SSI Advanced Open Water Diver course – Phuket  

Dive deeper with an SSI Advanced Open Water Diver certification

The SSI Advanced Open Water Diver course is for you if you have already completed the SSI Open Water course. In fact, if you hold any of the major Open Water certifications, you can sign up for your Advanced Open Water Diver course with SSI. This is the updated SSI Advanced Adventurer course (upgraded in 2025).

The Advanced course takes you beyond the fundamental skills you learned during your Open Water course. It builds on your experience, deepens your understanding of the basic principles, and opens up new challenges and opportunities. There's no mandatory reading at all. Your instructor will guide you through detailed dive briefings and de-briefings, and you'll gain in skills and confidence.

During the course, you will sample five of the SSI specialties that interest you most. You do that by completing five Adventure Dives. Each Adventure Dive counts as the first dive of the full specialty course. It's like a tasting menu for divers.

The only mandatory dives are Deep and Navigation. The other three are your choice. We have our recommendations, as you'll read further down the page here, but this is your course, so if there's something you're particularly interested in, just let us know.

Advanced Open Water Divers are certified to dive to 30m.

Chat with us about the specialties and options available.

What Specialties should I choose for my SSI Advanced Open Water Diver certification?

There's no right or wrong answer to this question. The mandatory dives are Deep and Navigation, and you can discuss with your instructor which you should do for the other three. We have some recommendations, but we want to work with you to design the perfect course for you and the available dive sites during your course.

Our Recommendations

Perfect Buoyancy is one that we always recommend. No matter how good your buoyancy is, there is always room for improvement, and it's amazing how much you can learn when you're concentrating on this core diving skill.

Waves, Tides, & Currents is another very useful specialty to consider. You will learn how to assess the likely conditions, and plan the dive accordingly. Your new Navigational skills may also come in handy in executing the perfect dive plan to account for the predicted conditions.

Some others that are popular include Computer Diving, Fish ID, or Underwater Photography.

Can I Choose Enriched Air Nitrox?

Many students ask if they can choose Nitrox as one of their elective dives. The short answer is "yes". But doing it this way will not give you the Nitrox Diver certification. If you want the certification to dive with Nitrox in the future you need to complete the full specialty. If you choose to combine the Nitrox course with your Advanced course, we can offer a bundle package price.

Find out more by using the contact form here, contact us through WhatsApp on +66848504314, or send us an email, info@oceanicdivecenter.com.