PADI Enriched Air (Nitrox) Diver Course

Enriched Air Diver is the most popular specialty in the PADI system for a simple reason: nitrox gives you more time underwater. By breathing air with a higher oxygen percentage (and correspondingly less nitrogen), your no-decompression limits stretch significantly — on the typical 18-25 metre Red Sea reef profile, that can mean substantially longer bottom times and shorter surface intervals between dives. On a multi-day dive package, nitrox effectively buys you extra minutes on every single dive.

The course fits into one day. The theory session covers how enriched air works, its depth limits, and the two skills that make nitrox diving safe: analysing your own tank with an oxygen analyser before every dive, and setting your dive computer for the mix you are breathing. You then put it into practice with an enriched-air dive on the reef, logging the analysis and planning exactly as you will for the rest of your diving life.

The minimum age is 12 and the prerequisite is an entry-level certification (Open Water Diver or equivalent). The course fee includes equipment, the PADI materials and certification fee, lunch and drinks on board, and transfers within Hurghada. Once certified, enriched-air fills for your daily diving cost €10 for two tanks — most divers make that back in sheer extra reef time on the first day.