PADI adventure dives are a large category of specialty courses divers can take to enhance their training and explore special interests. There are 34 different courses that divers can take to increase their confidence and skills. Anyone who is open water certified can participate in these dives and they are all relatively quick to complete.
Each course takes up to 2 days to complete and consists of both bookwork and tactical training. But with so many options, how do you choose? Based on popularity, here are the top 12 adventure dives you should consider trying.
Night Diving
Just when you think you got the hang of diving, try jumping in for a night dive. It is an entirely different experience and a little spooky too. Divers are given a flashlight to use because waters are pitch black at night. The flashlight also helps illuminate and reflect colors that glisten and sparkle.
It is a test to your confidence as a diver as well as your mental condition. Don’t overthink night dives and worry about sharks or stonefish or any other unknown object that might be lurking. Instead, go into the dive with a clear head and a sense of adventure.
The course consists of 2 night dives and only takes 2-4 hours to complete. Expect to learn how to effectively enter and exit the water, how to use a flashlight, how to communicate in the darkness, and how marine life changes in the night.
Night diving is a completely different experience but certainly, one that is good to expose yourself to. Be mindful of fish and remember that you are a guest. Never shine a flashlight directly into the eyes of sea life or disrupt them while they are resting.
Fish Identification
Learning to identify various fish species is exciting and rewarding. It builds confidence and enhance your knowledge of the underwater world. You will also be able to recognize the regional differences between fish species.
Instead of asking someone else what kind of fish just swam past, you’ll have the knowledge to quickly identify what type it was.
This adventure dive will teach you about protecting aquatic life and how to preserve habitats. You will also learn the various techniques in surveying fish and how fish species differ from region to region. The course consists of 2 successful dives and active fish identification activities.
With the fish identification adventure dive you will learn how to distinguish certain family species, various characteristics, and be able to name many types. This skill easily turns every dive into an treasure hunt. You will be able to spot a fish and immediately know what it is and whether or not you can approach it.
Drift Diving
Drift diving can be dangerous but it’s extremely fun. Imagine yourself effortlessly gliding through the water as the current pulls you as though you are flying. It’s exhilarating and intense, to say the least.
Drift diving is all about ocean currents and how to use them to your advantage during a dive. Some currents are more powerful than others so taking the PADI drift diving course prepares divers for various situations.
In this course, you will learn about currents and what causes them. As well as all specialty equipment such as reels, lines, and floats will be explained. Safety precautions are very important because you need to know how to control buoyancy, maintain navigation awareness, control body positioning, and remain communicative with your buddy. The course only takes 2-4 hours and consists of 2 drift dives.
Once you have gained some skills and feel confident enough, there are many unique drift dives to explore including the Washing Machine in the Bahamas.
Peak Performance Buoyancy
Buoyancy is such an important skill to have as a diver. It enables you to have more control of your body and prevents incidents such as crashing into coral reef or flailing around during a safety stop. Divers who have control of their buoyancy look polished and skillful and are often the envy of beginners.
The main skills taught during this course is how to use air to control buoyancy and how calmness affects buoyancy. The class only takes less than 1 day to complete. Expect to spend 2 hours in contained water practicing skills. Next, you will complete 2 open water dives applying your new skills during the dives.
Taking a peak performance buoyancy class will give you the time and space to practice. You can test out different positions and truly master the art of buoyancy control. Including, hovering, streamlining, and trimming your weight system.
The class is very fun as you will be swimming through various obstacles, altering your weight belt, and also practice swimming upside down. Learning how to move in these ways will increase confidence and help decrease air consumption.
Wreck Diving
Wreck diving is a fun experience that every diver should try. It’s a completely thrilling adventure to roam around and through sunken objects. Not only is it a type of underwater museum but many sites also contain unique artifacts.
Since wreck diving is so much more than ships, divers will have the confidence to can explore all types of underwater treasures. This includes discovering sunken ships, planes, or even cars with ease after completing this course.
The course consists of 4 wreck dives that teach divers how to responsibly explore wreck sites. You will learn how to survey and map a wreck site, plan a dive using safety precautions, and how to use reels for guidance. Divers will also be made aware of their body positioning and how to avoid kicking up silt and disturbing the area.
Obviously, you are not required to take the wreck diving adventure course to actually go and dive wrecks. Rather, consider this a great way to increase awareness, knowledge, and navigation skills with wrecks.
Underwater Naturalist
The underwater naturalist course teaches divers about both aquatic life and terrain. You will learn about ecosystems, how they differ and coexist as well as how divers affect these systems.
Being an underwater naturalist means you have an understanding of ecosystems and how they peacefully coexist. The course focuses on the complexities of how underwater environments function.
In learning how these ecosystems coexist students will learn about fish identification and how certain species harmoniously live side by side. Together with fish, divers will learn about plant species and how each one can help identify different ecosystems.
The course also educates divers on how to interact with these ecosystems in a non-damaging way. It’s perfect for divers interested in learning more about habitats and the underwater system of life as a whole.
From start to finish, the course only takes 1 day and consists of 2 open water dives. On each dive, you will identify plants, vertebrate, and inspect regions for signs of damage due to humans.
