Marine Debris
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Adopt The Blue
Continue Your Adventure
Expand Your Horizons
Your Open Water Diver certification introduced you to a new realm of exploration and made you keenly aware that you've only just scratched the surface of the underwater world. Continue your scuba journey with The PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course.
Experience new adventures with a PADI Instructor by your side. Fine-tune your buoyancy skills, build confidence in your navigation abilities, and try new activities like wreck diving, night diving or underwater videography. An Advanced Open Water Diver certification also opens the door to dive sites deeper than 18m/60ft.
Find Your Next Course
Dive deeper into blue planet exploration with advanced dive skills and specialty scuba certifications. Whether you want to expand your dive knowledge or experience a new scuba specialty, our courses will prepare you for underwater adventure.
- Must-Haves
- Safety Focus
- Special Interests
- Advanced Skills
- Cold Water
- Conservation
- Photography
- Discovery
- Freediving
- Technical Diving
Delayed Surface Marker Buoy (DSMB) Diver
Learn more about freediving or check out the available courses.
Learn more about tec diving or check out the available courses.
Join the Rescue Diver Challenge
Win a PADI Specialty Course & Premium Aqualung Gear Pack!
From 1-31 May, 2025, complete the form below to earn 1 contest entry.
Then, increase your chances of winning the Grand Prize* by completing the Rescue Diver course or joining PADI Club before 30 June, 2025.
Good Luck, Divers!
Go With the Flow: Take the PADI Drift Diver Specialty Course
Fly like a superhero and experience the thrill of effortless diving. Learn how to conserve energy and use currents to your advantage with drift diving techniques. Practice buoyancy control, deploy surface signaling equipment and stay close to your buddy for a smooth, controlled dive.
Special Offer: For a limited time, enjoy 15% off your Drift Diver eLearning! Use code DRIFTMASTER15 at checkout.
Become a Better Buddy - Take the Rescue Diver Course
The Rescue Diver course will help you become a more confident and capable scuba diver. You’ll learn how to prevent and manage problems in the water, assist other divers, and handle diving emergencies.
To take the Rescue Diver course, you must:
- Hold an Advanced Open Water Diver certification
- Have completed CPR and First Aid training within the past 24 months
Take the next step in your scuba diving journey and build your rescue skills.
Upgrade Your Certification Card With a Stunning New Design!
Your dive certification is more than just a card—it's a reflection of your skills, experience, and passion for the ocean. Showcase your accomplishments with a NEW limited edition design. Choose from a dazzling array of wreck diving, manta ray, and green sea turtle designs.
Make Your Mark on a PADI Card – Submit Your Photo!
Got a stunning underwater shot? Enter now for a chance to have your image featured on an official PADI certification card. Inspire the dive community with your passion for underwater photography - submit today!
Join PADI Club For 20% Off eLearning Courses
Keep your diver status active and expand your dive skills with 20% off select PADI eLearning courses including Enriched Air (Nitrox) Diver, Rescue Diver, Advanced Open Water Diver & many more! Members also get a FREE online DAN® Prepared Diver course and a FREE Scuba Diving® magazine subscription.
More Information
Your questions, answered
- Entries Accepted: 1 May to 31 May 2025
- Contest Period: 1 May to 30 June 2025
- Participants may fill in the initial entry form on this webpage between 1 May and 31 May 2025. Entrants have until 30 June 2025 to earn additional entries by completing a Rescue Diver course or joining PADI Club.
- The Grand Prize Winner will be awarded a PADI Specialty Diver course of their choice (up to USD $400 in value) and an Aqualung scuba gear prize pack with a:
- Helix Compact Regulator (worth USD $599)
- Helix Compact Pro Octopus (worth USD $295)
- I330R Computer (worth USD $418)
- Reveal Ultra Fit Yellow (worth USD $109)
- Deco Stop Buoy (worth USD $39)
- The Second and Third Place Prize Winners will receive one recreational PADI eLearning course of their choice
- Participants are entered into the contest by:
- Filling out the form on this page and answering the question, “Why do you want to become a PADI Rescue Diver?” for one entry to win.
- Participants will received additional contest entries upon completion of the following:
- PADI Rescue Diver certification – 10 entries
- Emergency First Response Primary and Secondary Care Training – 5 entries
- PADI Club member enrollment – 5 entries
For the full contest terms and conditions, click on one of the options below:
10% discount available for select PADI eLearning courses on padi.com, including the Rescue Diver eLearning course. Valid 1 per customer. Code expires 30 days from email sign-up date.
Your PADI certification does not expire. Enrolling in PADI’s scuba refresher course (ReActivate) is recommended if you haven’t been diving in awhile, but not mandatory. Dive shops appreciate seeing a recent ReActivated date on your certification card because it means you’re ready to dive in.
Advanced Open Water, Rescue Diver and more than a dozen of PADI’s most popular specialty courses are available online. You can start your training at home and finish with a dive shop near you, or on vacation. The choice is up to you.
Earning a certification while traveling is a great way to have an authentic local diving experience. Ask the local dive center or resort what their destination is known for (drift, wreck, night, etc.) and if they offer any distinctive specialties.
Or, show your support for your local diving community by earning a certification close to home. Learn about your local ecosystems by taking an Underwater Naturalist or Fish Identification course, or prepare for your next trip by taking PADI’s most popular specialty - Enriched Air Nitrox.
More than 75 percent of new divers say they want to improve their scuba skills by taking additional classes, but fewer than 40 percent ever do so. When asked why, many say, “I didn’t feel ready.”
What these divers don’t realize is, the Advanced Open Water Diver course is designed to help new divers improve their skills and build confidence. In this course, you’ll get better at the skills you learned in your Open Water Diver course as you try new diving experiences (photography, wreck diving, etc.) with a helpful instructor by your side. If the word “advanced” seems intimidating, think of it as a specialty course sampler instead.
Speaking of specialties, many new divers get a lot out of the Peak Performance Buoyancy class and the Underwater Navigator course. You could try one or both of these specialties first, and earn credit towards your Advanced Open Water certification along the way. Ask your PADI Instructor for more information.
Any certified diver who would like to refresh their scuba skills before enrolling in a class or taking a dive trip should ReActivate. The online program is completely personalized. You’ll move quickly through familiar concepts you understand well and dive deeper into things you may have forgotten.
After reviewing scuba fundamentals online, schedule an in-water session with a PADI Professional who will help you brush up your underwater skills and answer any questions you have. Divers who complete both the online knowledge review and in-water skill refresher receive a replacement certification card with a ReActivated date on it.
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