• Up to 11 dives throughout the trip
• Weather permitting, you will rarely dive the same site more than twice.
• Make a booking between May and September and into October to experience the annual migration of the mighty Humpback whales and the inquisitive Minke whales.
• There are plenty of ‘selfie’ moments with fellow divers onboard the liveaboard vessels on the beautiful Great Barrier Reef! 

The PADI Advanced Scuba Dive Course, Adventures in Diving program, the first step beyond the Open Water Certification. Designed to develop your confidence and skills, make your diving more enjoyable and expand your diving options for the future.

Cairns PADI Advanced Scuba Dive Course

The PADI Advanced Open Water Course is the first step beyond basic certification and is designed to develop your confidence underwater by expanding your existing skills.

Conducted on a three-day, two-night liveaboard dive trip, there is no more spectacular classroom than The Great Barrier Reef itself, with its abundance of marine life and excellent diving conditions year round. 

The prerequisite for this course is a PADI Open Water certificate or equivalent from another training agency.
There are no formal classroom sessions involved, but students will need to read through the PADI Advanced Open Water manual and answer the relevant knowledge review questions for each training dive.
Our course is designed to have minimal intrusion on the enjoyment of your liveaboard experience with ample time set aside to complete the knowledge reviews throughout the trip.

Our PADI Advanced Open Water course offers 11 dives with access to a selection of 19 outer reef dive sites on four magnificent reefs: Flynn,Thetford, Milln and Pellowe Reef.
Diving at different times throughout the day, you will be able to encounter an amazing diversity of marine life including giant clams, sea turtles, stingrays, reef sharks, an incredible variety of tropical fish, spectacular coral formations with consistent underwater visibility. Night diving will introduce a whole new dimension of nocturnal life.

The Advanced certification requires the completion of three core dives: deep dive, underwater navigation, and night dive.
You must also complete two elective dives, which can include nitrox, underwater naturalist, peak performance buoyancy, boat, or underwater photography.
Other elective options may be available which you can discuss with your instructor.  

Between dives, relax in comfort onboard one of our three premium Scubapro dive vessels.
These purpose-built, liveaboard dive vessels feature air-conditioned twin bunk bed or double bed cabins, spacious decks, WiFi and catered meals.
With small passenger numbers, we are able to offer a high quality, personal experience with dedicated attention from our professional staff.

Our three-day, two-night liveaboard trips offer a truly memorable and exciting way to fully immerse yourself and experience our magnificent world heritage Great Barrier Reef environment.

Why Choose Us?
Purpose built, PADI Five Star Dive and Career Development Centre.
All dive crew are fully qualified PADI instructors. You will be diving with a passionate team of experienced professionals, ensuring the quality of your experience and your safety.
Our boats carry a maximum of 32 passengers and six crew, providing you with a more personal experience.
We provide a true liveaboard experience with our boats departing from and returning to Cairns for every three-day, two-night trip, with no boat to boat passenger transfers.
Access to 19 high-quality dive sites ensuring a diverse range of reef environments and dives

Tour Itinerary
We recommend that you visit our retail shop located on the corner of Grafton and Shields streets the night before your trip to arrange the diving/snorkelling equipment, ensure the necessary paperwork is in order and to ensure your certification details are correct.
The shop is open 7 days a week from 9:30am to 7:00pm.

Please note, the below itinerary is a guide only, and the order of sites and dives may change.
The skipper will always adapt the plan to the prevailing weather, tides and currents.

Day #1

05:45 Complimentary hotel transfer
Available from Cairns City and Northern Beaches accommodation.

06:20 Check-in at Pro Dive Cairns retail shop
Corner of Grafton and Shields streets, open map.

07:00 Depart Cairns
A light breakfast is served onboard.

11:00 Dive 1
Your first dive is before lunch. A dive guide will be offered for those divers who have not dived in a while. This is an opportunity for you to acclimatise to the diving conditions, fine-tune your skills or even to refresh your skills if it has been some time since your last dive.

12:30 Lunch

14:30 Dive 2: Peak Performance Buoyancy
If you choose peak performance buoyancy as one of your elective dives, we will use this dive to help you fine-tune your buoyancy, weight adjustments and equipment trim in preparation for the remaining dives. Otherwise, head off and discover more underwater delights. Once you have completed your dive, the vessel moves on to the next site.

