PADI Advanced must be the most enjoyable and beneficial courses to take in the entire
PADI program. Many divers take part in their open water course and stop there. Why
stop? You have only just climbed onto the tip of the iceberg compared to what diving has
to offer.
Your next step after your PADI open water, is your Advanced Open Water. This course
gives you more than almost any other course in terms of recreational diving. Many Open
water divers are deterred by the name “Advanced”, a common misconception. With this
course, you do not have to be an advanced diver, it is designed to “advance” your diving
skills and knowledge.
There is no stand down period between you open water and advanced, you can sign up
to your local Advanced course the day you are certified as an Open Water diver!
The PADI advanced Open Water is made up of 5 “adventure dives”. These adventure
dives are designed to open your eyes to new aspects of the diving world and hone in on
specific areas in diving to ensure you feel confident in your abilities. You spend one
whole dive purely dedicated to expanding your skills and knowledge in that field.
Depending on where you complete your advanced, depends on what adventure dives
the do. At Dive HQ in Christchurch, we offer these 5 adventure dives.
Peak Performance Buoyancy (PPB).
This portion of the course has been carefully curated to maximize your buoyancy
techniques beyond any other course. With an instructor, you will spend one whole dive
learning new buoyancy techniques. Some of these consist of perfecting the “hover” to
make your neutral buoyancy when diving become second nature. You will also learn
more about Trim in the water, as well as perfecting your weight system. Every student
often notices a large difference in their buoyancy once being shown simple techniques
they can implement by their instructor. By the end of this dive, you will be on your way to
having some of the best buoyancy. This Peak performance dive also has many fun
challenges in it, such as trying to swim through a hula hoop and hovering upside down.
This Peak Performance dive in my opinion, will benefit you in the biggest way as it is one
of the fundamental foundations of diving. You are guaranteed to use the skills you learn
on this course on every single dive in the future.
Deep Dive. 
Deep diving is one of the portions of diving where you will notice the biggest difference.
This dive teaches you crucial etiquette and techniques that you must implement when
doing deep diving. Many ancient shipwrecks are at a depth that is classified as “deep”
(18m-30m) therefore you need to know how to dive deep whilst being safe and sensibile.
A Dive HQ instructor will take you off a boat for a deep dive. You get to see the
difference in colour as the red starts to disappear from your vision as it is absorbed by
the water. You also will be taught to notice the difference in your wetsuit as it compresses with the depth.
You will become aware of your air consumption as well as learning crucial steps such as
safety stops. On top of the safety that is involved with deep diving, your instructor may
take an egg down deep with you and crack it open…..wait and see what happens! When
on your deep dive, have a go with a cognitive test (writing your name backwards etc)
and see how hard it is for your brain to figure out!. Deep diving opens many doors for
other areas of diving and can be where you find some of the most impressive things!
Boat Dive. 
During your advanced course with Dive HQ Christchurch, you will head out on the boat.
The dive off the boat is very beneficial to locals living in Canterbury as many dive sites
can only be accessed by boat. On this dive you will learn crucial skills that use safety as
their governing factor. When diving off a boat, there is added risk compared to shore
diving. This dive will teach your proper etiquette and safety precautions when working
around boats. You will learn more about signaling, how to enter and exit boats, where to
stow your gear, safety equipment and learn how to understand boat terminology. This
dive will set you up for diving on boats with a great foundation for safety and procedures.
Navigation Dive. 
Navigation is often severely overlooked by many divers, however is one of the most
crucial parts to diving. The added risks of diving without navigational tools is incredible.
For instance, diving off a boat. You need to know where you boat is and be aware of
your local restrictions when using a dive flag. (NZ laws state you must be within 200m of
your ive flag). Without having any tool to know where you are, how can you be sure
where you are heading etc? You may end up out of the 200m zone, into areas of high
boat traffic or into currents etc. This Dive ensures you become confident and familiar with a compass and how to use it on your everyday dives. You also learn how to
estimate distance based on time and kick cycles on this dive. Pair this with your
compass use and you will be confident to stay within your 200m flag zone. (because
who likes a huge surface swim back to the boat, right?) Once completing this dive, you
feel empowered to use your compass more. These skills will benefit you on every dive
you do, especially at dive sites you aren’t familiar with, as well as many other fields of exploration other than diving.
Night Dive. 
Night diving is one of the more memorable parts of diving in my opinion. Dive HQ makes
you feel at ease and comfortable when going on your night dive as well as giving you
very clear instruction so your feel confident is the dive you’re about to take on. During
this night dive you will gain the skills to go night diving with your buddy on the weekend
and feel safe doing so. Many parts of your diving that you know, changes when the day
becomes night. Signaling and torch use is a crucial part. Knowing how to use your light
beam to signal the person on shore and each other, as your typical diving signals, now
have to be bigger so people can see them. Making sure you get a good torch that
people can see from a long distance is crucial for your safety in the water. Dive HQ
stocks the Fenix SD10 and SD20. The SD20 has a beam range of almost 200m! As well as red light to be careful not to wake the fish.
You will learn how different species appear at night and see how your everyday fish
behaviour changes once the sun goes down!
The Dive HQ Christchurch Advanced Open Water course also includes a weekend away
to Kaikoura and 2 days, jam packed full of amazing diving. This course will allow you to
meet you people and develop your skills together. The advanced course has endless
benefits that you will use every time you dive for many many years to come.
These 5 adventure dives only a few that PADI has to offer to ensure that everyone's
diving needs are met.
Having fun and spend your weekend with Dive HQ gaining endless
knowledge, practical and beneficial skills you can implement into your diving today!
Check out the Dive HQ website for our next Advanced Course Dates.