- Playa del Carmen, Mexico
- dive@tankha.com
- 08:00-19:00 7 days
PADI Advanced Open Water Diver
Take you skills to the next level
The PADI Advanced Open Water course is fun and rewarding. It builds on the skills you learned in your Open Water course with a focus on fun ocean training rather than pool and theoretical training.
The Advanced Open Water course includes training for you to dive up to 30m/100ft which will allow you to enjoy all of our dive sites in Playa del Carmen, Cozumel and the Cenotes.
Dives
At least 5 Ocean dives
Small group sizes (max. 4 students)
Schedule
The course can start any day
Typically 2-3 consecutive days (depending on the schedule you choose)
(although you can pick your own schedule if you prefer)
Requirements
PADI Open Water Certification (or equivalent)
12+ years old
(Under 15s will be trained to a maximum of 21m/70ft)
Fulfill the medical requirements
Includes
Dive computer and compass
Learning materials
Certification fees
Tanks & weights
Free Nitrox tanks
for Nitrox certified divers
Extras
Full dive equipment rental: $18
Dive computer rental: $10 Included!
GoPro Rental: $50
(includes memory card for you to keep)
Nitrox tanks: $FREE
15L/100cuFt tanks: $3 per tank
Dive info
12m-30m / 40ft-100ft
Water temperature: 27-30°C / 80-87°F
Dive times: typically 4060min
We always try to give you the best experience and long dives whenever possible. Of course, we need to respect air consumption and no-decompression limits
Book now…
Start your booking by selecting the type of course you would like to complete and the date you would like to start diving.
The types of course are explained below.
As a PADI dive center we are passionate about teaching and improving skills. The PADI Advanced Open Water course is a great course with a good balance between theory and practical exercises. If you are planning on completing 6 or more dives with us, then earning your Advanced Open Water certification is a great idea since the Advanced tuition really does not detract from the enjoyment of your dives and you will leave with a new level of skill, confidence and certification.
The Advanced Open Water certification requires you to complete 5 training dives. With no videos or exams, there is a lot of flexibility in the course allowing us to tailor your training around the dive locations you want to visit (Playa, Cozumel or Cenotes).
What will I learn?
We typically teach the following 5 adventure dives as part of the Advanced Open Water certification. Deep and Navigation are compulsory and the others represent a good balance of useful skills and knowledge that we find have the biggest impact on improving diver performance and understanding. PADI Adventure dives are the same as dive #1 of their corresponding specialty certifications, so please check out the specialty if you are particularly interest in going into detail for any of these topics.
- Deep covers planning and safety considerations for diving up to 30m/100ft. You will learn how pressure and depth affect light, color, consumption rate, nitrogen absorption, and gas narcosis.
- Underwater Navigation develops your skills with a compass, natural navigation, time, and kick cycles to find your way back to the boat or around the reef.
- Peak Performance Buoyancy helps you to master your buoyancy control by focusing on breathing, proper weighting, body position (trim), and propulsion techniques. Good buoyancy control is one of the most important things to make your diving effortless and more enjoyable. This is probably one of the most important dives you will complete in any diving course.
- Drift prepares you for safely diving in currents with planning, buoyancy control, buddy contact, lines and buoys. All of our dives in Playa del Carmen and Cozumel are drift dives.
- Underwater Naturalist will enhance your knowledge of the aquatic environment. Learn about symbiosis, underwater ecology, and aquatic plant and animal habitats. Identify local marine plants and animals and gain a new appreciation for our underwater world.
If you prefer you can switch out some of these training dives for Fish Identification, Search & Recovery and Boat Diver. However we strongly recommend the adventure dives we have listed above. If you would like to know more about why we recommend these then please don’t hesitate to contact us.
The Price
The price of the Advanced Open Water course depends on where you choose to dive while completing the course. The cheapest option is to complete all the dives in Playa del Carmen, however many of our divers prefer to include a trip to Cozumel using our direct boat service (no ferry) as part of the course.
