The PADI Advanced Open Water Course is all about advancing your skills. There’s no exam as this course is truly about having fun, gaining experience, and getting more out of your diving.

Through a combination of learnt theory and practical training, you will gain experience and understanding in 5 specialty dive topics. The first two topics are compulsory to the course:

1. Deep Diver - Learn how to safely dive to a depth of 30 meters/100 feet. You will learn how to plan dives to deal with the physiological effects and challenges of deeper scuba diving.

2. Advanced Underwater Navigation - Refine your compass navigation skills and learn to use kick-cycles, visual landmarks, and time to easily navigate yourself on any dive.

Also, partake in 3 optional specialties. We offer the following specialties:

1. Night Dive - When the sun goes down, that’s when all the incredible life comes out to play! Here in British Columbia, we get Octopus, Seals, Shrimp, Crabs and lots more! You will learn the basics of how to dive at night, including how to use a torch and how to navigate in the dark.

2. Wreck Dive - Discover a window into the past and prepare for some fun underwater exploration! While learning about responsible wreck diving practices you will enjoy the incredible wrecks located here in British Columbia. With Rowand’s Reef there is the opportunity to experience the incredible HMCS Annapolis Wreck, a new Artificial Reef located in Howe Sound.

3. Search and Recovery - The next time someone loses an item underwater, you can be the hero who finds the missing object. Practice different types of underwater search patterns and learn how to attach and inflate a lift bag, to bring lost items back to the surface.

4. Fish Identification - For all the divers fascinated by aquatic life and looking to learn more about the array of species living in BC waters. Learn how to identify fish, surveying techniques and strategies, and more about how we can help protect our local sea life.

5. Peak Performance Buoyancy (PPB) - Excellent buoyancy control is what defines a skilled scuba diver. Buoyancy control is just part of the equation. You will learn finning techniques such as frog kicking, helicopter turns, and more advanced techniques such as back finning.

We try to plan the course based on the preferences of our students so if you have particular specialties that you’d like to cover, please let us know when you enroll in the course.

Here at Rowand's Reef, there is also the option to take your Advanced Open Water training one step further with the Drysuit Specialty Add-On. If you want to dive in British Columbia, or any other cold water location, and plan on staying warm you’ll want to be doing it in a drysuit. You’ll gain the knowledge and skills needed to be a drysuit master.

The PADI Advanced Open Water Diver Course is perfect for divers looking to expand their skills and explore new types of diving. It will help you improve your buoyancy and underwater navigation as well as train you to safely dive to a depth of 30 meters/100 feet.

The Advanced Open Water certification opens many doors for a developing diver and enables you to join almost any recreational dive worldwide.

Rowand’s Reef has over 50 years of experience running diving courses. Whether it’s helping you take your first breaths underwater or giving you the tools you need to take your diving to the next level, we’re here to help and support you through your diving journey!

Whatever your experience, our instructors will work with you to ensure your confidence, comfort, and readiness. Our low Instructor-to-student ratios allow maximum contact time and our top-of-the-line rental equipment will ensure that your dives are successful and enjoyable.

Our mission at Rowand’s Reef is to provide world-class scuba training, making sure that our students have the knowledge and skills they need to be safe out in the water while also having a great time!

A drysuit is a sealed suit worn when scuba diving instead of a wetsuit to keep you warm in colder water. It works by trapping a layer of air within the suit which acts as an insulator and also helps with your buoyancy. Your body stays dry underneath the drysuit and you can also wear thermals to stay even warmer. In British Columbia, the water gets cold so you will find the vast majority of divers using a drysuit.

We will train you to dive in a drysuit for your Open Water Course as standard. They will keep you nice and warm, ensuring more comfort and enjoyment from the course. The extra training will also make you a more prepared and versatile diver from the outset. However, while we recommend it, you don't have to wear a drysuit if you don't want to. For those who aren't as interested in drysuit diving, we have warm 14/7mm wetsuits available for use in the ocean. These wetsuits will keep you warm in the cold waters for the most part and can be requested in place of the drysuit for use on your course.

At Rowand's Reef, we carry the Aqua Lung Fusion range of drysuits. These suits contain the latest in drysuit technology and allow for a customized fit with added flexibility and buoyancy control in the water.

Water colour, visibility and temperature - these are the biggest differences when it comes to cold water vs. warm water diving.

Water colour - In cold water, the colour appears more green/grey compared to the blue/turquoise water of the tropics. This difference really only matters if you do any underwater filming or photography.

Visibility - the best time to dive in BC is from September - April. This is when the water is the clearest and is as good as any warm water dive site. In the summer visibility here can be poor at times due to the large growth of algae that occurs across the North Pacific coast. The visibility will clear up as you dive deeper, but learning to dive in poor conditions will again give you extra experience and training making you a better diver.

Temperature - water temperatures in BC range from around 7°C in the winter/spring to around 15°C in Summer/Fall. While this is a bit different to the 20°C plus temperature of warmer water, the extra equipment and drysuits make this easy to handle and you quickly get used to it after a few dives.

Things to see - When it comes to marine and plant life, there are just as many amazing things to see in cold water as there are in the tropics. Life in cold water tends to be smaller and more unique, whilst warm water life tends to be more plentiful. You may have to explore a bit more to find life in cold water but this just adds to the adventure of the dive!

Jacques Cousteau once said that the coastal waters of British Columbia are 'the best temperate water diving in the world and second only to the Red Sea'. - An indication of just how much there is to see here! Plus, Vancouver is one of the only places in the world where you can ski and scuba dive on the same day - definitely worth a bit of cold!