Advanced Open Water Training - What Does the Advanced Course Involve?

Strictly speaking, to dive beyond you metres youwill do the first dive of your chosen courses with
must complete the PADI Advanced course or anenough classroom work, probably informally, to get
equivalent course with another organisation. Havingthe most out of the course.
said that, many dive centres will allow you to goI started my course with the navigation dive.
slightly beyond that limit in the course of your diving,Performed in shallow water, we navigated around a
if the conditions dictate. If the dive centres are willingbay performing a variety of exercises and enjoying
to take you deeper, is a formal course required?the dive. It was a gentle introduction back into the
The answer is simply yes. If you are diving abroad onwater after eight weeks away.
relevant holiday insurance, it will probably only coverThen came what is no doubt the main dive of the
you as far as your training qualifies you. Have ancourse. The deep dive. We headed out across the
accident and discover your computer is reading asurface of the same bay another day and then
maximum depth of 20 metres with only Open Waterdropped into the water, steadily increasing our depth
certification and you have just given your insurer anas we swam to a drop off. This became a challenge
excuse to not pay out. This could leave you footingof buoyancy as much as anything as we eventually
the bills for your medical treatment. For this reason,swam over the ledge, with nothing but deep ocean
the better dive centres will also stop you frombelow, and dropped to almost 30 metres to admire
entering the water for a deeper dive if you aresome pink coral, before returning slowly back to the
under qualified.surface.
So what is involved on the Advanced Open WaterThe other dives were just chosen to pick interesting
course? This course, unlike nearly all of the rest ofdives out of what the centre had on offer at the
the PADI courses, is purely a diving course. No multitime. On each I would discuss with my instructor the
choice exam papers at the end of this, just do thedive, what we had to be aware of and then
diving and you have completed the course. So therecomplete the dive. It was a great way to gain a lot
are just 5 taster dives to complete.of experience in a short time for someone who had
The 5 dives are each the first dives from the variousnot completed much diving.
speciality courses that PADI have on offer. You canOf course, a lot of this depends on how good the
choose any three that you want from all that arestaff are at the training location that you choose to
available at the dive centre where you are doing thelearn at and the dives that they have on offer. Make
training. Add to these two the compulsory elementssure that you read some dive centre reviews before
of a deep dive and a navigation dive and you are ayou travel to select a good place to dive with, after
PADI Advanced diver.all it is not cheap and you want to make sure that
It is that simple and you could complete the optionalyou are in safe hands.
three and the navigation element by completingSome of the courses may entail the use of specialist
specialities before the course. But most centres willdiving equipment, some of which you might want to
not allow you on the deep diver training coursebuy for yourself before you travel. For example if
without first completing the advanced course. Mostyou are keen at photography, taking your own
of the speciality courses comprise of two or threecamera and being taught the best way of using that
dives with some classroom work and an exam. Whenis better than using the centre's own cameras.
completing the taster for the Advanced course, you