Whichever dive schedule you choose, the price includes the dives, marine park fees, transportation from the dive center, ‘PADI Advanced Open Water’ manual, certification and the training from your instructor. If you do not own your own dive computer we include the use of a rental computer throughout your course, free of charge.
How does it work?
With no videos or exams, there is a lot of flexibility in the course allowing us to tailor your training around the dive locations you want to visit (Playa, Cozumel or Cenotes). Below we have outlined several schedules so you can choose whichever one you think will work best for you.
If you are limited on time, you can choose any 3 adventure dives and earn the Adventure Diver certification in just one day.
Simply Playa ($420) 3 days | 6 dives in Playa del Carmen
Day 1
Arrive 11:30, 2 dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Peak Performance Buoyancy and Navigation
Day 2
Arrive 07:45, 2 dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Deep and Underwater Naturalist
Day 3
Arrive 08:00, 2 dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Drift. Plus a non-training dive
Quick Playa ($420) 2 days | 6 dives in Playa del Carmen
Day 1
Arrive 11:30, 2 afternoon dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Peak Performance Buoyancy and Navigation
Day 2
Arrive 07:45, 2 morning dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Deep and Underwater Naturalist
Arrive 12:30, 2 afternoon dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Drift. Plus a non-training dive
Cozumel Voyager ($500) 3 days, | 4 dives in Playa del Carmen, 2 dives in Cozumel
Day 1
Arrive 11:30, 2 dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Peak Performance Buoyancy and Navigation
Day 2
Arrive 07:45, 2 dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Deep and Underwater Naturalist
Day 3
Arrive 08:00, 2 dives in Cozumel (using our direct boat service)
Training dives: Drift. Plus a non-training dive
Cozumel Sprinter ($500) 2 days | 4 dives in Playa del Carmen, 2 dives in Cozumel
Day 1
Arrive 08:00, 2 morning dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Underwater naturalist. Plus a non-training dive
Arrive 12:30, 2 afternoon dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Peak Performance Buoyancy and Navigation
Day 2
Arrive 07:45, 2 dives in Cozumel (using our direct boat service)
Training dives: Deep and Drift
NOTE: This option requires the first dive to be up to 18m/60ft in normally reasonably strong current. Therefore you should only consider this option if you have been diving recently and you and confident in your abilities in these conditions.
Cozumel Lover ($580) 3 days, | 2 dives in Playa del Carmen, 4 dives in Cozumel
Day 1
Arrive 11:30, 2 dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Peak Performance Buoyancy and Navigation
Day 2
Arrive 07:45, 2 dives in Cozumel (using our direct boat service)
Training dives: Deep and Drift
Day 3
Arrive 08:00, 2 dives in Cozumel (using our direct boat service)
Training dives: underwater naturalist. Plus a non-training dive
Cenote Splash ($546) 3 days | 6 dives in Playa del Carmen | 2 dives in Cenotes
Although we can conduct some PADI trianing in some “open-air” Cenotes, these are not the world famous cavern dives that people are generally seeking. Cavern diving in the Cenotes is a truly unque and memorable experience which we would recommend to the majority of out divers (15 years or older).
Therefore if you have only three days available to complete the Advanced Open Water course and dive in a Cenote Cavern then we would recommend spending the first 2 days completeing the Advanced Open Water trianing in Playa del Carmen, before then heading to the cenotes on day 3.
Day 1
Arrive 11:30, 2 dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Peak Performance Buoyancy and Navigation
Day 2
Arrive 07:45, 2 morning dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Deep and Underwater Naturalist
Arrive 12:30, 2 afternoon dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Drift. Plus a non-training dive
Day 3
Arrive 08:30, 2 dives in Cenote (Typically Dos Ojos or Chac Mool)
Our cenote trips include transportation from the dive shop to the cenote, dive light, snacks and lunch.
