If you’re hungry for dive knowledge and just can’t get enough, you’ll love the PADI Dive Theory Course. This fully online course was designed to help prepare you for a career in the industry, become a better diver or simply to expand your dive knowledge.

So what do you learn in the PADI Dive Theory course? Well, here’s a breakdown:

Benefits of the PADI Dive Theory course

PADI Divemaster or Instructor candidates can use this course to brush up for their exams, or everyday divers can use to learn more, improve their competence in the water or explore the thought of going pro.

Ready to get started? You can take the PADI Dive Theory course online

Prerequisites for the PADI Dive Theory course

This online course was created for anyone looking to deepen their dive knowledge. Anyone at least 10 years of age can take this course.

What you’ll learn in the PADI Dive Theory course

The PADI Dive Theory course features six sections: Diving Environment, Dive Skills, Equipment, Physics, Physiology and The Recreational Dive Planner. The course uses an interactive presentation with reading, graphics, video and intermittent quizzes to present the information.

From a PADI Expert

“You don’t need to know how regulator first stages can differ or what Charles' Law is to dive. So why would you want to learn these? I’d say for the same reasons that you might want to learn how your car works, even though you don’t need to know anything about engines to drive one. First, if you’re passionate about something, it’s normal to want to know more and to learn more. If you love diving, you want to learn more.

"Second, you may have your sights set on PADI Divemaster and beyond — great, go for it! Part of becoming a divemaster or instructor is having expertise, and one of the characteristics of experts is having wide, deep knowledge in their fields. Expertise in diving means knowing a lot about it.

"Third, it will come in handy, but you really don’t know when, or what bit of knowledge you’ll pull out of your mental toolbox to do something. Maybe everyone thinks the boat captain’s crazy to say the current is running south when the day before a different captain said north — but your knowledge of wind, current and the Coriolis effect tells you the captain’s right.

"But really, I love learning more because the more you know, the more you learn. In any field, learning accelerates as you gain knowledge, at least to a point. This is because each bit you learn creates a potential mental connection to other related concepts, which themselves become potential connections for something new, and so on. I’m always hungry for more about diving, and learning dive theory has made it easier to satisfy my appetite.”

– Karl Shreeves, PADI Technical Development Executive