Specialty Courses
AWARE Fish ID
Have you ever asked yourself, "What was that?”
The PADI Project AWARE Fish Identification Specialty course provides you with the fish identification basics so that next time, you know the answer.
During two dives you gain hands-on experience in looking for and identifying the fascinating fish you see underwater. You can learn more about Project AWARE by going to www.projectaware.org.
Must be a PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver (or qualifying certification from another organization)
Covers Project AWARE and aquatic protection worldwide
Characteristics of local fish families and species will be explained
Fish survey techniques and strategies
Fish identification dive planning, organization and procedures will be practiced
Including the two open water training dives, the course lasts about 12 hours
Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating
Boat Diver
Whether you’ve never made a boat dive or you’ve logged dozens, the PADI Boat Diver Specialty course can benefit almost every diver because different boats in different parts of the world do things differently. The PADI Boat Diver Specialty course familiarizes you with the various ways you stow gear, enter and exit the water, use surface lines and more, depending upon the type boat and the location.
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Must be a PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver (or qualifying certification from another organization)
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Covers techniques for diving from boats ranging from small inflatables to giant live-aboards
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Discusses how dive boats differ from place to place
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Gives you focused experience and training for diving from boats in your local area
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Covers basic boat safety equipment and use
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Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.
Deep Diver
The Deep Diver Specialty course offers you the opportunity of a lifetime - going deep to see things others can only dream about. In this course you will experience what it’s like to dive beyond 60 feet. Down there, it’s different. It takes additional training. Here’s where you get it.
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Must be a PADI Adventure Diver (or qualifying certification from another organization) and 15 years old
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Experience diving beyond 18 metres/60 feet
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Learn deep dive planning, organization, procedures, techniques and hazards
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Four open water dives that range from 18 - 40 metres / 60 - 130 feet.
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Gain experience with diving deep under the direct, professional supervision of a PADI Instructor
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Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.
Digital Underwater Photographer
Digital has taken the underwater photography world by storm. Get in on the action with the PADI Digital Underwater Photographer Specialty course. You can quickly and easily capture the underwater world with your camera and on your computer.
During the PADI Digital Underwater Photographer Specialty course, you learn to use the PADI SEA (Shoot, Examine and Adjust) method, which takes full advantage of digital technology. The result is good underwater photos faster than you may imagine. You not only learn how to take good photos, but how to share them with your friends via email or printing, optimizing your work with your computer, storage and more.
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Must be a PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water (or have a qualifying certification from another training organization) However, you can take the course as a snorkeler and receive a nondiving certification. Not a diver yet? Start today with PADI eLearning.
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Choosing and using modern digital cameras and underwater housings
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Using the PADI SEA method for getting great shots quickly
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Editing and sharing your pictures
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The three primary principles for getting good photos underwater
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The PADI Digital Underwater Photographer certifications credits toward the Master Scuba Diver rating.
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This is one of PADI’s most adaptable specialty courses, and can even be started during the last dive of your PADI Open Water Diver course
Drift Diver
The PADI Drift Diver Specialty Course introduces you to the coolest magic carpet ride you’ll ever experience. This course shows you how to enjoy rivers and ocean currents by “going with the flow,” staying with your dive partner, communicating with the dive boat and knowing where you are the whole time.
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Must be a PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver (or have a qualifying certification from another training organization) and be at least 12 years old
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Planning, organization, procedures, techniques, problems and hazards of drift diving
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An introduction to drift diving equipment -- floats, lines, reels
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Buoyancy-control, navigation and communication for drift diving
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Site selection and overview of aquatic currents – causes and effects
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Techniques for staying close to a buddy or together as a group
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Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.
Drysuit Diver
Wanna stay warm and toasty on a dive? Then stay out of the water. What? Stay out of the water? Yes! Unlike a wetsuit, a dry suit seals you off from the outside water. In the PADI Dry Suit Diver Specialty course, you’ll learn how to use a dry suit. And that keeps you warm! Even in very cold water.
