Pufferfish contain tetrodotoxin, a substance that makes them foul tasting and often lethal to fish. To humans, tetrodotoxin is deadly, up to 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide. There is enough toxin in one pufferfish to kill 30 adult humans, and there is no known antidote.
Advanced Open Water Course
Increase your diving knowledge and skills
Liveaboard diving, by its very nature, can be challenging. Dive sites are often in remote areas, susceptible to current, and in deeper water than most day diving sites. In keeping with Aquamarine Dive Center and MV Philkade's philosophy on safety, we advise all of our Open Water divers to upgrade to the PADI Advanced Open Water certification.
There are several reasons for this. Firstly, many insurance policies will only cover you to dive to 'the level of your training', which would mean any dive beyond 18m leaves you without cover (this is always worth checking out regardless!). Secondly, not only do you carry out dives beyond 18m, or drift dives, or multi-level dives, as other guests will, but YOU learn the theory behind them, and perform some simple tasks designed to improve your scuba skills. This could involve trying out digital photography, navigating by day (or even at night!!), even something as seemingly simple as identifying the creatures that you are sharing the water with.
This is a fun and easy way to improve your knowledge and widen your scuba skills, all under the supervision of our PADI instructors. And the course could not be more suited to a relaxing liveaboard cruise! You simply read one chapter from the Adventures in Diving manual for each dive, complete a knowledge review for that dive, and complete the dive. On most cruises this would mean you can complete one section per day, leaving plenty of time for sleeping, eating, and of course fun diving!
The Advanced Open Water Diver course consists of two core dives; the Adventure Deep and Underwater Navigation Dives. You then combine these two dives with three dives of your choice from the Adventures in Diving Program. We think the most appropriate options for the Advanced Open Water Diver Course are in the table below, but there are other options available:
| Aware-Fish Identification | Boat Diving | Deep Diving |
| Drift Diving | Multilevel & Computer Diving | Night Diving |
| Peak Performance Buoyancy | Search & Recovery | Underwater Navigation |
| Underwater Naturalist | Underwater Photography |
You do not have to decide on booking; simply have a chat with one of our professional PADI-trained instructors when you get here to decide which options are best for you.
Advanced Open Water Course Price: 185 Euros
Price Includes: Services of a qualified PADI Instructor, all required course materials, Adventures in Diving manual and certification
What do I need before I start? : You must be a minimum 10 years of age, medically fit, and be at least PADI Open Water Diver certified already (or equivalent from another diving agency)
Note: If you pre-book the Advanced Open Water Course, or are thinking about taking it on board, we STRONGLY ADVISE that you complete a medical statement in advance and return to us. A doctor's note will be required if you answer yes to any of the questions on the medical statement.