16:30 Dive 3: Navigation Dive
During this dive you will complete exercises using both a compass and natural references to help improve your underwater navigation skills.

18:00 Dinner

19:45 Dive 4: Night Dive
An introduction to night diving on The Great Barrier Reef. Your instructor will help you prepare and plan for future night dives that you may do without the supervision of an instructor. Your instructor will accompany you on this training dive for your comfort and safety. During the dive, you will complete a simple navigation exercise before a guided tour, where you could find sleeping turtles, parrotfish and a variety of other marine life only encountered at night. 

Day #2

07:00 Dive 5: Deep Dive
During this dive, we will give you the experience to safely conduct dives beyond your 18 metre depth limit. Under the close supervision of your dive instructor, you will conduct a deep dive where you will be shown the effects of increased pressure and colour absorption at depth.

09:00 Breakfast

11:15 Dive 6: Underwater Naturalist 
If you’re interested in learning more about The Great Barrier Reef and its ecosystem this dive is an absolute must! Learn how to identify the main families of fish from damselfish to triggerfish. You will also be taught how to identify the different corals. If this dive interests you make sure you don’t miss the Reef Teach marine biology presentation the night before your trip departs.

12:45 Lunch 

15:15 Dive 7: Underwater Photography 
If you want to take home some lasting memories this elective dive is ideal. On your Underwater Photography dive you will be taught pre and post underwater camera
care and how to get the best results from your underwater camera. After preparing your underwater camera your dive will simply involve trying to capture the beauty of The Great Barrier Reef. Digital underwater cameras are available to hire onboard or at our retail shop at an extra cost.

17:45 Dinner

19:30 Dive 8: Night dive
After a briefing from the dive supervisor it's now time to put your training into practice

Day #3

06:30 Dive 9: 
Morning of pleasure diving and the opportunity to finish any additional training dives you may not have completed yet. 

07:30 Breakfast

09:00 Dive 10

11:00 Dive 11

12:00 Lunch 

16:00 Complimentary return transfer 
Return transfer to your accommodation

19:30 Farewell dinner (optional, additional cost)
Join fellow passengers and crew at a local restaurant for a farewell dinner

 

Departs From

Cairns

Departure Time

Check in 6.20am at dive shop

Departure Instructions

• Vessel departs 7.00am on Day 1 and returns 4.00pm on Day 3
• Our trip includes Cairns and Northern Beaches accommodation transfers.
• Please advise your accommodation place at the time of booking or at least 48 hours prior to your trip departure reconfirm your booking.

Pickup Locations

• Cairns
• Cairns Northern Beaches
• Palm Cove

• Self-drive: make your own way to dive shop located corner of Grafton & Shield streets by 6.20am
• Please note, no pick-ups from the Airport or private addresses
• Passengers can be collected from hotel or nearest pick-up point.

Destinations

• Great Barrier Reef
• Visit a selection of 19 outer reef dive sites on four magnificent reefs: Flynn, Thetford, Milln and Pellowe Reef.

Months of Operation

January - December

Days of Operation

Wednesday - Thursday, Saturday - Sunday

Fitness Level Required

Medium, Active

IN-WATER RESTRICTIONS

Scuba Diving Restrictions

• Certain medical conditions and medications may preclude some people from scuba diving.
• Participation is subject to a medical questionnaire completed on board with the tour operator
• Minimum age for scuba diving is 12 years.
• Flying after scuba diving: a wait of 12 hours is recommended after one dive, 18 hour after 2 dives and at least 24 hours after multiple dives, before ascending to an altitude of 300 metres or greater.

Read more about Diving Safety on the Great Barrier Reef.

Eco Certifications

• Clothing and swimwear
• Warm clothes for the evening
• 2 x towels (ocean/shower)
• Dive medical if required
• (ask us if you are not sure)
• Sun hat
• Marine safe sunscreen & toiletries
• Certification card (certified divers)
• Seasickness medication
• Shoes are not necessary
• Alcoholic beverages if you would like a drink in the evening
• Please do not bring: sleeping bags, pillows and extra luggage (luggage can be stored securely at our retail shop)

Please note that Pro Dive Cairns does not offer a child minding facility on board - young children must be supervised by a parent / guardian at all times. All Passengers under the age of 18 years old - must have a parent / guardian accompany them on board.