PADI certification does not expire. Enrolling in PADI’s scuba refresher course (ReActivate) is recommended if you haven’t been diving in awhile, but not mandatory. Dive shops appreciate seeing a recent ReActivated date on your certification card because it means you’re ready to dive in.

Advanced Open Water, Rescue Diver and more than a dozen of PADI’s most popular specialty courses are available online. You can start your training at home and finish with a dive shop near you, or on vacation. The choice is up to you.

Earning a certification while traveling is a great way to have an authentic local diving experience. Ask the local dive center or resort what their destination is known for (drift, wreck, night, etc.) and if they offer any distinctive specialties.

Or, show your support for your local diving community by earning a certification close to home. Learn about your local ecosystems by taking an Underwater Naturalist or Fish Identification course, or prepare for your next trip by taking PADI’s most popular specialty - Enriched Air Nitrox.

More than 75 percent of new divers say they want to improve their scuba skills by taking additional classes, but fewer than 40 percent ever do so. When asked why, many say, “I didn’t feel ready.”

What these divers don’t realize is, the Advanced Open Water Diver course is designed to help new divers improve their skills and build confidence. In this course, you’ll get better at the skills you learned in your Open Water Diver course as you try new diving experiences (photography, wreck diving, etc.) with a helpful instructor by your side. If the word “advanced” seems intimidating, think of it as a specialty course sampler instead.

Speaking of specialties, many new divers get a lot out of the Peak Performance Buoyancy class and the Underwater Navigator course. You could try one or both of these specialties first, and earn credit towards your Advanced Open Water certification along the way. Ask your PADI Instructor for more information.

Any certified diver who would like to refresh their scuba skills before enrolling in a class or taking a dive trip should ReActivate. The online program is completely personalized. You’ll move quickly through familiar concepts you understand well and dive deeper into things you may have forgotten.

After reviewing scuba fundamentals online, schedule an in-water session with a PADI Professional who will help you brush up your underwater skills and answer any questions you have. Divers who complete both the online knowledge review and in-water skill refresher receive a replacement certification card with a ReActivated date on it.