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Must be a PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver (or hold a qualifying certification from another training organization) and at least 10 years old
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Don and doff techniques specific to your dry suit
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Dry suit buoyancy control skills
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Dry suit maintenance and storage
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Undergarment (fleece or overall-type garments worn under the dry suit) options
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The PADI Dry Suit Diver certification credits toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating
Enriched Air Diver (Nitrox)
Why Enriched Air Diver?
Maximize your time with the upgraded Enriched Air Diver course. Enriched Air Diver saves you time by allowing you to:
• Stay underwater longer
• Get back into the water sooner
• Get your certification while simultaneously completing dives for other PADI courses
Plus, by diving with Enriched Air you may feel less tired on your vacation.
How much more time can I be underwater?
For example, if you dive to 15 metres/50 feet on air, your no decompression limit is 80 minutes. But, diving on EANx36 gets you 220 minutes of no decompression time - an increase of 140 minutes! It’s perfect for underwater photographers, wreck divers and anyone who wants to stay down longer.
What do I need to start?
All you need is your open water diver certification. (You must be 15 years of age or older).
What will I do?
You will learn preparation and diving procedures involved with enriched air diving.
How soon can I be diving on enriched air?
Just a mini workshop and a couple dives and you’ll be on your way.
What will I need?
You'll need your Enriched Air text
Where can I go from here?
You also need the Enriched Diver certification if you intend to move into technical diving.
Sign up today!
If you want to stay underwater longer, stop by or contact us at Elmer's Watersports to enroll in a Nitrox Diver course.
Equipment Specialist
Want to know about how your dive gear works? Then the PADI Equipment Specialist course is for you. This course familiarizes you with the operation and maintenance of your dive equipment. The more you know about how your gear works, the more comfortable you are with it, the more performance you get from it and the better you can care for it.
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Must be a PADI Scuba Diver or Junior Scuba Diver (or qualifying certification from another organization)
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Reviews the theory, principles and operation of dive equipment
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Routine, recommended care and maintenance procedures, and equipment storage
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Common problems with equipment and recommended professional maintenance procedures (may include a demonstration of repair procedures)
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Simple suggestions for comfortable equipment configurations and an introduction to new gear (may include optional confined water dive to try new or unfamiliar equipment)
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No dives are required, so you can take the Equipment Specialist course any time of the year
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The PADI Equipment Specialist Course is not an equipment repair course, but it provides the foundation you’ll want if you’re interested in learning equipment repair
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Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.
Night Diver
As the sun sets, you don your dive gear, slip on your mask and bite down on your regulator. A deep breath and you step off the boat – into the underwater night. Although you’ve seen this reef many times before, this time you drop into a whole new world and watch it come to life under the glow of your dive light.
The adventure, thrill and excitement of night diving can be yours when you complete your PADI Night Diver Specialty course. You learn about night dive planning, equipment and navigation. You practice these on three night dives, plus introduce yourself to the whole new cast of critters that comes out after the sun goes down.
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Must be a PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver (or qualifying certification from another organization) and 12 years old
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Number of Dives: Three
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Dive lights and night diving equipment
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Entries, exits and navigation at night
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Nocturnal aquatic life
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Communication and light handling
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Materials: You’ll Need a Night-Pak, which includes PADI Night Diver Manual and the award-winning PADI Night Diving video.
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Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.
Peak Performance Buoyancy
Float effortlessly, drifting over reefs. Be the diver you want to be, with ultimate buoyancy control, able to hover close to the bottom and examine underwater organisms without touching them.
Buoyancy skills separate the good divers from the great divers. In the Peak Performance Buoyancy Specialty course, you will learn to how to precisely weight yourself for optimum control, poise and balance. You learn to ascend and descend so effortlessly, it seems like you only think about it and it happens. By mastering streamlining, you move through the water cleanly, efficiently and gracefully. You swim near fragile environments without harm to them or yourself.
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Must be a PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver certification (or qualifying certification from another organization) and 10 years old.
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Number of dives: Two
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Buoyancy fundamentals, weighting and adjustments
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Streamlining, balance and trim
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Fine tuning buoyancy and mastering hovering
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Materials: You’ll Need Peak Performance Buoyancy video
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Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.
