The Advanced Open Water Diver course is all about advancing your skills. You'll practice navigation and buoyancy, try deep diving and make three specialty dives of your choosing (it's like a specialty sampler platter). For every specialty dive you complete, you can earn credit toward PADI^® specialty certifications.

Here are a few of the many options: Deep, Digital Underwater Photography, Dive Against Debris, Dry Suit, Enriched Air Nitrox, Fish Identification, Night, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Search & Recovery, Underwater Naturalist, Underwater Navigation, and Wreck Diver.

Check out the Frequently Asked Questions section for a complete list of specialty dive options.

The PADI® Rescue Diver course will change the way you dive – in the best possible way. Learn to identify and fix minor issues before they become big problems, gain a lot of confidence and have serious fun along the way.

Discover why countless divers say Rescue Diver is their favorite scuba course.

Enriched air, also known as nitrox or EANx, contains less nitrogen than regular air. Breathing less nitrogen means you can enjoy longer dives and shorter surface intervals. No wonder Enriched Air Diver is the most popular PADI® specialty.

During the PADI® Deep Diver course, you'll learn how to plan deep dives, manage your gas supply and how to identify and manage narcosis.

You'll learn about buddy contact procedures, safety considerations and buoyancy control at depth.

Be the scuba diver everyone wants to follow because you know where you are and where you're going. The PADI Underwater Navigator course fine-tunes your observation skills and teaches you to more accurately use your compass underwater. If you like challenges with big rewards, take this course and have fun finding your way.

Excellent buoyancy control is what defines skilled scuba divers. You've seen them underwater. They glide effortlessly, use less air and ascend, descend or hover almost as if by thought. They more easily observe aquatic life without disturbing their surroundings. You can achieve this, too. The PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy Specialty course improves the buoyancy skills you learned as a new diver and elevates them to the next level.

PADI (Junior) Open Water Divers or higher, who are at least 10 years old, are eligible to take the Peak Performance Buoyancy course.

Emergency First Response® primary and secondary care training teaches you what to do in the critical moments between when a life-threatening emergency occurs and when emergency medical services arrive.

Learn how to perform CPR, provide first aid that eases pain, assess a variety of injuries and illnesses and practice bandaging and splinting.

Whether purpose-sunk as an artificial reef for scuba divers, or lost as the result of an accident, wrecks are fascinating windows to the past. Ships, airplanes and even cars are fascinating to explore and usually teem with aquatic life. Each wreck dive offers a chance for discovery, potentially unlocking a mystery or spying something others have missed. The PADI Wreck Diver Specialty course is popular because it offers rewarding adventures while observing responsible wreck diving practices.

The thought of dipping below the surface at night seems mysterious, yet so alluring. Although you've been scuba diving at a site many times before, at night you drop into a whole new world and watch it come to life under the glow of your dive light. The scene changes as day creatures retire and nocturnal organisms emerge. If you've wondered what happens underwater after the sun goes down, sign up for the PADI Night Diver Specialty course.

PADI Search and Recovery Diver eLearning is a convenient way for student divers to complete the independent study portion of their Search and Recovery Diver specialty course from a laptop/desktop computer or mobile device. The best experience is to study online, however, if students find themselves without internet for periods (such as when commuting or traveling) or have inconsistent, poor internet services, they can download content to study offline via the PADI Training app. The PADI Training app is available for Apple® iOS devices and Android™ devices. It’s best if devices are no more than three generations old. Content can be downloaded in sections for download convenience with a total file size of approximately 186 MB. PADI Search and Recovery Diver eLearning provides the basic knowledge for swimming search patterns using your compass and natural navigation, using a lift bag for large or heavy objects, plus other recovery methods, along with the search and recovery diving safety concepts and procedures you’ll apply during the four required dives. PADI Search and Recovery Diver eLearning includes all of the required study materials for the Search and Recovery Diver course including: Content from the Search and Recovery Diving Manual Search and Recovery Diving Video All assessments (Knowledge Reviews, Exercise Questions, and eRecord)

In the PADI® Search and Recovery course, you’ll learn how to find lost objects underwater. You’ll practice different types of underwater search patterns and learn how to use a lift bag as you plan and execute mock search operations.

Don't miss a dive due to minor issues with your scuba diving equipment. Whether it's a missing o-ring, wetsuit tear or a broken fin strap, the PADI Equipment Specialist course teaches you to manage basic repairs and adjustments. You'll also learn more about how your gear works, making you more comfortable with it and better prepared to take care of your investment.

If you're at least 10 years old and certified as a PADI (Junior) Scuba Diver or higher, you can enroll in the Equipment Specialist course.

Knowing how and when to administer emergency oxygen is a valuable skill to have in a dive emergency. PADI® Emergency Oxygen Provider prepares you to offer aid and teaches you to recognize scuba diving injuries and illnesses requiring emergency oxygen.

This is an excellent course for scuba divers, boat crew, lifeguards, freedivers, mermaids or anyone who spends time in and around water. No age restrictions or water sessions required.
 

Make a difference on every dive by activating your inner citizen scientist. During the Dive Against Debris^® Diver Specialty course, you’ll learn how ocean plastic and trash cleanups not only keep your local dive sites healthier, but also how to contribute to a global database that documents our planet’s marine debris problem. Under the guidance of your instructor, you’ll participate in a Dive Against Debris survey and turn your passion for the underwater world into real action.

Join the PADI Torchbearer^™ movement of divers protecting our ocean planet and making every dive count.

Gain the skills and confidence to save the life of someone you care about.

After completing the Emergency First Response CPR & AED course, you’ll know how to aid someone who may be experiencing cardiac arrest with an AED (Automatic External Defibrillator), or by providing traditional or hands-only CPR.

Get the skills you need to confidently identify and respond to the most common childhood injuries and illnesses. Provide care that reduces the risk of further harm and gain valuable insights into the emotional aspects of caring for children.

Learn the special procedures for providing first aid and CPR to infants and children.

Learn how to lead underwater tours, assist with scuba classes and inspire others to care about the ocean. Hone your skills and be the diver everyone admires. 

PADI Divemaster is the most popular and most recognized professional scuba certification in the world. PADI Divemasters enjoy abundant career opportunities, get paid to scuba dive and share their love for the ocean. 

Make a difference for yourself and others by learning and applying tips to save the ocean. The PADI AWARE Specialty course equips you with tangible actions and opportunities to bring about positive ocean change.

Supported by PADI eLearning®, this course dismantles the barriers between diving and conservation, making responsible marine conservation accessible to all.

A portion of the proceeds from every PADI AWARE Foundation™ course funds AWARE’s critical conservation work to remove marine debris, secure protection for sharks & rays, expand marine protected areas, and support local grantees.

Try mermaiding and discover why it’s becoming a popular way to explore any underwater environment in this highly flexible, and brief program to see how you like it!

Learn basic mermaiding principles and focus on practicing skills in a pool or confined water site.

Learn basic mermaiding principles and focus on practicing skills in a pool or confined water site.

Expand your understanding of the physical properties of the underwater world and how they affect you as a mermaid, while learning additional routine, exhibition and problem-handling skills.

Your first step toward discovering why freediving is becoming a popular way to explore beneath the waves. No previous freediving course is required.

Designed to refine and improve your freediving skills, allowing you to progress slowly while learning how your body performs during apnea (suspension of breathing).

For advanced freedivers who want to approach elite freediving levels. You'll learn to bring your static apnea, dynamic apnea, free immersion, and constant weight skills to the next level.

If you’re new to boat diving or want to learn more about diving from different types of boats, enroll in the PADI^® Boat Diver course. 

During two dives with an instructor you’ll learn nautical terminology, boat diving etiquette and may practice using lines and/or deploy a surface marker buoy (SMB).