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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.

Learn more about PADI Specialty courses

Continuing-Education
Advanced Open Water Diver
Experience new adventures with an instructor by your side. Designed for novice divers who want to improve their skills.
Continuing-Education
Enriched Air (Nitrox) Diver
Nitrox helps you get more out of your scuba certification. Get nitrox certified in as little as one day.
Continuing-Education
Night Diver
See the underwater world in a whole new light - after the sun goes down.
Continuing-Education
Dive Against Debris
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.

 

 

Beginner
Emergency First Response Primary and Secondary Care
Gain the skills and knowledge that could save the life of someone you care about.
Continuing-Education
Rescue Diver
Improve your confidence and become a better dive buddy through fun role-playing and skill practice.
Continuing-Education
Public Safety Diver™
Gain the basic knowledge and experience needed to work as a public safety diver.
Continuing-Education
Emergency Oxygen Provider
Breathe easy with PADI® Emergency Oxygen Provider training. Learn how to administer emergency oxygen for scuba diving 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
Nitrox helps you get more out of your scuba certification. Get nitrox certified in as little as one day.
Continuing-Education
Digital Underwater Photographer
Capture underwater photos you’ll be proud to share. Learn pro tips that work with any camera.
Continuing-Education
Dry Suit Diver
Want to dive more places, more often? Learn drysuit diving.
Continuing-Education
Deep Diver
Extend your limits and see more of the underwater world.
Continuing-Education
Underwater Navigator
Tired of getting lost? Learn how to navigate underwater like a pro.
Continuing-Education
Peak Performance Buoyancy
Improve your buoyancy control, dive with less weight and improve air consumption.
Continuing-Education
Wreck Diver
Every wreck dive is an opportunity for adventure and new discoveries.
Continuing-Education
Night Diver
See the underwater world in a whole new light - after the sun goes down.
Continuing-Education
Search and Recovery Diver
Help recover lost items. Learn effective underwater search techniques and how to use a lift bag. 
Continuing-Education
Equipment Specialist
Learn how to make basic repairs and protect your equipment investment.
Continuing-Education
Diver Propulsion Vehicle
A DPV allows you to explore more of the underwater world in less time and conserve air. They’re also extremely fun!
Continuing-Education
Boat Diver
Learn boat diving etiquette, terminology and important do’s and don’ts.

 

 

Continuing-Education
Peak Performance Buoyancy
Improve your buoyancy control, dive with less weight and improve air consumption.
Continuing-Education
Underwater Navigator
Tired of getting lost? Learn how to navigate underwater like a pro.
Continuing-Education
Deep Diver
Extend your limits and see more of the underwater world.
Continuing-Education
Night Diver
See the underwater world in a whole new light - after the sun goes down.
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
Find out what it feels like to fly underwater. Gain the skills you need to dive confidently in a current.
Continuing-Education
Boat Diver
Learn boat diving etiquette, terminology and important do’s and don’ts.
Continuing-Education
Search and Recovery Diver
Help recover lost items. Learn effective underwater search techniques and how to use a lift bag. 
Continuing-Education
Sidemount Rec Diver
Don’t like wearing a heavy tank on your back? Sidemount diving is a comfortable, streamlined alternative.
Continuing-Education
Dry Suit Diver
Want to dive more places, more often? Learn drysuit diving.
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 in a whole new light - after the sun goes down.
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
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.
Beginner
PADI AWARE Specialty
PADI AWARE™ Specialty brings divers and ocean enthusiasts together to take action and protect the underwater world.
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
Capture underwater photos you’ll be proud to share. Learn pro tips that work with any camera.
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 for deeper connections

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
PADI Club ocean lovers

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
Education Master Scuba Diver Card

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
Divemaster

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
PADI Instructor

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.

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More Information

Your questions, answered

 

 
Does a PADI scuba certification expire?

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. 

 
Learning at home vs. on vacation

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. 

 
I don't feel ready to take Advanced Open Water...

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.

 
What is PADI ReActivate?

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.