The PADI Advanced Open Water Course opens up a world of underwater adventure, giving you the chance to dive as deep as 30 metres. With highlights like The Rainbow Warrior and The Canterbury Wreck, you’ll explore some of New Zealand’s most celebrated dive spots. This two-day experience blends skill development with breathtaking discovery.
Unlike the Open Water Course, there’s no big test at the end, making it all about hands-on learning. You’ll complete five adventure dives, including mandatory deep and navigation dives, while the other three are chosen to match your interests. Whether you want to focus on wrecks, photography, or buoyancy, you can tailor the course to your diving goals.
Build Confidence and Expand Your Diving Skills
Confidence comes naturally when you learn through practice, and this course is designed to make you a safer, more skilled diver. With knowledge reviews and real underwater training, you’ll refine techniques that will serve you on dives worldwide. Every session builds a stronger foundation for your diving future.
By the end of the course, you’ll hold a certification that allows you to explore to depths of 30 metres anywhere across the globe. It’s a milestone achievement for divers who want more freedom and adventure beneath the surface. For anyone passionate about discovery, it’s an unforgettable step in your scuba journey.
CANCELLATIONS, REFUNDS & AMENDMENTS
Cancellations after booking: No Refund
Changes to dates more than 7 Days before: No Amendment Fee
Changes within 7 days: 50% Amendment Fee; free if we are able to fill your space.
Please see more information on refunds and cancellations in Go New Zealand's terms and conditions.*
Itinerary
We meet at the shop at 7:45am to complete paperwork and sort out gear. Once everything is ready, we load our trailer and minibus and head to Matauri Bay. At Matauri Bay, we load our 7.5m inflatable boat (powered by a 250hp engine) with the gear and launch it from the beach.
From there, it’s a short 10-minute ride to the wreck of the Rainbow Warrior, resting on a sandy seabed 26 metres deep. This dive is done as either the Deep Dive or the Wreck Dive, depending on whether it's your second day of the course. The Rainbow Warrior, sunk for over 30 years, is home to an incredible variety of fish and encrusting marine life.
After the wreck dive, we return to the beach for lunch before heading out again for a reef dive in the Cavalli Islands. This reef dive is usually an elective dive, such as Fish Identification, Photography, Boat Diving, or Peak Performance Buoyancy. With hundreds of dive sites in the area, our experienced skippers will choose the best one for the conditions.
After completing the reef dive, we return to the beach to retrieve the boat and head back to Paihia. We usually arrive back between 4:00pm and 4:30pm.
We start the day by meeting at the shop at 7:45am to sort out paperwork and gear. Once ready, we load everything onto trolleys and walk to Paihia Wharf, just 100 yards from the shop. There, we load our 11.5m hard-top aluminium boat, powered by twin 300hp engines. After a quick safety briefing, we set off through the stunning Bay of Islands.
It’s a 40-minute ride to Deep Water Cove, where the HMNZS Canterbury rests upright on a sandy seabed 36 metres deep. This dive is either the Deep Dive or the Wreck Dive. The Canterbury is 114 metres long, with its shallowest point at 14 metres and its deepest at 36 metres. There’s plenty to explore, including gun mounts, telephones, the bridge, helicopter hangar, and missile room. The wreck, now part of a marine reserve for over 10 years, is teeming with fish, anemones, crayfish, and eels.
After exploring the wreck, we head to a shallower reef for the Navigation Dive. Following this, we enjoy lunch on the boat before moving to another reef site for the third and final dive of the day. This is an elective dive, with options like Fish Identification, Photography, or Peak Performance Buoyancy. Our experienced skipper will choose the best location based on the day’s conditions.
After the final dive, we return to Paihia Wharf to unload and log the dives. We typically finish between 3:30pm and 4:30pm, depending on the group size and what we spot during the trip!
Snorkelling & Diving
Multi-Day Short Tours
