SSI Advanced Open Water
You have your Open Water card. You may not know yet if you're a wreck diver, an underwater photographer, or someone who just wants to hover weightless over a reef.
Nobody knows that after a handful of checkout dives. AOWD is five real, supervised adventure dives, including Deep and Navigation plus three of your choice, that let you sample actual directions before you spend time and money committing to one.
Availability: Contact us for booking information
Five Dives Tell You More About What Kind of Diver You Want to Be Than Any Course Description Can
More dives do not automatically mean more capability. The SSI Advanced Open Water Diver certification is designed to deliberately expand what you can do: five structured training dives that build depth control, navigation skill, and broader environmental readiness, with an instructor alongside you the entire time.
Two required dives, deep and navigation, plus three elective dives chosen around your interests. Each dive is briefed, debriefed, and built to show you something new about diving rather than just log another dive. $249 per diver (group) · $349 private. Open Water Diver, minimum age 12. View the Dive Calendar →
Advanced Open Water Is for the Diver Ready to Build Real Range
You finished Open Water and want to keep going
AOWD is the natural next step after Open Water. Five structured dives move you from foundation skills into broader capability.
You want to dive deeper than 60 feet
Open Water certifies to 60 feet. AOWD extends your range to 100 feet with dives that build the judgment to use that range safely.
You are not sure which CE direction to go next
Three elective dives let you sample specialties before committing. Night, Search and Recovery, Wreck, Buoyancy: try the ones that sound interesting.
You have a liveaboard or travel dive trip planned
Many travel operators and liveaboards expect Advanced certification. AOWD gets you there with structured training rather than just more uncertified dives.
Course at a Glance
| Price | $249 per diver (group) · $349 per diver (private) |
| Format | Online academics via MySSI app · five open water training dives (2 required, 3 elective) |
| Time commitment | Self-paced academics (3–4 hours) plus five open water dives · typically completed across two lake sessions |
| Location | Lake Travis or Spring Lake |
| Required dives | Deep Dive (to 100 ft) · Navigation Dive · three elective dives of your choice |
| Prerequisites | Open Water Diver (any agency) · minimum age 12 |
| Certification awarded | SSI Advanced Open Water Diver · lifetime, recognized worldwide |
| CE lane | CE Sampler → |
Ready to build real range?
SSI Advanced Open Water — $249 · Austin, TX
Five structured training dives at Lake Travis or Spring Lake. Call (512) 451-3425.
View the Dive Calendar →Five Dives. Each One Briefed, Executed, and Debriefed With Your Instructor.
Online academics first, then five training dives at real Austin-area sites. The deep and navigation dives are required. The three elective dives are chosen around your interests and goals.
Cover deep dive planning, navigation fundamentals, task loading, buddy team awareness, and an overview of all available elective specialties so you can choose your three with context.
Plan and execute a dive to maximum depth with your instructor, managing gas consumption, narcosis awareness, computer tracking, and a controlled ascent with safety stop.
Apply compass and natural navigation techniques in open water: out-and-back courses, natural references, and returning to a precise entry point with your buddy team.
Choose from available specialties: Night Diving, Search and Recovery, Perfect Buoyancy, Wreck Diving, Boat Diving, and others. Each elective is a structured training dive with a brief and debrief, not just an open dive.
Your AOWD certification is awarded through the MySSI app. Lifetime credential, recognized worldwide, and the standard certification required by most liveaboards and travel operators.
Broader Range and the Structured Experience to Use It Safely
Five instructor-led dives build capability that additional uncertified diving cannot. Here is what you leave with:
Certified to 100 feet with the planning and gas management skills to match
Navigation skills applied in real open water, not just described in a classroom
Sampled three CE specialties and a clearer sense of where you want diving to go next
The Advanced certification most liveaboards and travel operators require
We Build Divers We Would Trust With Our Own Families.
The point of Advanced Open Water is not the card. It is five structured dives where an experienced instructor is paying close attention to how you actually dive, giving you feedback that additional uncertified dives cannot. Tom’s instructors brief every AOWD dive, watch it, and debrief what they saw, which is where most of the learning happens.
Tom’s has been Austin’s only SSI Dive Center since 1982, open longer than any other Austin dive shop still in business. Over 400 five-star Google reviews.
Trained at Lake Travis and Spring Lake
Five dives at real Austin-area sites, not a controlled pool environment. The skills transfer to the conditions you will actually dive in.
Open Longer Than Any Other Austin Dive Shop Still in Business
Four decades of helping newly certified divers build real range through structured training.
Three Dives Chosen Around Your Goals
Not every diver wants the same three electives. Tom’s builds AOWD around your interests and your next CE direction.
30+ Tom’s Instructors
Flexible scheduling for all five training dives built around your calendar.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Most CE specialties only require Open Water Diver. AOWD is one path, not the only one. It makes sense if you want structured depth training and a broader certification, but Perfect Buoyancy, Navigation, and other CE courses are available immediately after Open Water.
You choose from the electives Tom’s offers and that fit your certification level. Call (512) 451-3425 to discuss which three make sense for your goals and diving direction.
Some elective AOWD dives can count toward a full specialty certification. Ask your instructor which electives have that crossover so you can plan accordingly.
No minimum logged dives beyond Open Water certification. AOWD can follow immediately after Open Water.
Yes. All students complete an SSI Medical Statement before any in-water activity. Most people do not require a physician’s signature. Call (512) 451-3425 with questions about a specific condition.
Ready to build real range?
SSI Advanced Open Water — $249 · Austin, TX
Call (512) 451-3425 to schedule your five training dives.
View the Dive Calendar →