How to Master the Ocean Secrets with PADI Specialties at Scuba Center Asia Lembongan
PADI Specialties: As scuba divers, we’ve all fallen in love with the ocean and enjoy exploring new parts of it! There are shipwrecks to discover, fish species to check off our bucket lists, and new equipment to try out. This is where PADI specialties come into play. They offer an exciting way to keep learning about the things we’re passionate about.
As ocean stewards, it’s not just fun but also important to keep learning and improving our dive skills. Become the best diver you can be by becoming a specialty diver! Read on to find out more about PADI specialties, diving around the Nusa Penida Marine Park, and the best PADI Specialties to take with our experienced instructors at Scuba Center Asia Lembongan.
What are PADI Specialties?
At Scuba Center Asia we are all about the PADI system. Let’s explain: we have a few core courses such as the Open Water Diver course, Advanced Open Water Diver course, and the Rescue Diver course. These courses focus on giving you the skills and knowledge for a general area of diving: learning how to dive, becoming a more experienced diver, and becoming a more safety-oriented diver. Apart from these core courses, we also have many PADI specialties. Specialties are designed to dive deeper into a specific area of diving, allowing you to fine-tune your skills and knowledge in a particular field of interest.
Who Can Take PADI Specialties?
For some Specialties, you don’t even need to be a certified diver—they’re open to anyone with a love for the ocean. However, most PADI Specialties require a PADI Open Water Diver certification, as they include diving skills. A select number of Specialties are only open to PADI Adventure divers/Advanced Open Water divers or higher, typically involving deeper dives or more technical skills.
How Long Do PADI Specialties Take?
Specialties can easily fit into your holiday schedule! You can save precious vacation time by completing the theory section of the course through PADI e-learning before you even hop on the plane. The course dives can typically be completed in 2, 3, or 4 dives, depending on the specialty. Allow for one or two days to obtain your specialist rating—all while diving in paradise!
If you’re already a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver but short on time, you’re in luck! Did you know that the adventure dives you completed during your advanced course count as the first dives of the specialty? For example, the deep adventure dive during your Advanced Open Water course counts as one of the four dives of your Deep Diver specialty. In that case, you’d only need three more dives to become a PADI Deep Diver. Plus, the opposite is true as well! The first dive of your specialty can also count towards an adventure dive in your Advanced Open Water course.
Why Take a Specialty Diver Course?
Specialties are a fun way to enhance your diving know-how. You can choose which topic you’d like to become a specialist in, and it will change the way you dive! Whether it’s learning to dive with new gear like Sidemount or full-face mask or correctly identifying new fish, you’ll become more aware of what you’re seeing underwater.
If you’ve fallen in love with scuba diving, obtaining specialty ratings is a great way to work towards your PADI Master Scuba Diver (MSD) certification. This is the highest certification you can achieve as a recreational diver. You need to be a PADI Rescue Diver with 50 logged dives and have 5 PADI specialty ratings. Flashing that Master Scuba Diver card is a sign of a high level of experience to any dive operator you’re looking to book dives with.
What are the Best Specialties to Take at Scuba Center Asia, Lembongan?
Thrill Seekers Specialties
PADI Drift Diver: At the top of our list is the PADI Drift Diver specialty! We have fabulous drift diving here in the Nusa Penida Marine Protected Area. If you’re not used to it, drift diving might seem a little daunting. That’s where our experienced instructors come in! They’ll teach you how to dive safely in currents and enjoy the ride. You’ll practice deploying a delayed surface marker buoy (DSMB), as well as negative entries and buddy communication. It’s like flying underwater and is a great amount of fun!
PADI AWARE Shark Conservation: Sharks are apex predators, essential for healthy fish populations and a thriving ocean. Learn why this is and how we can protect them in the PADI AWARE Shark Conservation specialty. It’s always thrilling to encounter sharks, and in two ocean dives, we’ll look for them and learn to recognize the threats they face.
Looking for different thrills?! Check this out!
Conservation-Minded Specialty Divers
PADI Coral Reef Conservation: We’re blessed with an incredible variety of healthy corals here! Many people don’t know much about corals and might even think they’re plants. Corals are intricate animals that are vital to the health of our reefs and our planet. Find out more about their importance and how to protect them in the PADI Coral Reef Conservation specialty.
PADI AWARE Dive Against Debris (DAD): If you love participating in beach cleanups to give back to Mother Earth, you’ll love doing the same underwater. Learn more about being a conservation hero in the PADI AWARE Dive Against Debris specialty. You’ll collect debris and log the data in a worldwide database, contributing to legislative initiatives. You’ll also learn when to collect an item and when to leave it, recognizing that various ocean creatures may call discarded debris home!
Scuba Center Asia is involved in many conservation efforts. For example: weekly beach clean-ups or monthly Clean-up dives. Read more about our citizen scientist actions here.
Ocean Lovers Specialists
PADI Fish Identification Diver: The diversity of fish species in the Indo-Pacific Ocean is astounding! Here in Lembongan, we have healthy fish populations, and each dive surprises you with yet another brightly colored fish. Our dive sites at the Nusa Penida Marine Park are mindblowing! No joke! Knowing what you’re looking at adds another dimension to diving. You’ll learn to identify fish based on their markings, behavior, and fins, becoming a complete fish nerd!
PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy: One of the best ways to love the ocean is to be an observer and avoid touching anything underwater. Good buoyancy control is crucial! Become a buoyancy expert through the PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy specialty. Work on your trim, learn to hover in different positions, try different finning techniques, and become the best underwater version of yourself. Nothing’s sexier than a diver with perfect buoyancy control.
The Holy Trifecta at Scuba Center Asia Lembongan
Three Specialty courses go well together and are often taken in one trip as a package. They open up new possibilities and dive sites. The first is the PADI Deep Diver Specialty. After the advanced course, you’re certified to go to 30 meters. With the deep specialty, you’ll unlock the last 10 meters open to recreational divers: the 40-meter depth limit. In four dives, you’ll learn about deep diving safety procedures and equipment, focusing on how pressure affects our bodies at depth. P.S. If you are lucky you can spot the famous Mola Mola!
The second specialty is the PADI Enriched Air Diver (Nitrox) Specialty. Enriched air is a gas blend with higher oxygen content (21-40% oxygen) than regular air. As you’re breathing less nitrogen, it allows for longer bottom times—a great benefit when exploring dive sites where you want to stay at depth longer, like shipwrecks.
Finally, the PADI Wreck Diver Specialty teaches you how to safely plan and execute a wreck penetration dive. Do you see why we call this the holy trifecta and why they fit so well together?
Ready for your PADI Specialty Adventure at Scuba Center Asia?
Let’s Go!
Do you feel inspired to learn more and dive in paradise at the same time? Reach out to our team at Scuba Center Asia Lembongan to set up your dream diving holiday! As a PADI Five Star IDC Dive Resort, we have the facilities and experienced staff to make you a comfortable specialty diver. Not sure which Specialty to start with? Contact us to find out which courses suit you best!
The BEST part: if you are already a Dive Instructor and want to teach PADI Specialties, reach out to our Pro Team and start your PADI Specialty Instructor program! You can become a Specialty Instructor within 5 days. Just saying. 😉
Keep learning, keep exploring, and most importantly, keep loving our ocean!
See you all soon at Scuba Center Asia Lembongan
