Advanced Open Water: What It Is, Requirements and What You Learn

What Advanced Open Water involves for PADI and SSI: minimum age, prerequisites, the five adventure dives, deep and navigation, the 30 m limit, and 2026 prices.

Advanced Open Water is the next course after Open Water, the step PADI calls "the next level." It is five supervised dives: a deep dive, a navigation dive, and three more you choose, such as night, wreck or buoyancy. You need an Open Water certification and must be at least 12. With PADI, finishing it lets divers 15 and older go to 30 meters (100 feet), up from the 18 meter (60 foot) Open Water limit.

The name means slightly different things at PADI and SSI, which trips people up. This guide covers both: the requirements, what each dive teaches, how long it takes, the depth rules for teens, and what it costs, using published prices from named dive shops. I checked every PADI, SSI and shop page linked below on October 7, 2026. I trained with SSI, so the standards here come from each agency's own pages, not from memory. Confirm with your shop before you book.

Advanced Open Water at a glance

Sources: PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course page, PADI diving restrictions and SSI Advanced Open Water Diver program page.

What Advanced Open Water actually is

Despite the name, Advanced Open Water does not make you an advanced diver. It is a sampler. PADI describes it as "like a specialty sampler platter": you try different kinds of diving with an instructor and find out what you like (PADI course page).

What you walk away with is practical: more experience under supervision, a first deep dive, real compass practice, and, with PADI, permission to dive deeper. PADI lists three headline skills: exploring below 18 meters (60 feet), improving your buoyancy, and using a compass to navigate.

It is also a gateway course. PADI's Rescue Diver course requires either Adventure Diver with a completed Underwater Navigation dive or Advanced Open Water (PADI diving restrictions).

Advanced Open Water requirements

The bar to start is low. You need an entry-level certification, a minimum age of 12, and to be medically fit to dive.

Certification

PADI accepts PADI Open Water Diver, Junior Open Water Diver, or a qualifying entry-level certification from another agency (PADI course page). PADI's certification FAQ confirms that an open water card from another agency can often get you into PADI Advanced Open Water, though there is no automatic "equivalency" (PADI FAQ). SSI's program lists an Open Water Diver certification as its prerequisite (SSI program page).

Neither PADI nor SSI lists a minimum number of logged dives as a prerequisite. Some shops even sell Open Water and Advanced Open Water as one package; BlueWater Divers in Key Largo is one example (BlueWater Divers).

Minimum age

PADI's minimum age is 12 (PADI course page):

• Divers 15 or older earn Advanced Open Water Diver.
• Divers 12 to 14 earn Junior Advanced Open Water Diver, which automatically becomes the adult certification at 15.
• Divers aged 10 or 11 can earn Junior Adventure Diver instead. Once they turn 12, they can complete the deep dive and earn Junior Advanced Open Water Diver.

PADI also says divers under 16 need parental or guardian consent. SSI lists a minimum age of 12 for its program (SSI program page).

Medical fitness

The same medical rules as Open Water apply. PADI says chronic conditions, some medications or recent surgery may mean you need a physician's written approval before diving, and it recommends reviewing the diver medical form before you enroll. Instructors and shop staff are not physicians, so medical questions go to a doctor (PADI course page). SSI requires its Diver Medical Statement and Questionnaire, or a physician's approval where required, before any training (SSI program page).

What you learn: the five adventure dives

Every Advanced Open Water course is five open water dives. Two are fixed, and three are your choice.

The two required dives

Deep dive. PADI calls anything below 18 meters (60 feet) a deep dive, so even a dive to 19 meters counts. How deep you go depends on your age, local rules and the site: up to 30 meters (100 feet) for divers 15 and older, and 21 meters (70 feet) for younger divers. PADI says the dive covers how pressure affects your body and gear, plus buoyancy control and air management at depth (PADI course page).

Underwater navigation dive. You practice using a compass and natural cues to plan and follow a route (PADI course page). This is the dive I'd argue matters most day to day. Knowing how to get back to the boat or the exit on your own makes every later dive calmer.

The three elective dives

You pick the other three with your instructor, based on your interests and what the local sites allow. PADI lists these as available almost anywhere (PADI course page):

• Fish Identification
• Night
• Peak Performance Buoyancy
• Digital Underwater Imaging
• Search and Recovery
• Underwater Naturalist

Others depend on location, including Boat, Drift, Dry Suit, Enriched Air, Wreck, Altitude, Cavern, Ice, Sidemount, Shark Conservation, Dive Against Debris and DSMB (delayed surface marker buoy). Ask the shop which ones it actually runs.

A real schedule helps. Buddha View Dive Centre on Koh Tao runs its two-day course like this (Buddha View):

How to choose your electives

A few rules of thumb:

• Pick for your next trip. If you're heading somewhere with current, a drift dive is useful. If there are wrecks, take Wreck. BlueWater Divers in Key Largo, for example, lists wreck, drift and photography as elective options (BlueWater Divers).
• Take buoyancy if you're unsure. Peak Performance Buoyancy is available almost everywhere, and better buoyancy helps on every dive you'll ever make. My own SSI training included the full Perfect Buoyancy specialty.
• Think about credit. PADI says each adventure dive may count toward the matching specialty. For example, a dry suit dive in Advanced Open Water is already one of the two dives for PADI Dry Suit Diver (PADI course page).

