PADI Drift Diver Course

Experience one of scuba diving’s most exhilarating sensations—effortlessly gliding through the water as the current carries you across the reef.

Drift diving can be relaxing, exciting and an excellent way to explore a much larger area than you could cover by swimming. However, changing currents, moving exit points and maintaining contact with your buddy require specialised planning and skills. The PADI Drift Diver Specialty Course teaches you how to understand the conditions, prepare your dive and confidently go with the flow.

Under the guidance of a Perth Scuba PADI Instructor, you’ll complete two open-water drift dives while developing practical techniques for safely diving in currents.

What You’ll Learn

During the course, you’ll learn about:

• How tides, weather and underwater topography influence currents
• Planning and organising safe drift dives
• Selecting appropriate entry and exit techniques
• Maintaining neutral buoyancy while travelling with the current
• Staying together with your buddy or dive group
• Underwater and surface communication procedures
• Navigation techniques for current-driven dives
• Using surface marker buoys, reels, floats and lines
• Boat procedures and surface supervision for drift diving
• Managing buddy separation and other potential problems
• Respectfully interacting with marine life while drifting

Good buoyancy is particularly important when drift diving. Rather than fighting the current, you’ll learn to relax, maintain control and adjust your position so you can travel comfortably without colliding with the reef or other divers.

Two Open-Water Training Dives

The PADI Drift Diver Specialty includes two open-water dives conducted at a suitable current-affected location. Conditions and the exact dive site will be selected according to weather, tides and safety considerations.

These dives give you the opportunity to practise your planning, buoyancy, communication and surface-signalling skills in real conditions under instructor supervision.

Who Can Enrol?

To commence the PADI Drift Diver Specialty, you must:

• Hold a PADI Open Water Diver certification or an equivalent recognised qualification
• Meet the applicable minimum age requirements
• Be medically fit to dive
• Have sufficiently recent diving experience and comfortable buoyancy skills

If it has been more than 12 months since your last dive, Perth Scuba may recommend completing a refresher before beginning the course.

Why Become a PADI Drift Diver?

Drift-diving experience can help prepare you for dive destinations where currents are common, including tropical reefs, channels, walls and offshore sites. It can also improve your confidence when diving from a boat or exploring sites where your exit point may differ from your entry point.

Once you understand how currents work and how to plan for them, drift diving can feel less intimidating and more like an underwater flight—allowing you to conserve energy, cover more ground and enjoy the scenery as the ocean does the work.

Inclusions:

• Tuition
• Drift Diver e-learning
• 2 Shore Dives
• Air Fills (for entire course)
• Hire of BCD, Regulator & Air Cylinder
• Project AWARE Drift Diver Specialty Certification e-Card
• Equipment Discount for Students on Courses
  

Other training to consider is the PADI Enriched Air Diver course on your way to PADI Master Scuba Diver.  

• PADI Advanced Open Water Diver or equivalent
• Minimum 15 years of age