Scuba Diving Whangārei

Stay down longer with an Enriched Air Nitrox Course
Nitrogen, you learned about it as an Open Water Diver, then again as an Advanced Open Water diver you started to see how it really affects you and your allowable bottom times (NDL - No Decompression Limits). Well why not reduce the amount of nitrogen we breathe?
Diving on Air (21% - Oxygen - O2 / 79% Nitrogen N2) to 18m, you can potentially stay for up to 56 minutes if you have enough air in your cylinders. In comparison to Enriched Air Nitrox x32 (EANx32) (32% O2 / 68% N2) where you can stay for up to 95 minutes and on 36% for up to 126 Minutes.
Go a little deeper on air (21% O2) to 25m (say on the Northland's Canterbury or Waikato wrecks or many of the sites at the Poor Knights Islands) and you can stay for upto 28 mins. But on EANx32 (32% O2) you can stay for up to 40 minutes and on EANX36 (O2 36%) for up to 50 minutes.
Is it starting to make sense yet? Now add in the cost of a charter and the time you spend underwater and the training will be well worth it.
So to dive on "Nitrox" you just need to complete the Enriched Air Nitrox course with us. This involves reading the PADI manual and then attending an evening of theory here in the classroom. We will plan some dives of different depths using different EANx mixes to decide which mix will be the best for that dive and practise analysing scuba cylinders containing EANx. .
Here in New Zealand, you are also required by Worksafe to complete two Nitrox dives with your instructor. We can complete these "FUN" dives on any of our Poor Knights Islands or Bay of Islands trips. Note the cost of these trips is not included in the course cost.

Cost: $250 | 1 day theory session | 2 "Fun" dives with your Instructor (charter fees are not included in course costs but you can choose to do shore dives which are free of charge)
Cost includes all training, certification and study materials. Any specialist equipment will be provided for the duration of the course.

If you’ve always wanted to take scuba diving lessons, experience unparalleled adventure and see the world beneath the waves, this is where it starts. This is an amazing adventure. We can't wait for you to begin!
Experience the wonders of our oceans, lakes and rivers. Diving exposes us to like minded people and so you can make new friends, both human and aquatic when you learn to dive with us.
Not only will you enjoy seeing lots of aquatic animals, some may come and say hello, some will shy away from you as we are pretty big, but you will also enjoy the feeling of flying when you swim neutrally buoyant above the bottom stopping occasionally to look around.
This course is just the beginning of a great journey, so whether you want to sight see, take photos, explore or collect sea food, this is the starting point in that journey.


PLEASE NOTE: The dates listed here are the first day/night of your course only. The course runs either over 4 full days or 3 evenings and 2 full days. Please refer back to the website https://www.divenow.co.nz/courses/learn-to-dive/learn-to-dive-open-water-course to see all of the dates for your selected course.
Once you confirm your booking you will have the option to pay either $229 deposit per person or the full amount.

The Next Step in Diving
Diving like any pastime requires practice to perfect existing skills and to learn new ones. This is where the PADI Advanced Open Water and SSI Advanced Adventurer Courses comes in. Most people assume that the 'Advanced' Course is for 'advanced' divers due to it's slightly misleading name.
What the course is really about is growing an Open Water diver's skill base through five fun filled open water dives and through the online study material and Knowledge Reviews. The course helps build confidence and expand your scuba skills through different Adventure Dives.




The dives that can be conducted on the our course are: Deep Dive (to maximum of 30m) Mandatory for PADI (we love doing this dive) Underwater Navigation Mandatory for PADI (we highly recommend this) Peak Performance Buoyancy (recommended if you haven't completed Peak Performance Buoyancy course) Night Dive (April to October) Wreck Dive (Sea conditions depending) Enriched Air Nitrox (we offer the full Enriched Air Nitrox course at a discounted price alongside this course) Search and Recovery Underwater Photography/Videography Fish ID Dry Suit (A dry suit pool orientation is required for this. Orientation fee $100.) Dry suit rental fee, additional $100 Diver Propulsion Vehicle (Scooter rental is $100 extra)
Each dive is actually Dive One from a PADI or SSI Specialty course, so the skills that are taught are a taster of the skills that can be learned on the full specialty courses that are available with us at Dive Now Whangarei.
By taking part in this course you will not only gain confidence in your diving ability, but gain the freedom to take part in a wider variety of fun dives.
This course emphasizes student involvement in all aspects of dive planning and gives them the ability to safely plan the dives independently once the course is finished.
If you are unsure about what interests to follow in diving or just want to improve your skills, then this is the course for you.
April-October the course will include 5 boat dives. You will do 3 dives on day one. Normally we do Perfect Buoyancy, Underwater Navigation and Night Dive. On day two you will do another two dives. Normally a Deep Dive and a Wreck Dive (if the weather allows us to get to the Wreck) or another dive of your choice at the Poor Knights from the options above.
November-March - same schedule as above but no Night Dive. You will be able to choose another dive from the above list.


Cost includes all Charter Fees, SSI training, certification and study materials. Any specialist equipment will be provided for the duration of the course.
A minimum of 2 students are required for this course to run - Maximum of 6