PADI Advanced Open water diver course
Take your diving to the next level with the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver Course. This course will focus on introducing you to different types of diving through adventure dives. You will take on 5 Adventure dives of including a navigation dive and a deep dive, then you will have the choice of 3 more Adventure dives that a suitable in your location.
Prerequisites
Course Overview
The PADI Advanced Open Water Diver Course is designed to prepare you for more challenging forms of diving. The course consists of 5 Adventure dives. However, i prefer to complete the course over 6 dives. The first dive of the course being a guided fun dive for us to get know each other and for me to assess your readiness for the coming dives.
Of the 5 Adventure dives, there are two of them that are mandatory. These are the deep dive and the navigation dive. These don’t have to be done in any particular order but must be completed as part of the course. You can choose the other three based on what is best for the location we are diving in and your personal interests.
Before embarking on the in water portions of the course you will complete a series of knowledge reviews for the dives that you will complete on the course. There is no exam on this course because you already know the fundamentals of diving from your PADI Open Water Diver Course.
Navigation Dive
Deep Dive
One of the most important skills you can learn and develop as you gain experience in scuba diving is navigation.
Before we enter the water to complete the dive, we will go through a knowledge review and practice using a compass on land. This will give you plenty of time to get your head around how the compass works.
The challenge for this dive is to complete a reciprocal heading and a full square pattern underwater. I will also help you with natural navigation techniques. Which is an equally important skill when scuba diving.
A deep dive requires a deeper understanding of the dive theory that you learn in the PADI Open Water Diver Course and more calculated planning. We will go through all of this together and then complete a nice steady descent to a maximum depth of 30 metres (98 feet). Once we arrive at our desired depth, we will look at how color is effected and how pressure affects an object.
After this we will compare our no decompression limits and begin our ascent. This is the main focus of the deep dive. Descending is the easy part. We will focus on how to safely ascend from depth.
Bouyancy Is Everything
One option for your remaining Adventure Dives is the Peak Performance Buoyancy Dive. It is probably the most important skill you can master. Although you should have mastered it already on your PADI Open Water Diver Course, It is vary rare that you will have things completely figured out. The PPB Adventure Dive will give you the opportunity to play with different kicking styles, breathing techniques and weighting to futher improve your buoyancy. This Adventure Dive is not mandatory but is highly recommended.
What Else Can You Do?
You can pick from any of the above adventure dives. All of these adventure dives are designed to give you and introduction into different types of diving you can take part in. After your adventure dive don’t expect to be an expert in any area. For example you aren’t going to be working for the police rescue team because you have taken a search and recovery adventure dive. They are designed to spark an interest for you to take part in more training should you find something you enjoy.
What Can I Do With This Certification?
Congratulations, you now have access to the 30 Metres (99 feet) of the underwater world. You can dive anywhere in the world using your certification and continue to build up your experience. You have the ability to dive deeper and in more challenging environments. I would personally recommend diving with a guide (i am available). Although you can in some areas, dive off your own accord with another certified diver.
You Are Responsible For Your Safety!
As a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver you are classed as an autonomous diver in the eyes of the international organization for standardization (ISO). Let’s focus on the word ‘autonomous’ for a second. As an Advanced Open Water Diver you will be responsible for your diving activities going forward.
Although you may have a guide with you most of the time they are responsible for showing you the best areas of a particular dive site. Your air supply, buddy contact and alertness to danger is still your job. I aim to leave you as a competent enough diver by the end of your course for you to make decisions for yourself based on keeping you and those around you safe.