Three PADI specialties show up in searches for Hurghada courses more than their booking volume would suggest: Underwater Navigation, Drift Diver, and Search and Recovery. None of them is sold here as a standalone course, and the reason is the same for all three.

Why are these three not sold as standalone courses?

PADI specialty cards fall into two groups in practice: some are commonly run as their own multi-day course (Deep Diver, Wreck Diver, Night Diver), and some are far more often folded into Advanced Open Water as one of its five adventure dives instead. Navigation, drift and search-and-recovery sit firmly in the second group across most Red Sea operators, ours included.

Underwater Navigation

Compass and natural navigation, planning and following an underwater route. It is one of the two compulsory adventure dives inside Advanced Open Water — every AOW diver who trains with us does this dive as part of the course, they just do not receive a separate specialty card for it unless they specifically request the paperwork from their instructor afterward.

Drift Diver

Reading current, staying with a group in moving water, using a surface marker buoy. Also commonly taken as one of the three optional adventure dives inside Advanced Open Water, and genuinely useful preparation before a site like Elphinstone, which is routinely dived as a drift.

Search and Recovery

Search patterns and lifting techniques for locating and recovering a lost object underwater. The least commonly requested of the three, and while it can appear as an Advanced Open Water adventure dive option depending on the centre and week, it is genuinely uncommon in the Red Sea — most divers who want it specifically are already working toward Divemaster or Instructor level, where the skills overlap with rescue and professional training anyway.

What should you actually book?

  • Want a taste of navigation and drift without a separate card: book Advanced Open Water — navigation is included by default, and you can request drift as one of your three choices.
  • Specifically need the standalone certification card (for professional-level training or a personal reason): tell us through the trip request form with which one and your dates, and we will check with our partner centres directly rather than assume.
  • Already Advanced Open Water and want more current experience: our guided reef dives at current-swept sites give you that practice without needing the card at all.

See the full course picture

For everything that does run as a dedicated course, and exactly which base teaches it, see which PADI specialty runs where and the complete list of PADI courses in Hurghada.