Continue diving
PADI Advanced Open Water Diver
You’ve completed your PADI Open Water Diver course and now you’re hungry for your next fix of the underwater world.
PADI’s Advanced Open Water Diver certification is just the ticket, opening up previously off-limits areas to you on future dives. The PADI Advanced Open Water Duver course only takes two days – you just need to complete your Deep Adventure Dive and Underwater Navigation Dive, plus three additional Adventure Dives of your choice from a comprehensive list of 15.
These include exciting options such as Wreck Dive, Night Dive, Drysuit Dive, Enriched Air Dive and Diver Propulsion Vehicle. Best of all, each Adventure Dive can be credited toward the first dive of the corresponding PADI Specialty Diver course.
The ‘Advanced’ part of the course’s title is a bit of a misnomer – this certification course is not difficult or out of reach of your average PADI Open Water Diver, instead it is a natural progression for anyone wanting to expand their knowledge of scuba diving.
PADI Specialties
The PADI Specialty Diver courses have been designed to teach divers new skills, which will enable them to expand their diving horizons and improve their in-water abilities.
There are 25 Specialties to choose from, including Wreck Diver, Deep Diver, Enriched Air Diver, Night Diver, Drysuit Diver, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Boat Diver, Drift Diver, Digital Underwater Photographer and Cavern Diver, to name but a few.
For a full list of the Specialties available, and what each course entails, check out the PADI website.
PADI Rescue Diver
Rewarding and fun – that best describes the PADI Rescue Diver course.
This course will expand your knowledge and experience level – Rescue Divers learn to look beyond themselves and consider the safety and well-being of other divers. Although this course is serious, it is an enjoyable way to build your confidence.
To enrol on the complete PADI Rescue Diver course, you must be a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver and have documentation of successful completion of a sanctioned CPR and first-aid programme within the past 24 months.
The Emergency First Response Primary Care (CPR) and Secondary Care (First Aid) courses meet these requirements. As one of the foremost international CPR and first-aid training companies, Emergency First Response gives you the confidence to respond to medical emergencies, not just in the diving world, but in your everyday life too.
Emergency First Response courses encompass CPR and first-aid for adults, children and infants and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) training. Rescue Diver training will prepare you to prevent problems and, if necessary, manage dive emergencies. During the five open-water sessions, you’ll cover:
o Self-rescue and diver stress.
o AED and emergency oxygen delivery systems.
o Dive first aid.
o Swimming and non-swimming rescue techniques.
o Emergency management and equipment.
o Panicked diver response.
o Underwater problems.
o Missing diver procedures.
o Surfacing the unconscious diver.
o In-water rescue breathing protocols.
o Egress (exits).
o First-aid procedures for pressure-related accidents.
o Dive-accident scenarios.
If the Rescue Diver and EFR courses are done at the same time, you will be spending two days doing theory, completing the multiple-choice exam and scenarios in confined water, and then a further day running through scenarios in open water.
The Rescue Diver course is often considered the most-rewarding PADI dive-training course and, while it is extremely challenging, it is also a fun experience, and you will gain plenty of practical experience from the scenarios.
PADI Master Scuba Diver
As you can see, there is a natural progression after the PADI Open Water Diver course.
Now that you’ve got that under your belt, you can go on to be a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver, complete EFR and the PADI Rescue Diver course, be certified for five Specialties and then, after logging at least 50 dives, you will be able to get to the very pinnacle of recreational scuba diving – the PADI Master Scuba Diver.
The PADI Master Scuba Diver programme, as you can see, requires several courses and a number of dives. Consequently, the programme can take anything from several weeks to several years to complete. The pace of completion will be decided by you.
Many dive professionals view the PADI Master Scuba Diver certification as the ‘black belt’ of recreational scuba. It’s a programme that will enhance your scuba skills and knowledge and is the highest level a PADI recreational diver can reach, denoting superior achievement and proficiency. Become one of the privileged.
For more information on any of the above courses, visit the PADI website.
