# PADI Advanced Open Water: What to Expect & Is It Worth It?
I got my Advanced Open Water certification about three months after my [Open Water](/blog/how-to-get-scuba-certified). Best decision I made as a new diver. Not because the course itself was life-changing — it's actually pretty relaxed — but because that depth limit bump from 18m to 30m opened up about 80% of the dive sites I'd been reading about and couldn't access.
Let me break down exactly what AOWD involves, what it costs, and whether you should bother.
What Is Advanced Open Water?
PADI Advanced Open Water Diver (AOWD) is the next certification after Open Water. The structure is simple: you complete 5 adventure dives under instructor supervision. No exams. No confined water sessions. Just 5 dives with specific learning objectives.
Two of the five are mandatory:
1. Deep Dive — You go to 30m (100ft). Your instructor walks you through the effects of depth on air consumption, color absorption, and [nitrogen narcosis](/blog/nitrogen-narcosis-explained). You'll do some cognitive tasks at depth to feel the narcing firsthand.
2. Underwater Navigation — Compass work, natural navigation, distance estimation. Sounds boring. It's actually one of the most useful skills you'll develop.
The other three are your choice from a menu of adventure dives.
Elective Adventure Dives
Here's where it gets fun. You pick 3 from a list that typically includes:
- Night Diving — Diving with lights after dark. The reef transforms. I saw more octopus on one night dive than in 20 daytime dives.
- Drift Diving — Riding the current instead of fighting it. Essential if you plan to dive [Cozumel](/blog/scuba-diving-cozumel) or anywhere with consistent flow.
- Peak Performance Buoyancy — Fine-tuning your trim and weighting. If you were still bouncing around on your OW dives, this fixes that.
- Wreck Diving — External wreck exploration. Penetration comes later with the specialty course.
- Underwater Photography — Composition and camera basics underwater.
- Fish Identification — Useful but you'll learn this naturally over time.
- Boat Diving — Entry and exit techniques from boats.
- Search and Recovery — Finding and lifting objects from the bottom.
Which Electives I'd Choose
If I could do it again? Night, drift, and peak performance buoyancy. In that order.
Night diving opens up an entirely different ocean. Drift diving is the default mode in most Caribbean destinations. And buoyancy... look, every diver thinks their buoyancy is fine until they actually get coached on it. The buoyancy adventure dive was humbling. In a good way.
Skip fish ID and boat diving. You'll pick those up naturally.
Cost
Expect to pay $300–$500 depending on location. That usually includes:
- Instructor fees and course materials
- The 5 adventure dives (boat fees sometimes extra)
- PADI certification processing
For a full breakdown of [scuba certification costs](/blog/scuba-certification-cost), I've got a separate guide.
How Long Does It Take?
Most shops run AOWD over 2–3 days. Some do it in 2 days with an early start. The eLearning component takes a few hours — do it before you arrive.
If you're on a dive trip, you can knock it out in a weekend without losing much vacation time. I did mine in Roatan between regular fun dives.
Prerequisites
- PADI Open Water Diver certification (or equivalent from SSI, NAUI, etc.)
- Minimum age: 12 (with restrictions on depth for juniors)
- That's it. No minimum dive count required, though I'd recommend having at least 10–15 logged dives so you're comfortable enough to actually learn something.
The 30m Depth Limit: Why It Matters
Open Water certifies you to 18m (60ft). That's fine for shallow reefs and some wrecks. But the world's most impressive dive sites — walls, deep wrecks, advanced reef systems — sit between 18m and 30m.
With AOWD, you can dive:
- The Blue Hole in Belize (stalactites at 40m require Deep Specialty, but the wall starts at 30m)
- Most of Cozumel's walls
- The USAT Liberty wreck in Bali (deepest sections)
- Most Caribbean wall dives
- The cenote systems in Mexico (cavern zones)
Is It Worth It?
Yes. Unequivocally.
AOWD is the best return-on-investment certification in recreational diving. For $300–$500 and 2 days, you unlock the majority of recreational dive sites worldwide. The skills you gain — especially navigation and deep diving awareness — make you a measurably better diver.
If you're planning any kind of dive travel, get your AOWD before you go. You'll thank yourself when the divemaster says "max depth 28m" and you can actually join the group.
Next steps? Consider [PADI Nitrox](/blog/padi-nitrox-certification) — it pairs perfectly with AOWD for longer bottom times at depth. And if you want the full certification roadmap, check out my [scuba certification levels guide](/blog/scuba-certification-levels).
I'm Chad. Analytical chemist. Diver. The kind of person who reads the PADI manual for fun.