PADI and SDI courses · Open Water divers
Advanced Open Water is the course that opens the best diving in the Riviera Maya. Five adventure dives over three days, 9,000 MXN with equipment and certification included: deep to 30 metres, underwater navigation and peak performance buoyancy, plus two dives you choose. It is the certification for El Pit, Angelita and Zapote, and the one we recommend before the bull sharks.
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The Mama Viña wreck at 27 to 30 metres, a favourite for the deep and wreck adventure dives.
Small groups, one instructor from start to finish, no hidden costs. Based in Playacar, Playa del Carmen. Read our Google reviews
The course
The Advanced course builds on your Open Water certification with five adventure dives, each one an introduction to a type of diving under an instructor’s eye. Three are required: a deep dive to a maximum of 30 metres, underwater navigation, and peak performance buoyancy. You choose the other two.
Day by day
The cavern and shark conservation electives need their own day (a cenote day or a shark dive in season) and carry an extra cost; tell us when you book and we build them into the schedule.
Electives
Pick the two that match how you want to dive afterwards:
Who it is for
Any Open Water diver, from any agency, including divers who certified last week. There is no minimum number of dives, and doing the Advanced course straight after Open Water is common because the two courses fit into one week. Divers with old certifications and a long gap are welcome too; we start with a reef morning to refresh, then go into the adventure dives.
Minimum age 12 for the junior certification. The course runs in English, German or Spanish.
The three deepest cenotes, El Pit, Angelita and Zapote, all reach 30 metres and require Advanced Open Water. The bull shark dive sits at 24 metres and we recommend Advanced for it. The deep walls of Cozumel, the Mama Viña wreck and Pared Verde are all more relaxed with the deep dive behind you.
Key details
Good to know
What divers ask us before they book this course.
Yes, an Open Water certification from any agency. There is no minimum number of dives, and many divers do the two courses back to back in one week.
No final exam. Each adventure dive has a short knowledge review, and the dives themselves are the assessment.
A maximum of 30 metres, planned and briefed in detail, usually on the Mama Viña wreck or a deep wall. After the course, 30 metres is your certification limit.
Drift diving, because that is how the reefs here and in Cozumel are dived. For the second, wreck if you like the Mama Viña, cavern if the cenotes are why you came (extra cost, its own day), or shark conservation in season.
Yes. The cavern elective is a guided cenote cavern dive on a cenote day, at the cenote price, and it counts as one of your five adventure dives.
In season, November to February, the shark conservation elective is the bull shark observation dive at Shark Point. It carries the shark dive price and needs a calm day, so we schedule it around the weather.
The three 30 metre cenotes (El Pit, Angelita and Zapote), the deep sites and the wreck with confidence, and the bull shark dive, for which we recommend Advanced.
No. Full rental equipment is included for the whole course.
Next step
Send your dates and your certification and Humann confirms the three days and your two electives the same day, in English, German or Spanish.
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