Scuba Training Progression:
What’s Next After Open Water?

So, you’ve earned your Open Water certification—congratulations! That’s a huge first step, but it’s just the beginning of your diving journey. Now, the real adventure begins as you build confidence, refine your skills, and explore new environments. But with so many options, what should you do next?

This guide will help you navigate your next steps, focusing on real-world experience before additional training.

1. Just Go Diving

Before considering more training, the most important thing you can do is dive as much as possible. The Open Water course covers the basics, but real comfort in the water only comes from experience.

Where to Start

• Local Diving: Even if you got certified in warm, clear water, diving locally helps build confidence. Freshwater quarries, lakes, and colder coastal sites challenge buoyancy control and navigation. If you are in Chicagoland we have you covered with a local dive guide.
• Travel & Dive Resorts: If warm water is more your style, a dive trip is a great way to stay active. Resorts often have guided dives, which can be reassuring for newer divers. Check out our Dive Travel Guides
• Dive with More Experienced Buddies: Learning from experienced divers helps you refine your skills faster. If you are local to Chicagoland, come dive with me!
• Join a Local Dive Group or Club: Finding a community keeps you motivated and opens up more dive opportunities. If you are local to Chicagoland, we got you covered with a community engagement guide.

Building Experience in Real-World Diving

• Buoyancy & Trim: Staying neutrally buoyant and horizontal makes everything easier. Try hovering at safety stops without sculling or adjusting your inflator constantly. Make sure to work on your Buoyancy and Weighting.
• Air Consumption Awareness: Get in the habit of checking your pressure gauge regularly and tracking your gas usage. And then you will be able to start doing recreational gas planning.
• Situational Awareness: Pay attention to your surroundings, buddy position, and navigation—even when following a guide. If you need help with that, check out our Situational Awareness Guide.
• Basic Problem Solving: If something goes wrong, slow down, breathe, and handle the situation calmly.

There’s no rush to take additional courses—right now, the best training is experience.

2. Gain Experience in Different Environments

The more variety you experience, the better prepared you’ll be for different dive conditions.

Try Different Dive Conditions

• Night Diving: Diving at night improves navigation and situational awareness. Even familiar sites feel completely different in the dark.
• Drift Diving: Experience diving in currents, common in places like Cozumel or Florida.
• Cold Water Diving: If you plan to dive locally, getting comfortable with thick wetsuits (or even drysuits) expands your dive opportunities.

Some of these experiences require specialty training (like drysuits), but many are accessible as part of guided dives.

3. Skip Advanced Open Water—Take What You Actually Need

Many dive shops push Advanced Open Water (AOW) as the next step, but it’s not necessary. Instead of taking a broad course with only one 'taster' dive of each skill, it’s better to take individual specialties based on the diving you want to do. You can get the AOW certification card later if you think you need it.

Which Specialties Are Worth It?

• Nitrox (Enriched Air): Increases bottom time and reduces nitrogen absorption. This is one of the few specialties worth taking early.
• Navigation: Being able to confidently navigate a dive site makes every dive easier, whether you're following a guide, leading a buddy, or diving independently.
• Deep Diving: If you plan to go beyond 60 feet, a proper deep diving class is better than a single AOW deep dive.
• Drysuit Diving: If you want to dive cold water, a drysuit course is required for most rental shops.
• Wreck or Cavern Diving: If these environments interest you, proper training is essential for safety.

Instead of taking a generic AOW course, pick the specialties that actually match your diving goals.

Check out our full Specialty Guide to see which courses are worth taking and which are a waste of money.

Master Basic Self-Sufficiency & Emergency Skills

Most divers only practice emergency skills during training, but good divers refresh them regularly.

• Practice Mask Skills: Being comfortable without a mask is a game-changer. Practice clearing and fully removing/replacing your mask in shallow water.
• Work on Trim & Kicking Techniques: Try to hover motionless in a horizontal position without moving your hands or fins. If your fins stir up the bottom, work on better propulsion techniques.
• Run Through Pre-Dive Checks: Make "bubble checks" and pre-dive safety checks a habit.
• Understand Minimum Gas Planning: Learn to calculate how much gas you need to safely ascend with a buddy in an emergency.

Even without formal training, practicing these skills will make you a safer and more capable diver.

Take a Buoyancy-Focused Workshop

If you struggled with buoyancy in your Open Water course (or just want to improve), buoyancy training is one of the most valuable things you can do—but not too soon. Get enough dives that you feel comfortable underwater.

• Best Time to Take One: After at least 25–50 non-training dives, when you’re already comfortable in the water and ready to refine your skills. If you’re still working on basic comfort, wait until you feel confident before taking a workshop.
• Best Option: The most widely respected buoyancy training is GUE Fundamentals, but if that’s not available, look for an instructor with excellent personal trim and buoyancy who can provide a tailored workshop.
• What to Avoid: Agency-specific "peak performance buoyancy" courses are hit-or-miss since their quality depends entirely on the instructor.

Should You Specialize or Keep Diving First?

After Open Water, there’s no rush to take every specialty available. Some courses are valuable, while others are just a way to get a card.

• Best Approach: Focus on actual diving first. When you find yourself struggling with something (navigation, currents, etc.), then look for training to help improve that specific skill.
• What About Nitrox? Enriched Air (Nitrox) is one of the few specialties worth taking early. It extends bottom times and reduces nitrogen absorption on repetitive dives.
• Avoid Specialties You Don’t Need Yet: You don’t need a drysuit specialty if you never dive cold water, and you don’t need a wreck course until you’re comfortable in open water.

Check out our full Specialty Guide to see which courses are worth taking and which are a waste of money.

Final Thoughts: Building Confidence & Enjoying the Dive

Your first goal after Open Water should be to dive as much as possible. Courses can teach you new skills, but comfort and confidence only come with real experience.

• Dive often—nothing replaces time in the water.
• Improve buoyancy first—but wait until you have experience before taking a workshop.
• Skip AOW—just take the specialties you actually need.
• Train based on need, not just to collect cards.

By taking a thoughtful approach to your dive training, you’ll progress naturally, gain experience, and get more enjoyment out of every dive.