You’ve Earned Your Certification – Now the Real Adventure Begins!
Congratulations! You’ve completed your Open Water Diver certification and joined the incredible global community of scuba divers.
Learning to dive is a major accomplishment, but many new divers quickly discover that earning their Open Water certification isn’t the end of the journey—it’s just the beginning.
One of the most common questions we hear at Float N’ Flag Dive Centre is:
“What’s next after Open Water?”
The good news is that there are countless ways to continue your diving education, build confidence, and discover new underwater adventures.
The Most Important Thing: Keep Diving
Focus on gaining experience. This could be taking another course, like Peak Performance Buoyancy or your Advanced Open Water course, but the most important thing is to keep diving. You don’t get good reading about diving—you have to get out and dive!
Every dive teaches you something new. The more time you spend underwater, the more comfortable you’ll become with buoyancy, trim, air consumption, navigation, and situational awareness.
This is why we encourage newly certified divers to join us for:
- Wednesday night Gulliver’s dives
- Local dive weekends
- Local weekly dives and social events
- Training weekends and specialty courses
- Even an FNF Group trip, like our November trip to Curacao, where 15+ dives in a week will really help polish your skills
The best divers aren’t necessarily the ones with the most certifications—they’re the ones who spend the most time diving.
A Recommended Path After Open Water
While every diver’s journey is different, we often recommend the following progression for newer divers:
1. Advanced Open Water Diver
For most divers, Advanced Open Water is the natural next step.
Despite the name, you don’t need to be an advanced diver to take this course. It’s designed to help you gain experience while exploring different types of diving under instructor supervision.
You’ll experience activities such as:
- Deep Diving
- Underwater Navigation
- DSMB Diving
- Peak Performance Buoyancy
- Night Diving
Many divers tell us this course is where they truly begin feeling comfortable underwater.
Explore More and Register Here
2. Enriched Air (Nitrox)
Nitrox is one of the easiest and most useful specialty certifications you can earn. And it’s easy… a 3 hour online module and an hour or so with one of our experienced Nitrox Instructors and you are ready to go!
Benefits include:
- Longer no-decompression limits
- Reduced nitrogen exposure
- Shorter surface intervals
- More flexibility on dive vacations
Whether you’re diving locally or travelling internationally, Nitrox quickly becomes one of the most valuable certifications in your logbook.
Explore More and Register Here
3. Peak Performance Buoyancy
If there is one specialty course that benefits every diver, it’s buoyancy training.
Better buoyancy helps you:
- Improve air consumption
- Protect marine life
- Reduce effort underwater
- Improve trim and positioning
- Become a more relaxed diver
Many experienced divers consider buoyancy control to be the single most important skill in scuba diving.
Explore More and Register Here
4. Drift Diver
Drift diving is often described as the underwater equivalent of flying.
Instead of swimming against the current, you’ll learn how to work with the water and allow it to carry you effortlessly along the dive site.
This certification opens the door to:
- Brockville drift diving
- St. Lawrence River adventures
- Holiday Monday drift dives
- World-class drift diving destinations
Once divers discover drift diving, it often becomes one of their favourite styles of diving.
Explore More and Register Here
5. Equipment Specialist
Understanding your equipment is one of the best investments you can make as a diver.
The Equipment Specialist course teaches you:
- How your gear works
- Basic maintenance procedures
- Equipment care and storage
- Common equipment issues and solutions
- How to protect your investment
- What to include in a Save-A-Dive kit
You won’t become a regulator technician, but you’ll gain the knowledge and confidence to better understand the life-support equipment you rely on every time you dive.
This course is especially valuable for divers beginning to purchase their own gear.
Explore More and Register Here
Keep Diving and Building Experience
Certifications are important, but experience is what transforms good divers into great divers.
Ontario offers incredible opportunities to continue developing your skills:
- Tobermory wreck diving
- Brockville drift diving
- Gulliver’s Lake training dives
- Local events and adventures
- Weekend dive trips
Every dive builds confidence.
Every dive teaches something new.
Every dive moves you closer to becoming the diver you want to be.
Where Does Rescue Diver Fit?
Many divers ask about Rescue Diver right away.
While Rescue Diver is one of the most rewarding and valuable certifications available, your Advanced Open Water diver is a pre-requisite, as is Emergency Oxygen Provider and a current First Aid/CPR Certification (ie: within the last 2 years). Other specialty training, and regular diving, are assets so you have some experience to draw on, but these last 2 are not required.
By the time you’re finished with Rescue Diver, you’ll have the confidence and experience needed to fully appreciate what it takes to be a leader in dive safety. Most divers consider the Rescue Course to be best course they ever take.
Explore More and Register Here
Join the Float N’ Flag Community
One of the greatest parts of diving isn’t the certifications or the equipment—it’s the people.
Whether you’re joining us for a Wednesday night dive, a specialty course, a weekend adventure, or your next certification, you’ll find a welcoming community of divers who share your passion for exploration and adventure.
Your Adventure Is Just Beginning
Open Water certification is not the finish line.
It’s the starting point.
The underwater world is waiting, and there has never been a better time to continue learning, gain experience, meet new dive buddies, and discover where your next adventure will take you.
Ready for Your Next Step?
Contact Float N’ Flag Dive Centre to learn more about Advanced Open Water, Nitrox, Drift Diver, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Equipment Specialist, and upcoming local diving opportunities. Drop into the shop and we can talk with you about the best next step for you!
