Dive leadership
Planning dives, preparing briefings, supervising certified divers and managing groups where experience levels vary widely.
PADI Divemaster Course · Professional Level · Hurghada
The first professional rating in the PADI system. You learn to lead certified divers, assist instructors, organize diving days and handle problems above and below the surface, working inside a real Red Sea dive operation rather than a classroom.
The PADI Divemaster Course is the first professional rating in the PADI system, the level at which a diver becomes qualified to lead certified divers and assist instructors. In Hurghada it costs €1,300 per candidate and normally takes ten to fourteen intensive training days, although we recommend a stay of two to four weeks for real experience. Candidates must be at least eighteen, hold Advanced Open Water and Rescue Diver, carry current CPR and first aid training, and start with at least forty logged dives. Sixty logged dives are required before certification. Red Sea Diving runs the course inside a working dive operation in Hurghada, so you train on our own boats and with our own guests.
Moreover, the final total depends on your certification level, your logged dives, the materials you need and how long you train. Therefore we confirm everything in writing before you commit. The program follows the standards published by PADI.
PADI Divemaster Course in Hurghada at a glance
| Course | PADI Divemaster, the first PADI professional rating |
|---|---|
| Price | €1,300 per candidate |
| Duration | 10 to 14 intensive training days |
| Recommended stay | Two to four weeks |
| Minimum age | 18 years |
| Dives to start | 40 logged dives |
| Dives to certify | 60 logged dives |
| Prerequisites | Advanced Open Water and Rescue Diver, or accepted equivalents |
| Medical | CPR and first aid within 24 months, plus a statement signed by a physician |
| Location | Hurghada, Red Sea Governorate, Egypt |
| Season | Year round, water 22 to 29 °C |
| Language | English, with other languages on request |
| Booking | Written confirmation of inclusions and total price before payment |
| Operator | Red Sea Diving, a PADI dive operator in Hurghada since 2000 |
Everything before this point trained you to look after yourself. By contrast, Divemaster trains you to look after other people. Consequently the focus shifts to leadership, supervision, risk management and the practical business of running diving activities, while your own diving is sharpened to demonstration quality.
Once certified, you can guide certified divers on underwater tours, assist PADI Instructors during courses, help organize boat and shore diving, and conduct selected PADI programs within Divemaster limits. Furthermore, it opens the route toward Assistant Instructor and the Instructor Development Course.
One thing deserves to be clear: a Divemaster is not an instructor. You may assist an instructor on an Open Water course, but you cannot teach the full certification yourself. That step requires instructor-level training.
Planning dives, preparing briefings, supervising certified divers and managing groups where experience levels vary widely.
Demonstration-quality skills, controlled buoyancy, deliberate positioning and the constant awareness a professional needs.
Swimming, towing, floating and stamina exercises that assess your genuine comfort and capability in the water.
Reviewing rescue procedures and proving you can manage realistic diver emergencies rather than merely describe them.
Physics, physiology, equipment, decompression theory, dive planning and the responsibilities that come with the rating.
Assisting with real training activities and seeing how a diving operation runs from the first tank fill to the evening debrief.
Surveying a Hurghada dive site and drawing a proper map: depths, entry points, navigation features and hazards.
Reading nervous divers, managing expectations and handling the small problems that never appear in any manual.
Recognizing what is about to go wrong, adjusting the plan early and knowing when to call a dive off entirely.
First, orientation, knowledge development and an honest assessment of where your skills currently sit.
Next, watermanship exercises, the rescue assessment and skill demonstrations to professional standard.
Then dive briefings, site mapping and practical workshops covering the Divemaster-conducted programs.
Afterward, guiding practice with real guests and assisting instructors during actual training activities.
Finally, assessments, additional dives and certification preparation.
However, the schedule bends around your experience, your dive count, the weather and your performance. Candidates starting at forty dives usually need extra days to reach the sixty required for certification, which is exactly what the longer two to four week stay is for.
Not there yet? Complete Advanced Open Water, then Rescue Diver and Emergency First Response before starting professional training. Moreover, we can schedule all three in sequence during a longer stay, and our daily diving trips are the easiest way to build your dive count.
