Updated 14 August 2026
You have your Open Water card, a few dozen dives in the log, and the question of what comes next. There is no single right answer to it. The PADI ladder runs Advanced, then Rescue, then the professional track, but you can also step sideways into a specialty and get properly good at one kind of diving instead.
This is a guide to the advanced level courses we run in Bali, what each one actually involves, and who each one suits. We teach the Advanced, the Rescue and the specialties at all five of our centres, and this guide is written around Amed, which is where most people in Bali take them. Amed sits on the doorstep of the USAT Liberty wreck at Tulamben, with Padang Bai and Nusa Penida in easy reach, so you train on real dive sites rather than in a pool with a nice view.
When it comes to choosing, you have three directions. Carry on up the PADI ladder of recreational certificates. Step sideways into a PADI Specialty and get good at one particular kind of diving. Or, once you are a Rescue Diver, go professional with our Divemaster and Instructor programmes.
Here are the advanced level courses we are asked about most often.
PADI Advanced Open Water
If you are a PADI Open Water Diver, this is the usual next step. The PADI Advanced Open Water certifies you to 30 metres and teaches you to navigate underwater properly. Two of the five dives are fixed, the deep dive and the navigation dive, and you choose the other three. In Amed we would point you at night diving, wreck diving, peak performance buoyancy, fish ID or drift diving. If you dive with a camera, take the underwater photography option.
Two days, Rp5,250,000 in Amed. We have written about this one in more detail, including how it runs at each of our five centres, in Take your PADI Advanced Open Water in Indonesia.
PADI Rescue Diver and EFR
Ask any PADI Professional and they will tell you the PADI Rescue Diver course was the most challenging and the most rewarding thing they did. You refresh your own self-rescue skills, you learn to plan dives in a way that keeps problems small, and you learn to handle emergencies on the surface and underwater. It is the first course where the focus is other divers rather than yourself, and it is essential for anyone heading for a professional rating.
To certify you also need the Emergency First Responder course, unless you already hold current first aid and CPR certification.
Three days, Rp5,300,000 in Amed. Four days including EFR, Rp6,850,000.
PADI Nitrox Specialty Course
Enriched air, or Nitrox, is a gas mix with more oxygen and correspondingly less nitrogen in it. Breathing less nitrogen extends your no-stop time, so you either stay down longer or come up with a bigger safety margin. Plenty of liveaboards and remote resorts expect a Nitrox certification before they will fill your tank, so it travels well.
PADI Deep Specialty Course
For what sits below 30 metres. The PADI Deep Specialty takes you to a maximum of 40 metres and covers the effects, the hazards and the precautions that go with depth, including nitrogen narcosis and how to recognise it in yourself and in the person next to you.
PADI Wreck Specialty
The WWII USAT Liberty at Tulamben is one of the most dived wrecks in the world and it is a short drive from us. On the wreck specialty you learn to navigate and map a wreck, spot the hazards, and penetrate a structure safely. There are smaller wrecks at Padang Bai and Amed to practise on too.
Specialty courses run as a supplement from Rp2,250,000 for two dives. The Amed price list has the full breakdown.
PADI Divemaster and Instructor Development
If you want to make a job of it, Amed is where we teach it. We run the PADI Divemaster and the Instructor Development Course, along with internships that put you inside a working dive centre rather than alongside one. You end up part of the Two Fish family, learning next to our team, which is a different thing from a course that finishes on a Friday.
Two Fish Special Offers
Every course you do with us earns Scuba Tribe loyalty points, and the points carry across all five centres. Our current special offers and discounts are worth a look before you book.
Ready for the next step? To reserve any of our advanced level courses, or just to ask which one suits you, get in touch and we will come back to you. If you want to claim an offer, say which one in your message.