Deep Diving
There is a lot to see in shallow waters such as coral reef, tropical fish, and easy swim-through tunnels. However, the depths of waters hold a lot of interesting sites as well. Most shipwrecks are in deeper waters as well as drop-offs and large marine life.
The deep diver course educates you on specialized equipment, dive planning, buoyancy control, buddy procedures, and safety information. You will also learn about air supply and how deeper waters impact overall air usage.
One element of the course is to demonstrate how much slower cognitive function is at 30 feet (9 m) as opposed to 100 feet (30 m). You’ll be surprised how much longer it takes to solve a simple math equation at deeper depths. The official term for this is nitrogen narcosis and it affects mood, coordination, inhibitions, and body temperature. It can be very dangerous but this course teaches everything you need to know to maintain awareness and safety.
The course consists of 4 open water dives and usually takes about 2 days to complete. Once completed, divers can reach depths of 130 feet (40 m) and feel very safe and confident in their deep water skills.
Enriched Air
Enriched air or “nitrox” is a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen. Divers use nitrox to reduce decompression times, shorten surface interval time, extend dive times, and reduce the chances of decompression sickness.
The higher concentration of oxygen in a tank the less nitrogen a diver is exposed to. It’s nitrogen in the bloodstream that requires safety stops, decompression sickness, and prevents divers from flying within 12-24 hours of a dive.
Nitrox is usually between 21-32% oxygen but can also be customized according to the dive. The biggest lure to using nitrox for diving is that it extends underwater times. The general rule is that normal dives have a maximum time of 60 minutes at a depth of 60 feet (18 m). However, when using nitrox the maximum time is 90-125 minutes at the same depth of 60 feet (18 m).
The PADI Nitrox course consists of practical knowledge, a practice session, and then 2 official dives using nitrox. The course is quick and takes less than 1 day to complete.
There is a risk of oxygen toxicity when using nitrox so taking a course is necessary. Divers will learn how to track and chart their dive times to ensure they are within safety limits. You will also learn about customizing nitrox blends according to dive conditions, monitoring air intake, and how to set a dive computer for nitrox air.
Search and Recovery Diver
The search and recovery certification educates divers on how to locate and recover lost or missing items from the water. This course covers items both small and large and helps with navigation skills as well.
Here you will learn the most effective methods to search and recover lost items for maximum results. This includes using patterns to canvas sections quickly and efficiently. The course is challenging but highly rewarding and a valuable skill to have.
Divers will participate in 4 search dives which start by planning a recovery dive. You will use a compass for navigation and special swim patterns to locate the lost items. Once the object is found there are several different ways to bring it to the surface depending on the size and weight. Larger items will be recovered using a heavy bag to lift the items from the water.
The course takes at least 2 days to complete and students need to be certified as an advanced open water diver to participate.
Underwater Photography/ Videography
Underwater photography or videography are both relaxing courses that guide you to better and more efficient photo/ video skills. Even if you take decent photos in normal life, water adds a completely different element to photos and videos.
In both courses, you will learn about the equipment including lights, waterproof housing, and how to care for the equipment. The basics covered include exposure, focus, storyline, and sequencing. You’ll be a confident photographer/ videographer once completing the course.
No matter how experienced you are as a photographer or videographer this course teaches fundamental principles including background and angles. You’ll capture perfect images over and over without fail.
In addition, the videography course will also show you how to capture sounds, and motions to produce the best videos possible. You will learn how to edit the footage to produce stunning features.
Each course takes about 1 day to complete and snorkelers are also welcome to attend. Divers will need to complete 2 open water dives. Snorkelers can choose open or confined water for their practice sessions.
Cavern Diving
Ready for some intense exploration and thrilling navigation practice? Well, then this specialty course is for you. Cavern diving allows you to explore caves and venture into grottos.
Caverns are the front portions of caves and are classified as the illuminated portion of the entrance. This is the area covered in the PADI course.
Cavern diving teaches divers how to explore the light zone regions of the enclosure. This is the section of the cavern that is illuminated by light. Cavern diving is safer than cave diving because emergency exits are faster and less complicated.
This course requires a reasonably good amount of buoyancy control and a thrilling sense of adventure.
Divers will learn:
- planning a cavern dive
- using specialty equipment
- distance limits
- navigation
- body positioning
- safety procedures
You will complete 4 cavern dives with the first being an introductory dive and the remaining 3 more concentrated on successful navigation and safety. There are 2 knowledge sessions that go over book work and the overall fundamentals.
Dry Suit
A dry suit is an alternative to a wetsuit. Wet suits keep divers insulated by trapping a layer of water inside the suit and warming it using body temperature. Dry suits on the other hand are an outer layer designed to be waterproof and use air to insulate the diver. They are most commonly worn in very cold water temperatures and ideal for divers who live in cooler climates.
You don’t need any training for a wetsuit. You just put it on and you hop into the water. Dry suits, though, do need training before they can be worn on a dive. Since they use air to inflate and deflate there is an element of loss of buoyancy control or unintentional ascent.
You will learn how to insulate using various forms of undergarments, how to care for dry suits, how to get into a dry suit, and how to control buoyancy in a dry suit.
The PADI dry suit specialty course takes about 2-4 hours to complete and fully trains divers on the function of dry suits. You will also apply this knowledge on 2 dives in the suit to practice using one.