Advanced Open Water
Five adventure dives, depth to 30m/100ft, and flexible itineraries across Playa, Cozumel and cenotes.
dollars 
pesos Our prices include taxes, eLearning materials, certification fees, marine park fees and instructor training. No surprise add-ons.
(21m / 70ft for PADI under 15s)
(Open Water or equivalent)
Build on your Open Water skills with adventure dives on real reef profiles — not pool-heavy academics.
Deep and Underwater Navigation are required; we round out the course with other enjoyable adventure dives.
Maximum 5 students per instructor on training dives.
Pick the 2-3 day package that suits you — Playa only, or add Cozumel and cenote dives.
Training typically 12–30m / 40–100ft where the itinerary allows; water about 27–30°C (80–87°F); dives often 40–60 minutes when limits allow.
The Advanced course is fun and rewarding. It builds on what you learned in Open Water with a focus on fun ocean training rather than pool sessions and long exams.
The Advanced course includes training to dive up to 30m / 100ft, so you can enjoy our dive sites in Playa del Carmen, Cozumel and the cenotes.
What’s included
- check_circle Comfortable dive center facilities including lockers and hot showers
- check_circle Dive computer and compass for the course
- check_circle eLearning and certification fees. SDI included; PADI available as an optional add-on
- check_circle Tanks & weights
Nitrox tanks at no extra charge for nitrox-certified divers - check_circle Marine park fees and transportation from the dive center to the beach/cenotes
- check_circle Reef-safe sunscreen
- check_circle Lunch, snacks, and water
Good to have
- Swimsuit & towel
- Physical sun protection
Such as hat and rashguard - Cash for cenote entry fees when your package includes cenote diving
Entry fees vary by site and are paid locally - Confirmation of medical eligibility
Check ScubaMedical.com
As an SDI 5-Star dive center with PADI instructors available, we love teaching continuing education. If you are planning six or more dives with us, earning Advanced along the way is a great idea — the training fits naturally into great diving days and you leave with stronger skills, confidence and certification.
The Advanced certification is five training dives. With no videos or long exams, we can tailor your training around the locations you want (Playa, Cozumel or cenotes). Use the schedule packages below for day-by-day plans; when you book, pick the package name that matches what you want to do.
What will I learn?
We typically teach the following 5 specialty dives as part of the Advanced 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. These specialty dives are the same as dive #1 of their corresponding SDI specialty certifications, so please check out the specialty if you are particularly interested in going into detail on any of these topics.
If you prefer, you can switch out some of these training dives for Computer Diving or 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, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we can discuss alternatives.
The price
The price of the Advanced certification 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, eLearning materials, certification and instructor training.
How does it work?
With no videos or exams, the course is flexible enough for 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 the one that works best for you.
Simply Playa Most popular 3 days · 6 dives in Playa del Carmen $8,800 List $8,400 Cash
Training dives: Advanced Buoyancy and Navigation
Training dives: Deep and Marine Ecosystem
Training dives: Drift, plus a non-training dive
Quick Playa 2 days · 6 dives in Playa del Carmen $8,800 List $8,400 Cash
Training dives: Advanced Buoyancy and Navigation
Training dives: Deep and Marine Ecosystem
Training dives: Drift, plus a non-training dive
Cozumel Voyager 3 days · 4 dives Playa + 2 dives Cozumel (direct boat) $10,800 List $10,300 Cash
Training dives: Advanced Buoyancy and Navigation
Training dives: Deep and Marine Ecosystem
Training dives: Drift, plus a non-training dive
Cozumel Sprinter 2 days · 4 dives Playa + 2 dives Cozumel (direct boat) $10,800 List $10,300 Cash
Training dives: Marine Ecosystem, plus a non-training dive
Training dives: Advanced Buoyancy and Navigation
Training dives: Deep and Drift
Cozumel Lover 3 days · 2 dives Playa + 4 dives Cozumel (direct boat) $12,800 List $12,200 Cash
Training dives: Advanced Buoyancy and Navigation
Training dives: Deep and Drift
Training dives: Marine Ecosystem, plus a non-training dive
Cenote Splash 3 days · 6 dives Playa + 2 cenote cavern dives $11,500 List $10,920 Cash
Therefore, if you have only three days available to complete the Advanced Open Water course and dive in a cenote cavern, we recommend spending the first 2 days completing the Advanced Open Water training in Playa del Carmen before heading to the cenotes on day 3.
Training dives: Advanced Buoyancy and Navigation
Training dives: Deep and Marine Ecosystem
Training dives: Drift, plus a non-training dive
Advanced training complete. No training is required today, so we have no restrictions on which cenote caverns we can take you to.
