PADI Underwater Navigator Diver

Be the scuba diver everyone wants to follow because you know where you are and where you’re going. The PADI Underwater Navigator course fine-tunes your observation skills and teaches you to more accurately use your compass underwater. If you like challenges with big rewards, take this course and have fun finding your way.

If you’re a PADI (Junior) Open Water Diver who is at least 10 years old, you can enroll in the PADI Underwater Navigator Specialty course.

You’ll learn to use natural clues to navigate and also practice:

• Methods to estimate distance underwater.
• Compass navigation while making multiple turns
• Marking or relocating a submerged object or position from the surface.
• Underwater map making.

The first dive of the PADI Underwater Navigator course may credit as an Adventure Dive toward your Advanced Open Water Diver certification – ask your instructor about earning credit. You may be able to get college credit for the Underwater Navigator course – ask your instructor.

Besides your basic scuba equipment, you’ll need a compass and underwater slate. Your PADI Instructor or local dive center staff may suggest other gear to help you stay oriented, such as marker buoys or lines and reels.

Read and watch video about underwater navigation, then interact with knowledge checks in preparation for meeting with your PADI Instructor to schedule your three underwater navigation dives. Stop by your local PADI Dive Center or Resort to enroll in the course and speak with your instructor if you have any questions about the course content.