Theory: eLearning, no pool

PADI's FAQ says there are no pool or classroom sessions; theory is done through eLearning for the dives you choose (PADI course page). PADI's online option covers seven of the most popular adventure dives: Deep, Underwater Navigation, Boat, Night, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Underwater Naturalist and Wreck. You can also study from the manual instead, and some shops add an optional classroom session, like Scuba-Fun's "AOW Intensive" in Key Largo (Scuba-Fun).

SSI structures its program as five academic sessions and five open water sessions, each dive following a briefing with your instructor (SSI program page).

How long Advanced Open Water takes

PADI estimates 6 to 8 hours of eLearning and 2 to 3 days for the whole course (PADI course page). SSI's suggested duration is 10 to 15 hours (SSI program page). In practice most shops run five dives over two days. Scuba-Fun, BlueWater Divers and Buddha View all list two-day courses.

As with Open Water, finishing the eLearning at home saves vacation time. BlueWater asks you to complete it before you arrive, and Buddha View says it can be done before or during your stay.

Depth limits after Advanced Open Water

The headline change is depth. PADI's limits after certification (PADI diving restrictions):

To go beyond 30 meters, PADI points to the Deep Diver specialty (PADI course page). SSI's Deep Diving specialty trains dives between 18 and 40 meters (SSI program page).

Deeper is not always better. PADI itself points out that some of the most popular diving is shallower than 12 meters (40 feet), where the water is warmer and colors are brighter (PADI FAQ). The practical win is that you're no longer capped at 18 meters when a site or a dive plan goes a little deeper.

SSI Advanced Open Water vs Advanced Specialty Diver

This is where the names get confusing.

SSI Advanced Open Water Diver is the five-dive course described above: Deep Diving and Navigation plus three specialty areas, one open water dive per specialty after a briefing. SSI says you can complete the full specialty programs later and credit these dives toward them (SSI program page). This program used to be called SSI Advanced Adventurer. Crystal Dive, an SSI center on Koh Tao, explains that the course content did not change with the rename, but Deep and Navigation are now mandatory (Crystal Dive).

SSI Advanced Specialty Diver is a recognition level, not a course. You earn it by completing four SSI specialty programs and logging 24 dives (SSI diver recognition). SSI's older standards called this recognition "Advanced Open Water Diver" and allow up to two specialties from another recognized agency to count toward it (SSI standards). So an older SSI card that says Advanced Open Water may mean the four-specialty level, not the five-dive course.

You also don't have to take the five-dive course at all with SSI. SSI says your specialty pathway starts right after Open Water Diver (SSI diver recognition). My own SSI training went that way, through full specialties such as Deep Diving and Perfect Buoyancy.

PADI has a middle step too: PADI Adventure Diver is three adventure dives instead of five. PADI describes it as a subset of the Advanced Open Water course (PADI Adventure Diver).

How much Advanced Open Water costs

There is no single price. PADI dive centers are independently owned and set their own rates (PADI FAQ), and SSI says training is charged as separate components or as a package depending on the Training Center (SSI program page).

The one price PADI lists itself is the eLearning: $240 in PADI's US store when I checked on October 7, 2026 (PADI store). All four shops below include eLearning in their course price.

Published full-course prices, checked October 7, 2026:

These are examples, not averages. Prices change, and resort packages often bundle rooms or extra dives. When you compare quotes, ask whether eLearning, rental gear, boat fees and certification are included, and how many students each instructor takes.

Is Advanced Open Water worth it?

For many new divers, yes. PADI says the course is generally not considered difficult, especially compared with Open Water (PADI course page). You get five more dives with an instructor watching, a first supervised deep dive, and navigation practice you'll use forever.

Take it soon after Open Water if you:

• Want to dive deeper than 18 meters (60 feet)
• Plan to go on to Rescue Diver
• Want structured practice before diving with only a buddy

Wait, or go straight to a full specialty, if you already know exactly what you want. If you only care about night diving, for example, PADI says any Open Water Diver can take the Night Diver specialty without Advanced Open Water.

What comes after Advanced Open Water

The usual next steps:

• Rescue Diver. PADI Rescue Diver (SSI calls its version Diver Stress and Rescue) is the common next course. It gets its own guide soon.
• Full specialties. Finish the specialty behind your favorite adventure dive, such as Deep, Wreck or Night.
• Enriched Air Nitrox. PADI suggests it if you like making several dives a day or taking multi-day dive trips (PADI course page).
• Recognition levels. Stacking specialties and logged dives leads to PADI Master Scuba Diver or SSI Master Diver.

Log every dive as you go. SSI's recognition levels are based partly on logged dives, and a clear logbook makes it easy to show a shop what you've done.

Where to do your Advanced Open Water

Pick a place where the elective dives you want actually exist:

• Florida Keys: Both Key Largo shops priced above run the course, and BlueWater lists wreck and drift among its electives. See the best dive shops in Key Largo.
• Egypt's Red Sea: Day trips from Sharm El Sheikh reach the Thistlegorm wreck and Ras Mohammed, and our guide flags which sites suit Advanced divers. See the Red Sea diving guide.
• A winter trip: The best places to scuba dive in December cover warm-water options for the end of the year.

New to all of this? Start with the PADI Open Water certification guide, which covers the entry-level course in the same detail. For more destinations and shop lists, browse the ScubaDock dive destinations hub.

Choose a shop that explains which electives it runs, keeps groups small and shows its prices up front. Five good dives with a patient instructor will do more for your diving than any card.

Requirements and prices checked October 7, 2026 against the PADI, SSI and dive shop pages linked above. This post is reviewed every year. Spot something that changed? Let me know through the contact page.