Get the buoyancy control great divers have with PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy.
Search and Recovery Diver
Spend time around water (as a diver, how can you avoid it?) and sooner or later, you come across someone who lost something underwater. If you’re looking for the challenge and excitement – along with doing your good deed for the day – the PADI Search and Recovery Diver Specialty course is for you. It gives you the skills you need to find what’s been lost, and how to get it to the surface.
In the PADI Search and Recovery Diver Specialty course, you learn search and recovery dive planning, organization, procedures, techniques and how to deal with potential problems. You learn how to locate large and small objects using search patterns, and various ways for lifting them to the surface. Not only do these skills make you more capable and confident in the water, but most Search and Recovery Divers eventually end up searching for and recovering something they lost themselves.
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Must be a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver or a PADI Open Water Diver with the PADI Underwater Navigator Specialty (or equivalent certification from another organization)
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Must be at least 12 years old
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Number of Dives: Four
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Search patterns, lift bag use and recovery methods
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Limited visibility techniques and navigation for search and recovery
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Materials: You’ll Need Search and Recovery-Pak, which includes the PADI Search and Recovery Diver Manual and the Search and Recovery video.
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Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.
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Find what you’ve lost with the PADI Search and Recovery Diver Specialty course.
Underwater Navigator
Be the diver everyone wants to follow and make your sense of direction legendary with the PADI Underwater Navigator Specialty course. When everyone’s buzzing about a reef or checking out a wreck, they’re having a great time – until it’s time to go. Then they turn to you, because as a PADI Underwater Navigator, you know the way back to the boat.
Underwater navigation can be challenging, but in the PADI Underwater Navigator Specialty course, you master the challenge. You learn the tools of the trade, including navigation via natural clues and by compass. You learn to estimate distance underwater, follow navigation patterns and know where you are while following an arbitrary, irregular course using the Nav-Finder.
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Must be a PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver (or qualifying certification from another organization)
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Number of Dives: Three
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Navigation patterns, natural and compass navigation
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Following irregular courses with the Nav-Finder
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Dive site relocation
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Materials: You’ll Need Nav-Pak, which includes the PADI Underwater Navigator Manual, Underwater Navigation video and the Nav-Finder
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Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.
Find your way with the PADI Underwater Navigator Specialty course.
Underwater Videographer
Other than taking someone diving, there’s only one way to show someone the sounds, motion and dynamics of the underwater world. It’s underwater videography –motion imaging that allows you to share and document your underwater adventures. The PADI Underwater Videographer Specialty course shows you how to create videos that are interesting, entertaining and worth watching again and again.
The PADI Underwater Videographer Specialty course introduces you to underwater video equipment and videography fundamentals, such as exposure, focus, shot types, moves, story line and shot sequencing. It takes you through the post-dive editing process where you take your raw footage and create an underwater masterpiece. By the time you complete the course, you’ll have gone through the entire basic video production process.
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Must be a PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver certification (or qualifying certification from another organization)
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Number of Dives: Three
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Equipment overview, selection and maintenance
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Story planning and organization
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Shot sequencing
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Basic editing
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Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.
Set the underwater world in motion.
Wreck Diver
You drift down and pass through a window into the past. As you near the bottom, a recognizable shape begins to form. First, you see a straight line, then a round window. Next, a ship materializes in front of you. As you look at the wreck, past and the present meet.
Whether sunk intentionally or tragically, whether a sunken ship, a plane or an automobile, the call of wrecks is nearly irresistible to divers. Through the PADI Wreck Diver Specialty course, you get the skills, knowledge and procedures you need to answer the call of wreck diving.
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Must be a PADI Adventure Diver certification (or qualifying certification from another organization) and be at least 15 years old.
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Number of Dives: Four dives over two days
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Materials You’ll Need: Wreck-Pak, which includes the PADI Wreck Diver Manual and Wreck Diving video.
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Certification counts toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating. The underwater world needs heroes. Be one. Learn how to conserve the aquatic environment.