The cenotes are privately owned and charge an entry fee which needs to be paid in cash when we arrive at the cenote. We do not include these fees in our price since there are many different cenotes which are available to dive, each of which have different entry fees.
Do it all ($644) 3 days | 4 dives in Playa del Carmen | 2 dives in Cozumel | 2 dives in Premium Cenotes
If you have only three days, but want to see the absolute best of our ocean dives and cenotes while completing your PADI Advanced Open Water course, then this is the option for you.
We will complete the PADI Advanced Open Water course in the ocean over your first two days, including a direct trip to dive the world-famous reefs of Cozumel. Once you have acheived your new certification, we can share with you the magical underground world of the Mayan Jungle by taking you our Premium Cenote cavern diving trip where we will dive in Pit & Dos Ojos cenotes.
Day 1
Arrive 08:00, 2 morning dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Underwater naturalist. Plus a non-training dive
Arrive 12:30, 2 afternoon dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Peak Performance Buoyancy and Navigation
Day 2
Arrive 07:45, 2 dives in Cozumel (using our direct boat service)
Training dives: Deep and Drift
Day 3
Arrive 08:30, 2 dives in Premium Cenotes (Pit + Dos Ojos)
NOTE: This option requires the first dive to be up to 18m/60ft in normally reasonably strong current. Therefore you should only consider this option if you have been diving recently and you and confident in your abilities in these conditions.
Our cenote trips include transportation from the dive shop to the cenote, dive light, snacks and lunch.
The cenotes are privately owned and charge an entry fee which needs to be paid in cash when we arrive at the cenote. We do not include these fees in our price since there are many different cenotes which are available to dive, each of which have different entry fees.
Economy ($400) 2 days | 5 dives in Playa del Carmen
Day 1
Arrive 11:30, 2 dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Peak Performance Buoyancy and Navigation
Day 2
Arrive 07:45, 2 dives in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Deep and Underwater Naturalist
Arrive 12:30, 1 dive in Playa del Carmen
Training dives: Drift.
Please note than in the afternoon of day 2 the boat will remain on the water for a second dive with other clients however you can sit-out of this dive in order to save money in this economy option.
Can I do the wreck adventure dive?
We have wreck dives available in Playa del Carmen and in Cozumel. We regularly take divers without any specialist wreck training to enjoy these wreck dives – including penetration of the wrecks. These are purpose-sunk wrecks which have many entry/exit points and although reasonably large the, they are not so big that you could become lost inside. The PADI Wreck Diver Specialty is a great course to prepare you for encountering a wreck with a buddy and for you to have the skills to map the wreck and plan a detailed penetration using safety lines. However penetration is not permitted until wreck training dive #4 and since the adventure dive that could be completed as part of Advanced Open Water certification is only dive #1 penetration would not be possible while undergoing training.
If you would like to dive and penetrate one of the wrecks during you Advanced course then this would be possible since we generally plan 6 dives but only conduct training on 5 of the 6. Therefore we can treat this extra dive purely as a fun dive and take you to penetrate one of the wrecks. In order for us to be able to schedule this for you we will need you to book one of the 3-day schedules and to contact us shortly after booking to ensure we make the correct arrangements for you. It would not be possible to arrange the wreck fun-dive as part of a 2-day Advanced Open Water Schedule.
What about night dives?
Night dives are great fun. Unfortunately right now arranging a night dive is a little tricky since we don’t have any viable shore diving spots we can dive at night and arranging a boat trip is often tricky without a sufficient number of clients to make the trip viable. If we can get a group of 6 or more divers together then we are able to arrange a night dive most nights and the night dive can be counted as one of your 5 adventure dives.
Did you know? Many people think a night dive is required in order to achieve the PADI Advanced Open Water certification. This used to be the case, but it is no longer true. It was removed as a requirement many years ago, in part after divers in very high latitudes could never meet the requirentes during summer because the sun never set through the night!
