PADI Advanced Open Water Course
The PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course is the next step in your dive education after your open water course.
Advanced Open Water Diver Course
During your training, you’ll become certified to dive to 30m with a workshop-style course in which you fine-tune your dive skills with your instructor.
Where the open water course is quite prescriptive, we teach this advanced scuba course as more of a workshop between you and your instructor. You’ll complete five ‘adventure dives’ with us. These are dives with a particular focus or secondary objective, such as independently navigating back to your starting point.
The Deep and Navigation adventure dives are mandatory. The other three adventure dives are up to you. You can decide these based on your interests or where you’d like to dive. Before you know it, all the pieces will come together to make you an advanced diver.
Course Outcomes
The Advanced Open Water course will give you the opportunity to:
- fine-tune the fundamental dive skills you learned in the open water course, and
- explore different areas of interest
- do your first deep dive (down to a maximum of 30m)
- work on your buoyancy navigation skills
Course Content
Knowledge Development
This takes around 5-6 hours and is best done in small sections.
You’ll learn about:
- Thinking Like a diver – improving your situational awareness
- Underwater Navigation
- Deep Diving
- Then, your choice of three adventure dives are Night Diving, Wreck Diving, Drift Diving, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Fish Identification, and Underwater Photography.
Choose your course based on your interests.
Deep Diving (mandatory dive)
More about this
Possible dive sites – anywhere (almost)
Once we know your dive style and air consumption rates, we do this dive on your second dive day. We’ll go to a maximum of 30m (shallower is also an option). Whilst deep diving is a vital part of diving, we need to have a specific reason or objective to do a deep dive, for example, to see a pygmy seahorse.
You’ll learn:
- How to look for gas narcosis symptoms in yourself and others
- How colour and no decompression limits change with depth and air consumption increases.
- Safe and slow ascent rates
Underwater Navigation (mandatory dive)
More about this
Learning to navigate around a dive site is a critical skill in becoming a more independent and advanced diver. With various tools and techniques available to us, it’s an excellent opportunity to practice navigation during all of your adventure dives. You’ll be challenged to navigate both horizontally and vertically throughout your course, primarily using the natural features of the reef and dive site.
You’ll learn:
- How to measure distance with your own kick cycles
- How to navigate more complex patterns using an underwater compass
- How to navigate using depth and the natural features of the dive site
Peak Performance Buoyancy
More about this
One of diving’s essential skills, we highly recommend including this in your
AOW course. Buoyancy is one of the most significant factors in determining your air consumption rate, so perfecting these skills will lead to longer more enjoyable dives.
Depending on where you’re at now, we’ll help you to:
- make sure you’re diving correctly weighted, including looking at trim and learning to rig a weight system
- learn to hover in different positions
- drill fine movements using breath
- explore different propulsion techniques
Underwater Photography
More about this
Possible dive sites – all except drift diving sites. Padang Bai is recommended.
Underwater photography equipment is becoming increasingly accessible for divers via traditional camera and housing setups, through to GoPros and depth-rated housings for many phones. Using a camera underwater requires technical knowledge, skill and excellent buoyancy to produce photos you’re happy with after your dives. And most importantly… practice, practice, practice!
You will learn:
- How to prepare and check an underwater camera for leaks
- Different settings and white balance options, including macro settings and composition
Drift Diving
More about this
Possible dive sites – Nusa Penida, Amed
We call this ‘lazy people’s diving’, where the goal is to move as little as possible and drift with the current. Amed and Penida are subject to sometimes strong tidal currents, making them the perfect spots to learn this incredible diving technique. Pass by stunning coral formations, turtles and hopefully some bigger stuff in the blue as you drift along the sloping reefs.
You will learn:
- How to perfect the balance between staying close to the reef without making contact
- How to plan a drift dive safely, taking into account current changes and surface traffic
- How to send up a safety marker at the end of a drift dive
Wreck Diving
More about this
Possible dive sites: Liberty Wreck, Tulamben
The Liberty Wreck is one of the most accessible WW2 wrecks in the world, lying only a few metres offshore. It’s a great introduction to
wreck diving, and has, like many wrecks, become an artificial reef over the past 80 years, attracting a myriad of sea life, which makes it well worth diving.
You will learn:
- Swim around the outside of a shipwreck
- Navigate independently back to your starting point
- Identify potential hazards and plan how to avoid them.
