PADI Specialty Courses Home / Education / PADI Specialty Courses Choose Your Own Adventure PADI Specialty Courses – many now available with digital learning – give you the tools to enhance your exploration. Discover your unique diving aptitude - deep diving, photography, videography, fish identification, etc. Can’t decide? Ask your instructor about Advanced Open Water. This course includes two core specialty dives and three specialty dives of your choosing. See Course Info PADI Specialty Courses Continuing Education Peak Performance Buoyancy Observe aquatic life without disturbing their surroundings. Improve the buoyancy skills you learned as a new diver and elevate them to the next level. Continuing Education Enriched Air Diver The most popular PADI specialty course. Scuba diving with enriched air nitrox gives you more no decompression time, especially on repetitive scuba dives. Continuing Education Underwater Navigator Fine-tune your underwater observation skills and learn to use your compass more accurately. This course may count towards college credit, ask your instructor. Continuing Education Deep Diver Explore deeper dive sites with confidence at depths down to 40 metres/130 ft. Learn to manage your gas supply, go over buddy contact procedures, and buoyancy control. Continuing Education Night Diver The underwater world changes as day creatures retire & nocturnal organisms emerge. If you've wondered what happens underwater after the sun goes down, enroll in the PADI Night Diver Specialty course. 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 Drift diving can be relaxing and exhilarating. The course teaches you how to enjoy going with the flow as you scuba dive down rivers and use ocean currents to glide along. Continuing Education Boat Diver This course helps you expand your knowledge about boats from small inflatables to large liveaboards. You'll gain experience scuba diving by completing two dives from a boat. Continuing Education Search and Recovery Diver Retrieve lost items that have fallen overboard or over a dock. Learn effective swimming patterns and using a lift bag for heavy objects. Continuing Education Sidemount Diver A sidemount configuration (scuba tanks alongside of the diver) offers more flexibility and better steamlining options. Learn about the many benefits of diving with a sidemount configuration. Continuing Education Dive Against Debris Specialty 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. All Specialty Courses Diving With Enriched Air Nitrox An enriched air nitrox certification allows you to extend your bottom time and enjoy shorter surface intervals, one of the many reasons it’s PADI’s most popular specialties. The course only takes a few hours and you can do most of it online. Learn More Master Diver PADI Master Scuba Diver™ rating is the highest level of recreational diving. It denotes significant experience and scuba training. Fewer than two percent of divers ever become Master Scuba Divers. Learn More More Information About PADI Specialty Courses Your questions, answered What PADI Specialty courses can I take online? You can start any of the PADI courses below online and complete your in-water training (if applicable) with a PADI Dive Shop or Instructor anywhere in the world.Boat DiverDeep DiverDigital Underwater PhotographerDiver Propulsion Vehicle (DPV)Drift DiverDry Suit DiverEnriched Air DiverEquipment SpecialistNight DiverPeak Performance BuoyancySearch and RecoveryUnderwater NavigatorWreck Diver Can I take multiple specialties at once? Yes! You can combine the dry suit or enriched air nitrox specialty with just about any other course. Read this article for more information and ideas. Do I need to buy special equipment to take a specialty? It depends. For courses like dry suit diver and underwater photography, your local dive shop may offer rentals, but it’s a good idea to contact them in advance. There’s also a big advantage to owning the equipment you’ll use during your training. For example, if you use a Brand X rental camera and then buy a Brand Y camera later on, you may have to teach yourself how to operate the Brand Y camera controls (white balance, f-stops) on your own. What specialty courses don’t require dives? Whether you’re landlocked, homebound, or just need to take a break from being in the water, there are ways to improve your diving knowledge and skills without getting wet. The Coral Reef Conservation, Emergency Oxygen Provider, Equipment Specialist, Enriched Air Nitrox, and Project AWARE specialties all have course options that don't require training dives. What if I haven’t been diving in awhile? PADI’s scuba refresher program (ReActivate) is a great way to brush up on scuba diving fundamentals. It’s recommended if you haven’t been diving in awhile, but not mandatory. 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. Keep Reading PADI Divers share tips and stories about taking specialty courses. 4 Reasons Nitrox Should Be Your Next Specialty Learn why people love diving with nitrox. Quiz: Which PADI Specialty Course Should You Take? Want to improve your knowledge and skills but aren’t sure where to start? Chart Your Own Path to Master Scuba Diver Create a custom program based on your interests and environment More Specialty Articles