Advanced open water

Dive deeper, refine your diving skills, fine tune your buoyancy, and learn how to become a more independent diver. The PADI advanced course is designed to strengthen your dive skills and take your diving to the next level. You’ll gain more confidence in the water, letting you enjoy diving more than ever!

If you’ve always wanted to try night diving, or learn more about Fish ID or drift diving - here’s your chance. You can sample three dives of your choice to get a taste of what you like. You can be sure to finish the course as a more independent, well rounded diver! As an advanced diver, you’ll be certified to dive to a maximum depth of 30m. This is perfect for going deeper at Sipadan and increasing your chances of spotting hammerheads and other large pelagic species!

Scuba Junkie is an award winning 5* PADI IDC centre, and your safety is our top priority! Our instructors are friendly and experienced, and most have been trained in-house to ensure that we can offer you top quality training, not only in line with PADI standards, but also by our Scuba Junkie standards!

The dive sites around this area are very diverse, with gently sloping coral reefs, deep walls, wrecks and much more to discover during your PADI advanced course. Group sizes are kept to a maximum of 4 students per instructor, to ensure each and every student gets the attention they need. Our equipment is well maintained, and serviced regularly, and our dive boats have all safety equipment you may need, including emergency oxygen and first aid kit.

The Adventures in Diving program offers both the Adventure Diver and Advanced Open Water Diver certifications. If you complete any three adventure dives, you can earn your PADI Adventure Diver certification. If you complete your Deep Adventure Dive, Underwater Navigation Adventure Dive and three Adventure Dives for a total of five, you can earn your Advanced Open Water Diver certification. PADI Adventure Dives can also count towards PADI Specialty Diver certifications.

The next step is the PADI rescue diver course, where you learn to look beyond yourself and consider the safety of others.

Becoming a PADI advanced open water diver opens up a world of new possibilities and dive sites to discover. With the optional adventure dives you can explore the areas of diving that you’re interested in, all whilst improving your diving and seeing some of the incredible marine life this area has to offer.

The advanced course consists of five dives, and is completed over the course of two days. On day one, we recommend starting with the Peak Performance Buoyancy dive, to refine your buoyancy control, trim, positioning and improving your air consumption. Completing the buoyancy dive first means you can practise the things you learn here during the rest of your course dives. Dive two is typically the Underwater navigation dive, followed by an afternoon of self study. There is a small amount of theory to complete, for each dive you choose there’s a knowledge review to fill in, which will be reviewed with your PADI instructor before completing the course.

On day two, you’ll typically head out on the boat in the morning for the Deep dive, followed by the remaining dives that you have chosen. Depending on the dives you choose, and if you have any more self-study to complete, you may sign up for an extra optional fun dive! The Advanced Course schedule may differ a little from course to course, depending on which dives you have chosen. Your instructor will advise you which dives will be completed on which day.

Here's a sample itinerary:
Day 1: Peak performance buoyancy dive, underwater navigation dive, lunch break, self-study, night dive.
Day 2: Deep dive, fish ID dive, lunch break, knowledge review session with your instructor, extra fun dive (optional if time allows).

Deep: Learn how to properly plan deep dives, and what extra safety procedures to follow. You’ll look at how your air consumption and NDL (no decompression limits) changes at depth. This dive will take you down to a maximum depth of 30m!

Navigation: Ever wondered how your dive guides seem to know exactly where they are, all the time? With this dive you will fine tune your natural navigation skills, and learn how to use an underwater compass accurately.

Peak Performance Buoyancy: Master buoyancy control, and improve your trim and positioning in the water. Learn how to move more efficiently with advanced kicking techniques. Improve your air-consumption, so your dives last longer!

Fish ID: During this dive you’ll learn how to identify different fish, based on the way they look, their behavior and their habitat. More than 3000 species of fish have been identified in this area, making it the perfect place to work on your fish ID skills!

Night: The night dives around here are simply too incredible to miss! Diving at night opens up new possibilities, and you’ll encounter different marine life which are usually hidden away during day time!

Drift: Drift diving can be both relaxing and exciting - if done correctly. Many of the world's best dive sites, including Sipadan, involve diving in currents, which can be challenging for new divers. During this dive you’ll learn different drifting techniques, and how to move efficiently in a current.

Search & recovery: During this dive you’ll learn how to locate missing objects underwater, and how to bring them safely back to dry land. You’ll practise different search patterns, knots and how to use a lift bag to recover heavy objects.

Naturalist: A good option if you are interested to know more about what you see underwater. Learn how to distinguish between the many different vertebrates, invertebrates and plants that can be found in this area.

Wreck: Wrecks can be fascinating to dive, and are usually teeming with marine life. Whilst you will not be able to penetrate the wreck during this dive, you will learn about the different safety techniques and potential hazards of wreck diving.

We offer awesome Advanced Open Water Course & Sipadan packages which include accommodation at our resort with full meals, the course, all equipment and materials needed plus extra fun dives! If you do not wish to book a package, the stand alone course price is RM 1,225.

• Prices include 6% SST on accommodation at Mabul Beach Resort
• Prices exclude Sipadan permit & conservation fees (per person per Sipadan day):
  Non-Malaysian Diver: RM450
  Non-Malaysian Snorkeller: RM100
  Malaysian Diver: RM300
  Malaysian Snorkeller: RM50
• Prices exclude Malaysian Tourism tax of RM10 per room per night (not applicable to dorm)
• The above rates are based on twin or triple share, single supplements per night are for divers: Ensuite Fan: RM105, Deluxe AC: RM155, VIP AC: RM155
• A high season supplement of RM25 per person per night will be applicable for the following dates: 15th December 2023 - 5th January 2024, 5th - 15th February 2024, 28th March - 15th April 2024, 15th May- 15th September 2024, 1st- 7th October 2024 & 15th December 2024- 5th January 2025
• Above packages include the PADI Advanced Open Water Course, accommodation at Mabul Beach Resort, diving around Mabul, Kapalai, Si Amil and Sipadan islands, equipment rental, boat transfers to/from Mabul at specified times, meals, tea, coffee & water
• All trips are subject to weather conditions and permit availability at the time of booking
• Minimum required certification level Advanced Open Water or equivalent & minimum age is 10 years for Sipadan Dive packages
• Possible additional Single supplement course fee of RM100 per day if you are the only course participant
• A single supplement fee of RM200 per day is applicable if you are the only participant on your fun diving day