So you’ve completed your Open Water Diver Course, logged a few dives, and you’re starting to feel like a ‘fish in water’. So what is your next step?
The PADI Advanced Open Water Course is where diving becomes less about learning skills and more about applying them. It’s about building your confidence, exploring new dive sites and environments, and finetuning your dive skills so you feel calm and capable no matter what the ocean throws your way.
The advanced course gives you the tools to make every dive smoother and more enjoyable. You’ll learn how to navigate like a pro, have access to more dive sites and deeper dives and most importantly, have a better understanding of what’s happening around you underwater.
Often overlooked when discussing the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver Course are what PADI calls The Four Central Dive Skills – the secret to stress-free, confident diving:
🌊 Planning Dives with Secondary Objectives – You’ll learn how to plan your dives with more intention — enabling you to have more fun as well as practice skills to make you feel more confident underwater. This helps you get more out of every dive without even realising you’re learning.
Examples of secondary objectives may include finding a specific creature (like a seahorse 😊) exploring part of a wreck, taking photos or collecting kaimoana.
If you are unaware every dive’s primary objective is for all divers to return safely.
👀 Situational Awareness – This one’s all about noticing what’s going on around you.
Are you monitoring your depth, time, direction & air, your buddy’s? Are there any changes in current strength or direction? Are there any unexpected hazards or problems with gear? The more aware you become, the safer and more connected your dives feel.
🎯 Managing Task Loading – Know What to Do First – Sometimes you’re juggling a lot underwater: your camera, your buoyancy, your DSMB, your buddy…. This skill teaches you how to stay cool, calm, and determine what really matters. Dive First, Situation Second, Communicate Third sorts out your priorities so you don’t have to figure them out. You will respond faster, better & with reduced stress.
💡 Better Habits for Better Diving – The little things make a big difference — from streamlining your gear, perfecting your trim & monitoring your gauges. You’ll develop good habits that will make every dive smoother, easier, and more fun.
Part of being a diver is understanding that problems will occur. You miscalculate conditions or they change, equipment can fail & mistakes do happen. Your training helps you to avoid most of these problems, but when things go wrong, your training also helps you deal with emergencies
Confidence, control, and way more dive sites
One of the best parts of the Advanced course is getting to explore deeper dives (down to 30 metres) and learning how to handle yourself at those depths safely. You’ll also get more comfortable with navigation, buoyancy — which means way more dive sites open up to you around Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand and the world!
Why keep learning?
Every dive you do builds muscle memory and confidence — but structured learning helps you level up faster. Continuing your dive education means you’ll be more aware, more relaxed, and better prepared to handle whatever conditions you find yourself in.
And we know that the more you know, the more fun you will have. You’ll start noticing the small things — the way the light moves through water, how marine life interacts, how to perfect that effortless hover.
So are you ready to dive deeper?
If you’re ready to grow your skills, explore new depths, have a few laughs along the way, the PADI Advanced Open Water Course is the way to go.
Come join us at Dive HQ Wellington — where every dive is an adventure, every diver’s experience is different, and learning is always served with a splash of fun!