Night Diving
More about this
Possible dive sites – USAT Liberty Tulamben
Get to know a completely different side of the underwater world by doing your first night dive. Coral appears more vibrant (since you’re shining white light on them), big stuff starts hunting, and the macro life is incredible. We’ll typically descend at dusk, so you still have some ambient light, but it will become completely dark during your dive.
You will learn:
- How to use a torch and signal at night
- Night-time navigation and safety techniques
- Things to think about when diving a three-dimensional site at night (the wreck)
Fish Identification
More about this
Possible dive sites – all, Padang Bai is recommended
What was that blue fish? Learn to identify but, perhaps more importantly, understand the habitat of some of our favourite underwater friends. We love slowing down and watching the interactions between different marine life, as well as being able to confidently identify different species.
You will learn:
- Identify fish by family groups, attempt to identify different species
- Record fish and critter sightings, including understanding the different types of habitat many critters like.
- Draw diagrams to describe the characteristics of unfamiliar fish.
- Demonstrate appropriate dive practices when searching for and photographing marine life.
Choose your course based on your interests.
Tulamben – Night Diving
We dive the beautiful and iconic USAT Liberty wreck. It’s covered in coral and marine life and suitable for open water divers. Pick-up is around 6 a.m., and you’ll stay overnight in Tulamben after your night dive (accommodation is included).
Best paired with either Amed or Padang Bai on day two.
Adventure Dives
Day 1 – Tulamben – Wreck, Navigation and Night
Day 2 – Padang Bai/Amed – Deep and Peak Performance Buoyancy
Nusa Penida – Drift Diving
Best paired with either Tulamben or Padang Bai on day one.
Adventure Dives
Day 1 – Tulamben – Wreck and Navigation OR
Day 1 – Padang Bai – Fish ID/Underwater Photography and Navigation
Day 2 – Nusa Penida – Deep, Drift and Peak Performance Buoyancy
Tulamben Night Diving AND Nusa Penida Drift Diving
If you can’t decide between your first night dive and first drift dive and are okay with an early morning start, you can choose to do it all.
Day 1 – Tulamben – Wreck, Navigation and Night (overnight in Tulamben, 5 a.m. departure the following day)
Day 2 – Nusa Penida – Deep, Drift, Peak Performance Buoyancy
QUESTIONS?
What’s the actual certification?
What’s included?
Everything you need – transport (pick up and drop off at your hotel in Canggu), equipment rental including a dive computer, tanks and weights, boats, lunch, snacks, water, PADI elearning, certification and instructor.
Are there any prerequisites or tests?
They are:
Certified open water diver or equivalent
At least 12 years old.
In good general health (check out the medical form you’ll need to sign here)
You’ll also need to meet all of the performance requirements of the course and complete the knowledge development before you start your practical training.
What’s the estimated schedule?
Tulamben Night Dive (overnight stay)
- Day 1 – pick up around 6 a.m., travel to Tulamben; two dives and lunch; drop to your hotel. Pick up around 6 p.m. for your night dive; drop back to your hotel around 7:30 p.m.; overnight in Tulamben (standard accommodation with hot water and AC included)
- Day 2 – pick up around 7:30 a.m., travel to Padang Bai or Amed; two dives, lunch, return to Canggu around 5 p.m.
Nusa Penida & Tulamben (day trips)
- Day 1 – pick up around 6 a.m., travel to Tulamben, two dives and lunch; return to Canggu around 5 p.m.
- Day 2 – pick up around 6:30 a.m., travel to Sanur, take the speedboat to Nusa Penida, do three dives, and return to Canggu around 5 p.m.
Nusa Penida & Padang Bai (day trips)
- Day 1 – pick up around 6:30 a.m., travel to Padang Bai; two dives and lunch; return to Canggu around 4 p.m.
- Day 2 – pick up around 6:30 a.m., travel to Sanur, take the speedboat to Nusa Penida, do three dives, and return to Canggu around 5 p.m.
Tulamben & Nusa Penida (overnight stay, additional charges apply)
- Day 1 – pick up around 6 a.m., travel to Tulamben; two dives and lunch; drop to your hotel. Pick up around 6 p.m. for your night dive; drop back to your hotel around 7:30 p.m.; overnight in Tulamben (standard accommodation with hot water and AC included)
- Day 2 – pick up around 5:00 a.m., travel to Sanur, take the speedboat to Nusa Penida, do three dives, and return to Canggu around 5 p.m.
How many divers will be in the group?
How long does the elearning take?
Can I fly after diving?
How do I sign up?
How About?
Rescue Diver Course
Nitrox Specialty
Deep Specialty