Furthermore, we set out every applicable PADI fee alongside the package price in writing before you pay anything.
Hurghada gives a Divemaster candidate variety: coral gardens, walls, wrecks, drift dives and sheltered training sites, all within reach of the same marina. Moreover, you get warm water for most of the year and boats going out daily, which matters when you need to build dives quickly. Our daily diving program shows where we normally train.
More importantly, the industry here is busy. You work alongside international guests, watch a real dive operation run under pressure, and see how briefings, logistics and guest care actually get done. In short, that is the part no textbook covers, and it is what employers ask about later.
A liveaboard week during your stay adds dives quickly and shows you a side of the business most candidates never see. Our safety procedures sit on the diving safety page.
Gallery
The first professional rating. Leadership, supervision and assisting instructors, with the option to continue toward instructor training. Choose this if diving is becoming a career rather than a hobby.
By contrast, a recreational recognition level awarded for experience and specialties. It does not qualify you to work as a dive professional, and it is not a step on the professional path.
The professional route runs: Advanced Open Water → Rescue Diver → Emergency First Response → Divemaster → Assistant Instructor or IDC → Open Water Scuba Instructor. Afterward come the MSDT specialty instructor ratings.
Why us
Above all, full emergency equipment, a documented action plan and briefings before every dive, which is the culture you will be joining.
Indeed, more than two decades of diving and liveaboard operations out of Hurghada, on every Egyptian route.
Furthermore, you learn directly from experienced PADI professionals in a working dive center, with small candidate groups and direct feedback.
Moreover, you practice briefings, dive preparation, guest care, guiding and instructor assistance on our own boats and with our own guests.
In addition, the €1,300 price and every possible additional charge are explained in writing before you confirm.
Likewise, the PADI Divemaster rating is recognized across the international recreational diving industry.
Questions
The PADI Divemaster Course costs €1,300 per candidate. However, the final total depends on PADI materials, application fees, equipment and whether extra diving days are needed to reach sixty dives.
The intensive program usually takes ten to fourteen training days. Nevertheless, a stay of two to four weeks gives more time for experience, assisting and completing the required dives.
Normally not, unless we add it to your package specifically. Tell us your dates and we can suggest options.
Yes. Indeed, you may begin with at least forty logged dives, although sixty are required before your Divemaster certification is issued.
Yes. In every case you must hold PADI Rescue Diver or an accepted equivalent before beginning the Divemaster program.
You need recognized CPR and first aid training completed within the previous twenty-four months. Therefore the Emergency First Response course meets that requirement.
Naturally, owning familiar and well-maintained equipment helps a great deal in professional training. Ask us which items are included and which you should own or rent.
It is demanding both physically and academically. Above all, we assess candidates on water skills, rescue ability, dive knowledge, organization, judgment and professional behavior.
The certification lets you apply for suitable professional roles, subject to active PADI membership, professional insurance, local regulations and each employer’s own requirements. However, employment is never guaranteed.
A Divemaster can assist a PADI Instructor but cannot independently teach the full Open Water Diver certification. In short, that step requires instructor-level training.
Assistant Instructor first, then the Instructor Development Course and the Open Water Scuba Instructor rating.
Yes. Some candidates spread the program across several weeks alongside working or traveling, and we build the schedule around that.
Send us your certification level, your number of logged dives, your preferred dates and where you plan to stay. We will confirm your eligibility, the schedule and the final package price in writing. For liveaboard diving in Egypt see also redsealiveaboard.net, and read the current fitness guidance from Divers Alert Network.
Rated 4.9 out of 5 from 132 reviews on Google.
Prefer to talk? Message us on WhatsApp or call +20 105 005 6542. We answer 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Red Sea Diving, Madares Street, Hurghada 1, Hurghada 84511, Red Sea Governorate, Egypt. Diving and PADI training here since 2000.
This page was last reviewed by the Red Sea Diving instructor team in September 2026.
Premium Red Sea diving in Egypt. Liveaboard trips with experienced crews, comfortable vessels and 20+ years of experience.
