Now that you’ve learnt the fundamentals of scuba diving, it’s time to up the game! The PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course is all about expanding your scuba diving knowledge and advancing your skills. This course is widely regarded as the easiest, most fun, and most significant of all PADI recreational courses. During the course, you will build your confidence as a diver and discover new ways of having fun while diving. As PADI Advanced Open Water Diver, you will be qualified to dive down to 30 metres / 100 feet. Scuba diving in Andaman Sea allows you to observe in close proximity a plethora of marine animals in all sizes and colours that will certainly leave you spellbound.

PADI Open Water (or Junior Open Water) Divers or those with an equivalent certification, aged between 12 and 60 and are medically fit can do the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course. You must have already gone through and filled out the PADI Medical Form during the previous course and likewise, you will have to declare your medical fitness before starting the Advanced Open Water Diver course as well. As always, a ‘yes’ answer to any question will mandate you to get medical clearance in writing from a registered doctor before you can dive. As per the regulations in the Andamans, divers over 50 must get a medical clearance for scuba diving.

To get the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver certification, you need to complete 5 adventure dives, including the mandatory underwater navigation dive and deep dive beyond 18 metres / 60 feet. You get to choose the remaining 3 dives from a myriad of options: night dive, wreck dive, peak performance buoyancy dive, digital underwater photography dive, fish identification dive, dive against debris, and many more. The instructors at Barefoot Scuba will help choose the right mix based on your interests and your time available on the island.

It is possible to finish this course in 2 days, typically when people opt for a night dive as the third dive on one of the days. If you are short on time, you can complete 3 adventure dives to earn the PADI Adventure Diver certification first. Later you can do the remaining 2 adventure dives and upgrade to PADI Advanced Open Water Diver anytime and anywhere.

 

You can further increase your expertise in scuba diving by doing the PADI Rescue Diver course, which will teach you how to keep your calm and help yourself as well as others in difficult situations. It is indeed a proud feeling to be looked at in awe being a Rescue Diver!