Do it all 3 days · 4 dives Playa + 2 dives Cozumel + 2 dives premium cenotes $13,850 List $13,180 Cash
We will complete the advanced course in the ocean over your first two days, including a direct trip to dive the world-famous reefs of Cozumel. Once you have achieved your new certification, we can share the magical underground world of the Mayan jungle with you by taking you on our Premium Cenote cavern diving trip, where we will dive in the Pit and Dos Ojos cenotes.
Training dives: Marine Ecosystem, plus a non-training dive
Training dives: Advanced Buoyancy and Navigation
Training dives: Deep and Drift
Advanced training complete. No training is required today, so we have no restrictions on which cenote caverns we can take you to.
Economy 2 days · 5 training dives in Playa del Carmen $8,200 List $7,800 Cash
Training dives: Advanced Buoyancy and Navigation
Training dives: Deep and Marine Ecosystem
Training dives: Drift
Can I do the wreck specialty 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 with many entry and exit points; although they are reasonably large, they are not so big that you could become lost inside. The Wreck Diver Specialty is a great course to prepare you for encountering a wreck with a buddy and for developing the skills to map the wreck and plan a detailed penetration using safety lines. However, penetration is not permitted until the final wreck training dive, and since the specialty dive that could be completed as part of Advanced certification is only dive #1, penetration would not be possible while undergoing advanced training.
If you would like to dive and penetrate one of the wrecks during your Advanced course, then this is possible because 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 schedule this for you, you will need to book one of the 3-day schedules and contact us shortly after booking so we can make the correct arrangements. It would not be possible to arrange the wreck fun dive as part of a 2-day Advanced schedule.
What about night dives?
Night dives are great fun. Unfortunately, right now arranging a night dive is a little tricky because we don’t have any viable shore diving spots we can dive at night, and arranging a boat trip is often difficult without enough 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 specialty 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, partly because divers in very high latitudes could never meet the requirements during summer because the sun never set through the night!
SDI Advanced Adventure Diver or PADI Advanced Open Water?
Both are the natural next step after Open Water. They cover the same broad topics and earn you an internationally recognized certification to 30m / 100ft (with the same depth rules for younger divers). Training standards align through the WRSTC, which includes agencies such as SDI, PADI, SSI and NAUI.
| Topic | PADI Advanced Open Water | SDI Advanced Adventure Diver |
|---|---|---|
| Prerequisite | Open Water (or equivalent) | Open Water (or equivalent) |
| Training dives | 5 | 5 |
| Recognizes certifications from | PADI, SDI, SSI, NAUI, CMAS, etc. | SDI, PADI, SSI, NAUI, CMAS, etc. |
| Max training depth | 30m / 100ft (21m / 70ft under 15) | 30m / 100ft (21m / 70ft under 15) |
| Minimum age | 12 | 12 |
| Instructor flexibility for conditions | Standard PADI sequencing | SDI allows adaptive sequencing |
As a 5-Star SDI Dive Center, we love SDI’s eLearning and the way SDI lets instructors adapt the course to you and the ocean conditions. Prefer PADI? Many of our instructors are dual-certified — select PADI Advanced Open Water eLearning in the booking options for the surcharge that covers PADI materials and certification fees.
Medical eligibility
Recreational scuba diving requires good physical and mental health. If you have concerns, review the diver medical questionnaire with your physician before booking — ScubaMedical.com is a good place to start.
Discounts, schedule & booking
Discounts
Our advanced course prices already include discounted rates for our dives in Playa del Carmen, Cozumel and cenotes. And include the fee to cover the training, eLearning and certification.
HINT: If you book any other days of diving in addition to an advanced course, those additional days will immediately be eligible for our multi-day discount.
Requirements
- Prerequisite: Open Water Diver (or equivalent)
- Age: Minimum age 12+
With PADI AOW, divers under 15 are trained to a maximum of 21m / 70ft. - Medical eligibility: You must be medically eligible to complete the training. You can check using ScubaMedical.com.
- No-fly time: You must not fly for 18 hours after scuba diving.
Plan your flights accordingly after your last training day.
Extras
- BCD$130 per diver per day
- Regulator$130 per diver per day
- Wetsuit$130 per diver per day
- Dive computer$200 per diver per day
- SDI Advanced Adventure eLearning$0 per person
- PADI Advanced Open Water eLearning$1,200 per person
Notes
- Multi-day packages — equipment rental fees are calculated according to the number of days required for your desired course schedule.
- Cenote packages include transport from the shop, dive light (in cenotes), snacks and lunch. Cenotes are privately owned — entry fees are paid in cash on site and are not included in our price because fees vary by cenote.
