UNDERWATER NAVIGATION IN FRANKFURT
Your PADI Underwater Navigator Course — resurface wherever you want
Price: 229 € — includes e-learning, a tank, refills, and certification
Duration: Three dives plus shore exercises, usually over a weekend
Prerequisite: PADI Open Water Diver or an equivalent certification
Minimum age: 10 years
Certification: PADI Underwater Navigator — recognized worldwide, valid for life
Almost every diver knows that moment: You’re running out of air, you surface—and the entry point is two hundred meters to the left. Then comes the long swim on the surface, usually against the wind.
You either learn underwater navigation systematically or you never really learn it. A compass alone isn’t enough: You have to measure distances, plot courses, correct deviations, and use the seabed, light, and vegetation to orient yourself.
German lakes are the better place to practice. With thirty meters of visibility, you'll still make it to your destination even if you're navigating incorrectly. With four meters of visibility, every mistake becomes immediately apparent.
What to expect
Theory and Field Exercises
How a diving compass works and why most errors result from holding it at an angle. Then you'll measure your personal reference values: fin strokes and seconds for thirty meters.
Compass Navigation
Straight ahead and exactly back, rectangle, triangle. If you end up at the starting point after the triangle, you've kept all the courses and routes clean.
Natural Navigation
Wave ripples, slopes, sunlight, vegetation, and edges—all of these elements come together to form a map, if you know how to read it.
Search Patterns and Dive Site Map
You'll navigate directly to a specific object, learn basic search patterns, and, at the end, draw your own map of the dive site. After that, you'll be a PADI Underwater Navigator.
What's Included in the Price
Includes:
PADI e-Learning "Underwater Navigator" — Lifetime Access
Three dives with a PADI instructor in a small group
Field Exercises for Distance and Course Measurement
Bottle and all contents
Port Fees
Compass and navigation board for the duration of the course
Digital Licensing Card and Licensing Fees
Not included:
Your diving gear. You’ll need to bring your own jacket, regulator, and wetsuit—or you can book the rental equipment package for 80 €.
ABC gear: mask, snorkel, fins, footies.
You don't need your own compass for this course. If you want to take up serious navigation afterward, you can get advice at the store.
Requirements
PADI Open Water Diver or an equivalent certification.
Minimum age: 10 years.
There is no minimum number of dives.
PADI Pre-Course Medical Questionnaire — Required for every diving course.
A medical certificate of fitness for diving if we’re diving at Hunsfels. The lake requires this from every diver, without exception; at Kronau, it’s not necessary. Any doctor can issue it, including your family doctor. To be on the safe side, get it in advance.
Recommended, but not required: proper buoyancy control. If you’re struggling with both up- and down-drift at the same time, you won’t have the mental clarity to focus on your course and counts—the perfect buoyancy prevents that.
Navigation Course in Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main Region
We hold our theory sessions and equipment training in Frankfurt-Schwanheim, at Vogesenstraße 12C. Customer parking is available behind the building (entrance at Am Kirchholz 12); to get here, take the A5 and then Schwanheimer Bahnstraße. It takes 15 to 20 minutes from Sachsenhausen, Niederrad, and Höchst, and a good half hour from Offenbach, Rüsselsheim, Hanau, and Bad Homburg.
Diving takes place in lakes in the region that have clear topography: distinct shorelines, sloping bottoms, and sunken objects serving as reference points. The limited visibility here is an integral part of the training.
Why the Frankfurt Dive Center
We make corrections while in the water. In small groups, the dive instructor stays right next to you and checks to see if you're holding the compass at an angle or drifting.
The right equipment. Compasses and navigation boards from our inventory, inspected before every course.
Follow these instructions. When diving with the FDC Club , you’ll navigate on your own instead of just following behind.
What comes after the navigation course?
The navigation dive is a required part of the ADVANCED OPEN WATER DIVERcourse. The course that builds directly on this is SEARCH AND RECOVERY — Search patterns are a practical application of navigation. The same applies to WRECK DIVING and NIGHT DIVING , they pay off.
It counts as one of the five specialties required to become a Master Scuba Diver—the five specialties plus certification cost €999 as a bundle.
You can find all specialties under SPECIALTIES, and all prices in the PRICE LIST.
Ready for the next step?
We’ll give you personalized advice—the best next course for you depends on your experience and goals. Give us a call or send us a message.
FAQ
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229 euros. This includes e-learning, three dives, a tank, tank fills, lake fees, a compass for the duration of the course, and certification. The equipment rental package costs an additional 80 euros.
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Not for the class—we'll provide one for you. Afterward, it's worth getting your own, since you'll get used to using it.
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It's the better way. When visibility is good, a mistake goes unnoticed; when visibility is four meters, every inaccuracy becomes immediately apparent.
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Usually one weekend for the three dives and the shore exercises, plus some e-learning beforehand.
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Yes. The navigation dive is a required part of the AOWD course and counts toward certification.
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Navigating without a compass: by using wave ripples, slopes, the angle of sunlight, vegetation, edges, and currents. The compass is then used to verify your position.
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On the contrary, that means you're on the right track. Orientation isn't a talent—it's a process.
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Ages 10 and up, with an Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver certification.