Learn to dive
After Open Water: How to Choose Your Next SSI Course
Choose one thing you want to improve, then match the training to that goal and your current experience.
After Open Water, choose your next course around the diving you want to do or the skill you want to improve. You might want more control above a reef, a better understanding of navigation, an introduction to several specialties or a longer-term route towards rescue and professional training.
You can also spend time building experience before taking another course. Start with your recent dives and the part of them you would like to feel more confident about. The instructor can then review prerequisites and help you choose a sensible focus.
Start with control and confidence
If staying comfortably in position takes most of your attention, focused Perfect Buoyancy training may be more useful than immediately choosing a more demanding destination. If finding your way is the challenge, consider Navigation. Describe the difficulty you notice rather than deciding from a course name alone.
If the main issue is a long break from diving, begin with a discussion about a Scuba Skills Update. Reviewing skills you already learned and adding a new qualification have different purposes. Our returning-to-diving guide helps you prepare that conversation.
Compare Advanced Open Water with a full specialty
SSI's current Advanced Open Water Diver program introduces Deep Diving, Navigation and three other specialty areas through five training dives. It can suit someone who wants to experience several directions before deciding which to pursue further. It is distinct from SSI's Advanced Specialty Diver recognition.
A full specialty focuses on its own requirements. An introductory dive within an advanced program is not automatically completion of that entire specialty. Compare our Advanced Open Water program with the specific specialty page, and ask the instructor to review any credit you already hold.
| Your interest | Training to discuss | Useful question |
|---|---|---|
| Try several areas | Advanced Open Water | Which specialty experiences are planned? |
| Work on depth-related decisions | Deep Diving | Do my certification and recent experience meet the prerequisites? |
| Improve orientation | Navigation | What practical skills does the full specialty cover? |
| Develop control | Perfect Buoyancy | Can practice focus on the difficulties I notice? |
Match environment and equipment training to a real goal
Deep Diving is worth discussing when you want the focused training required for deeper recreational dives. Night & Limited Visibility addresses a different setting, including light use and orientation. A qualification helps define training, but the actual trip must still fit conditions and recent experience.
Enriched Air Nitrox is another separate area of learning. Ask how the classroom and in-water options differ, and which practical requirements your program includes. Do not interpret a gas qualification as permission to exceed other training or dive limits.
Consider rescue and first-response training together
Diver Stress & Rescue focuses on recognising and managing stress and emergency situations. React Right covers first-response training. These are related subjects, but they are separate programs with requirements to check.
Ask the centre to review the currency of your first-aid training and the prerequisites for the planned rescue program. If you want to combine courses, request a schedule that allows the practical sessions rather than assuming one booking replaces the other.
Treat professional training as a longer pathway
For someone interested in guiding and a future diving career, the professional program needs a fuller review of certifications, logged experience and available time. SSI distinguishes starting the Dive Guide pathway from completing the professional Divemaster upgrade. The two stages have different requirements.
Send your records and the package you are considering before arranging a long stay. Ask what you already meet, what is missing and how experience-building fits around formal training. A recreational holiday course and preparation for professional responsibility need different planning.
Choose the next step with your instructor
Make a shortlist of one or two goals, then compare the current SSI course pages for training, schedule and inclusions. Tell the team your qualification and most recent dives. The best next course is one with a clear purpose in your diving, supported by a plan you have time to complete.
- What skill or environment do I want to work on?
- Do I need a refresher before starting new training?
- Which prerequisites and training records must be checked?
- Is this an introduction, a full specialty or a recognition pathway?
- What practice and time are included in the proposed schedule?
Sources & further information
Program and travel sources checked on 10 November 2026. Confirm current arrangements with the team before booking.
Choose training with a clear purpose
Compare our SSI programs and ask us to review a suitable next step for your experience.
