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Whether you completed your PADI Open Water Diver course yesterday or a few holidays ago, the next step in continuing your scuba diving education is the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course (AOWD) – it opens up lots more diving possibilities and exciting new adventures.

Reasons to take the AOWD course include gaining experience under the watchful eye of a PADI Instructor, and improving your safety as a diver. You’ll learn how to safely plan and carry out dives to 30 metres – without this certification you will only be qualified to dive to 18 metres and if you choose to dive deeper than your certification allows, your insurance may be invalid should an accident occur. The advanced certification is a requirement for some destinations or specific dive sites and liveaboard holidays too. Another benefit that goes hand in hand with the experience gained is improved air consumption – as you become more comfortable underwater, you breathing slows to a more normal rate and you’ll notice your tank stays above 50 bar for longer.

The AOWD gives you the opportunity to sample different areas of diving – you choose 3 of the 5 required Adventure Dives depending on your interests. The five Adventure Dives include Deep and Navigation which are mandatory, and the other three can be chosen from the options available at the dive centre. Examples of the dives available with Prodivers include: Digital Underwater Photographer, Drift Diver, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Naturalist, Night Diver, Boat Diver.

eLearning allows you to complete the study section at home and will take about 6-8 hours then you complete the 5 dives with an instructor at the resort. The course is open to all Open Water Divers aged 12 and above. If you’d love to do the course but don’t want to spend too long away from your partner or family, you have the option to complete just 3 Adventure Dives and get certified as an Adventure Diver which can be credited towards the AOWD at a later date.

After completing the AOWD course, you can pursue any of the areas of diving you really enjoyed by taking a Specialty Course in that area. You may wish to gain a little more experience and then embark upon your Rescue Diver course, climbing the ladder all the way to the dizzy height of PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor.