Specialty Courses PDF Print E-mail

Specialty Courses


Advanced Open Water

Move up and experience real adventure with the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course. As you step beyond the PADI Open Water Diver level, you make five dives and have the opportunity to try some of diving’s most rewarding and useful specialty activities, such as deep diving, digital underwater photography, wreck diving and much more. These skills make diving much more than underwater sightseeing. Plus, the Advanced Open Water Diver course takes you one step closer to Master Scuba Diver – the ultimate non professional certification in recreational diving.

With your PADI Instructor you complete the deep and underwater navigation Adventure Dives. These dives boost your confidence as you build these foundational skills. Then, you choose three additional dives from more than 15 Adventure Dives to complete your course. You can go diving at night, check out the local wrecks in the area or even fly through the ocean on a diver propulsion vehicle – all during your PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course.
 

  • Must be a PADI Open Water Diver (or qualifying certification from another training organization) and 15 years old (12 for Junior Advanced Open Water Diver)
  • Number of dives: Five dives
  • Adventure Dive options include altitude diving, AWARE-fish identification, boat diving, deep diving, diver propulsion vehicle use, drift diving, dry suit diving, multilevel and computer diving, night diving, peak performance buoyancy, search and recovery, underwater nature study, underwater navigation, underwater photography, underwater videography and wreck diving
  • Each Adventure Dive in the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course may credit toward the first dive of the corresponding PADI Specialty Diver course
  • Materials: Adventures in Diving Crew-Pak, Adventures in Diving manual and video and logbook

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Rescue Diver

Challenging and rewarding 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 challenging, it is a rewarding way to build your confidence. Rescue Diver training will prepare you to prevent problems and, if necessary, manage dive emergencies. Many divers say this is the best course they’ve ever taken. You'll cover:

  • Self-rescue and diver stress
  • Emergency management and equipment
  • Panicked diver response
  • In-water rescue breathing protocols
  • Egress (exits)
  • Dive accident scenarios

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Master Scuba Diver

Join the best of the best in recreational scuba diving. Live the dive lifestyle and explore the underwater world like never before. Do it by becoming a PADI Master Scuba Diver – a rating that puts you in a class of distinction. You earn it by diving it, writing your ticket to endless adventure through the experience and training that set you apart as a PADI Master Scuba Diver.

With the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating, you've reached the highest non professional level in the PADI System of diver education. It means that you’ve acquired significant training and experience in a variety of dive environments.

  • Minimum Number of Logged Dives: 50
  • Minimum qualifications: PADI Rescue Diver or Junior Rescue Diver (or qualifying certification from another training organization), 12 years old, five PADI Specialty Diver certifications.

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Dive Master 

Your adventure into the professional levels of recreational diving begins with the PADI Divemaster program. Working closely with a PADI Instructor, in this program you expand your dive knowledge and hone your skills to the professional level. PADI Divemaster training develops your leadership abilities, qualifying you to supervise dive activities and assist instructors with student divers. 

During the PADI Divemaster program, you learn dive leadership skills through both classroom and independent study. You complete water skills and stamina exercises, as well as training exercises that stretch your ability to organize and solve problems. You put this knowledge into action through an internship or series of practical training exercises.

  • Knowledge Development: 12 topics ranging from dive theory to assisting student divers in training
  • Prerequisites: PADI Advanced Open Water Diver (or qualifying certification from another training organization), PADI Rescue Diver (or qualifying certification from another training organization), 20 logged dives, 18 years old.
  • Minimum Number of Logged Dives: 60 for certification as PADI Divemaster

Materials You’ll Need:

  •  PADI Divemaster Manual
  • Recreational Dive Planner (RDP) – all three versions (Table, Wheel and eRDP including associated Instructions for Use booklets)
  • The Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving
  • Diving Knowledge Workbook
  • Divemaster Slates
  • PADI Divemaster Video
  • Instructor Guides for the programs that may be conducted by PADI Divemasters.

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Project Aware/Coral Reef Conversation Specialist

The underwater world needs heroes. You can be one of them by championing the causes of the world’s most fragile and important aquatic ecosystems. Sign up for the Project AWARE Specialty course to learn about some of the most pressing problems facing these vulnerable environments and everyday actions you can take to help conserve them. It’s informative, interesting and most importantly, you learn how to make a difference.

Project AWARE Foundation is the dive industry’s leading nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving the aquatic environment through education, advocacy and action. Besides completing the Project AWARE Specialty course, you can become a partner in the efforts to preserve the underwater environment. Click here to find out how.

  • The ocean commons and coastal zone issues
  • Fisheries challenges and sustainability
  • Coral environment overview and inhabitants
  • the role of the diver in protecting aquatic environments
  • Materials: You’ll need AWARE: Our World, Our Water
  • Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.

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Underwater Naturalist

Are you fascinated with aquatic life? Always wondering what that fish is and why it always dances under a coral head whenever you get close? If you’re engrossed with life under the surface, the PADI Underwater Naturalist Specialty course is especially for you.

In your journey to underwater naturalist, the course teaches you about the different major aquatic life groupings and how they interact so that you understand what you observe in the underwater environment. With the PADI Underwater Naturalist Specialty course under your belt, you see the aquatic world differently. You don’t see “fish,” but individual species with distinct strategies for surviving in a complex, interactive ecosystem.

 

  • Must be a PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver (or qualifying certification from another organization)
  • Overview of aquatic life groupings and interrelations
  • The role of aquatic plants, food chains and predator prey relationships
  • Responsible interactions with aquatic life
  • Number of Dives: Two
  • Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.

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Boat Diver

Whether you’ve never made a boat dive or you’ve logged dozens, the PADI Boat Diver Specialty course can benefit almost every diver because different boats in different parts of the world do things differently. The PADI Boat Diver Specialty course familiarizes you with the various ways you stow gear, enter and exit the water, use surface lines and more, depending upon the type boat and the location.

  • Must be a PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver (or qualifying certification from another organization)
  • Covers techniques for diving from boats ranging from small inflatables to giant live-aboards
  • Discusses how dive boats differ from place to place
  • Gives you focused experience and training for diving from boats in your local area
  • Covers basic boat safety equipment and use
  • Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.

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Peak Performance Buoyancy

Float effortlessly, drifting over reefs. Be the diver you want to be, with ultimate buoyancy control, able to hover close to the bottom and examine underwater organisms without touching them.

Buoyancy skills separate the good divers from the great divers. In the Peak Performance Buoyancy Specialty course, you will learn to how to precisely weight yourself for optimum control, poise and balance. You learn to ascend and descend so effortlessly, it seems like you only think about it and it happens. By mastering streamlining, you move through the water cleanly, efficiently and gracefully. You swim near fragile environments without harm to them or yourself.

  • Must be a PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver certification (or qualifying certification from another organization) and 10 years old.
  • Number of dives: Two
  • Buoyancy fundamentals, weighting and adjustments
  • Streamlining, balance and trim
  • Fine tuning buoyancy and mastering hovering
  • Materials: You’ll Need Peak Performance Buoyancy video
  • Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.

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Underwater Photographer

Freeze time with an underwater camera and you tell a story that even nondivers can understand. Not only that, but you have a record and log of your adventures – more than the memories. Reliving a dive is as simple as looking at a photograph.

Whether you’re a casual holiday snapper or a consummate photo pro, the PADI Underwater Photographer course teaches you the basics as they apply to taking photos underwater, with a special emphasis on practical techniques.

  • Number of Dives: Two
  • Prerequisites: PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver certification (or qualifying certification from another organization) and be 10 years old.
  • Materials: You’ll Need Photo-Pak, which includes the PADI Underwater Photographer Manual and Underwater Photography video.
  • Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.

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Equipment Specialist

Want to know about how your dive gear works? Then the PADI Equipment Specialist course is for you. This course familiarizes you with the operation and maintenance of your dive equipment. The more you know about how your gear works, the more comfortable you are with it, the more performance you get from it and the better you can care for it.

  • Must be a PADI Scuba Diver or Junior Scuba Diver (or qualifying certification from another organization)
  • Reviews the theory, principles and operation of dive equipment
  • Routine, recommended care and maintenance procedures, and equipment storage
  • Common problems with equipment and recommended professional maintenance procedures (may include a demonstration of repair procedures)
  • Simple suggestions for comfortable equipment configurations and an introduction to new gear (may include optional confined water dive to try new or unfamiliar equipment)
  • No dives are required, so you can take the Equipment Specialist course any time of the year
  • The PADI Equipment Specialist Course is not an equipment repair course, but it provides the foundation you’ll want if you’re interested in learning equipment repair
  • Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.

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Multilevel Diver

Do you want to maximize your dive times? (Of course). Want to get the most out of your dive computer and The WheelTM? (Naturally). Then the PADI Multilevel Diver Specialty course is for you.

In this course, you learn how to plan dives that extend your bottom time by crediting you for slower nitrogen absorption when you ascend to a shallower depth. That’s the way you really dive, after all. You’ll learn to use The WheelTM version of the RDP for planning multilevel dives, making it a great companion for your dive computer (as well as a way to make multilevel dives if you forget to bring your computer).

  • Must be a PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver (or have a qualifying certification from another training organization) and 12 years old
  • Plan and execute multilevel dives (different depths on the same dive)
  • Back up your dive computer and plan multi-level dives with The WheelTM
  • Maximize your no stop time
  • Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.

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Dry Suit Diver

Wanna stay warm and toasty on a dive? Then stay out of the water. What? Stay out of the water? Yes! Unlike a wetsuit, a dry suit seals you off from the outside water. In the PADI Dry Suit Diver Specialty course, you’ll learn how to use a dry suit. And that keeps you warm! Even in very cold water.

  • Must be a PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver (or hold a qualifying certification from another training organization) and at least 10 years old
  • Don and doff techniques specific to your dry suit
  • Dry suit buoyancy control skills
  • Dry suit maintenance and storage
  • Undergarment (fleece or overall-type garments worn under the dry suit) options 
  • The PADI Dry Suit Diver certification credits toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating

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Huntung and Collecting

Course  includes preparation, equipment, modification, band and pneumatic guns, spears, techniques, spear fishing safety conservation and game regulations, proper equipment for game hunting. Includes pointers on underwater shell and bottle collection.

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Underwater Navigation

Be the diver everyone wants to follow and make your sense of direction legendary with the PADI Underwater Navigator Specialty course. When everyone’s buzzing about a reef or checking out a wreck, they’re having a great time – until it’s time to go. Then they turn to you, because as a PADI Underwater Navigator, you know the way back to the boat.

Underwater navigation can be challenging, but in the PADI Underwater Navigator Specialty course, you master the challenge.You learn the tools of the trade, including navigation via natural clues and by compass. You learn to estimate distance underwater, follow navigation patterns and know where you are while following an arbitrary, irregular course using the Nav-Finder.

  • Must be a PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver (or qualifying certification from another organization)
  • Number of Dives: Three
  • Navigation patterns, natural and compass navigation
  • Following irregular courses with the Nav-Finder
  • Dive site relocation
  • Materials: You’ll Need Nav-Pak, which includes the PADI Underwater Navigator Manual, Underwater Navigation video and the Nav-Finder
  • Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.

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Night Diver

As the sun sets, you don your dive gear, slip on your mask and bite down on your regulator. A deep breath and you step off the boat – into the underwater night. Although you’ve seen this reef many times before, this time you drop into a whole new world and watch it come to life under the glow of your dive light.

The adventure, thrill and excitement of night diving can be yours when you complete your PADI Night Diver Specialty course. You learn about night dive planning, equipment and navigation. You practice these on three night dives, plus introduce yourself to the whole new cast of critters that comes out after the sun goes down.

  • Must be a PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver (or qualifying certification from another organization) and 12 years old
  • Number of Dives: Three
  • Dive lights and night diving equipment
  • Entries, exits and navigation at night
  • Nocturnal aquatic life
  • Communication and light handling
  • Materials: You’ll Need a Night-Pak, which includes PADI Night Diver Manual and the award-winning PADI Night Diving video.
  • Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.

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Deep Diver

The Deep Diver Specialty course offers you the opportunity of a lifetime - going deep to see things others can only dream about.

In this course you will experience what it’s like to dive beyond 60 feet.

Down there, it’s different. It takes additional training. Here’s where you get it.

 

  • Must be a PADI Adventure Diver (or qualifying certification from another organization) and 15 years old
  • Experience diving beyond 18 metres/60 feet
  • Learn deep dive planning, organization, procedures, techniques and hazards
  • Four open water dives that range from 18 - 40 metres / 60 - 130 feet.
  • Gain experience with diving deep under the direct, professional supervision of a PADI Instructor
  • Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.

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Wreck Diver

You drift down and pass through a window into the past. As you near the bottom, a recognizable shape begins to form. First, you see a straight line, then a round window. Next, a ship materializes in front of you. As you look at the wreck, past and the present meet.

Whether sunk intentionally or tragically, whether a sunken ship, a plane or an automobile, the call of wrecks is nearly irresistible to divers. Through the PADI Wreck Diver Specialty course, you get the skills, knowledge and procedures you need to answer the call of wreck diving.

  • Must be a PADI Adventure Diver certification (or qualifying certification from another organization) and be at least 15 years old.
  • Number of Dives: Four dives over two days
  • Materials You’ll Need: Wreck-Pak, which includes the PADI Wreck Diver Manual and Wreck Diving video.
  • Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating. The underwater world needs heroes. Be one. Learn how to conserve the aquatic environment.

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Enriched Air/Nitrox

Welcome to one of PADI’s most popular specialties – the PADI Enriched Air Diver course. Diving with enriched air nitrox lets you safely extend your no stop time beyond the no decompression limits for air. Diving with enriched air means more time underwater – but you need to be certified as an Enriched Air Diver to get enriched air fills.

Whether you’re into underwater photography or wreck diving, on vacation in some tropical paradise or just out for a leisurely day of diving at your local dive site, the PADI Enriched Air Diver course helps you get more out of diving by giving you more time underwater.

  • Must be a PADI Open Water Diver (or qualifying certification from another organization).
  • Learn to analyze cylinder contents.
  • Plan enriched air dives using tables and dive computers.
  • Safely increase your no stop time.
  • Certification counts toward the Master Scuba Diver rating

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