The course
1 day · theory and analysis · no dives required
PADI Enriched Air Nitrox in Hurghada · One day · Ages 12 and up
The PADI Enriched Air Nitrox course in Hurghada buys you longer no-decompression limits on repetitive dives, and less fatigue at the end of a week. Above all, this is the specialty that pays for itself fastest, especially on a liveaboard where four dives a day is normal.
1 day · theory and analysis · no dives required
€200 per person · dives and fills extra
Open Water Divers · ages 12 and up · blends to 36%
The PADI Enriched Air Nitrox course in Hurghada costs €200 per person and takes one day. You cover the theory, learn to analyze a cylinder, label it, set a dive computer for the blend and work out maximum operating depth. We fill to a maximum of thirty-six percent oxygen. The minimum age is twelve and you need an Open Water certification first. Two training dives are optional rather than required, so the course price covers the training only: the dives book as a normal daily diving day, and the nitrox fills cost extra.
This is the specialty most divers wish they had taken sooner. In other words, it changes nothing about how you dive and everything about how long you stay down. Furthermore, full standards come from PADI. Red Sea Diving is a PADI dive operator based in Hurghada, Egypt, and has run diving and liveaboard trips on the Red Sea since 2000.
| Course | PADI Enriched Air Nitrox, a specialty course rather than a certification level |
|---|---|
| Price | €200 per person, covering the training and the certification only |
| Duration | 1 day |
| Dives | None required. The 2 training dives are optional and book as a normal daily diving day |
| Blends | Up to 36% oxygen. The standard 32% blend covers most diving here |
| What it changes | Longer no-decompression limits at a given depth, but a shallower maximum operating depth |
| Minimum age | 12 years. Junior divers certify with the depth limits that match their age |
| Prerequisite | PADI Open Water Diver, or a qualifying entry-level certification. No logged-dive minimum. Signed PADI medical form |
| Location | Classroom in Hurghada, Egypt, plus analyzer practice at our compressor station |
| Availability | Year-round, on request, subject to instructor availability |
| Included | Instruction, certification fee, analyzer practice on real cylinders, labeling and logging practice, maximum operating depth planning, dive computer setup, hotel transfer within Hurghada |
| Not included | PADI digital materials, the 2 optional dives, nitrox cylinder fills, boat and marine park fees on diving days, equipment rental, transfers from outside Hurghada |
| Operator | Red Sea Diving, a PADI dive operator based in Hurghada, Egypt, since 2000 |
PADI Enriched Air Nitrox is the specialty that certifies a diver to breathe blends with more oxygen than air, up to thirty-six percent. Above all, it buys you bottom time: breathing thirty-two percent instead of twenty-one percent cuts the nitrogen you absorb, so the no-decompression limit at a given depth stretches noticeably further.
Moreover, the gain grows across the day. On a single shallow dive the difference is small, whereas on the third and fourth dives of a liveaboard day it often doubles your available time.
Many divers also report feeling less tired after a week of repetitive diving. However, PADI makes no medical claim about that, and neither do we.
The PADI Enriched Air Nitrox course in Hurghada covers four practical things in a single day. Importantly, none of them requires you to get in the water.
Nitrogen loading, oxygen fraction and how the two trade against each other. Consequently you understand the benefit rather than memorizing a rule.
Using the analyzer yourself, reading the blend, filling in the log and labeling the cylinder. Subsequently you do this before every single nitrox dive for the rest of your diving life.
Working out the depth limit for your blend and your chosen oxygen partial pressure. At thirty-six percent, for example, the limit sits far shallower than an air diver’s eighteen or thirty meters.
Entering the mix, checking the alarms and understanding what the computer shows you afterwards. Nevertheless, you also learn to plan the dive without one.
The PADI Enriched Air Nitrox day in Hurghada runs from theory in the morning to analyzer practice at midday. Therefore the whole certification fits into one day without costing you a boat day.
PADI sells the digital materials separately, and we send you the link as soon as you book. Consequently the theory is finished at home and the day here stays practical.
First your instructor works through the knowledge points that matter, then you calculate maximum operating depth and oxygen exposure for several realistic blends.
Next you analyze real cylinders yourself, record the results, label them and set a computer for the mix. Nobody moves on until the sequence feels automatic.
Meanwhile the two dives stay optional. Plenty of guests add a normal diving day afterwards to use the certification straight away, although the course does not require it.
Finally we process your PADI certification, which usually appears in the PADI app within a day or two. The card lasts for life.
Because there is no mandatory water work, the whole course fits into a single day and leaves the rest of your holiday untouched.
The PADI Enriched Air Nitrox course asks for an Open Water certification and a minimum age of twelve. Naturally, no extra logged dives are required beyond your entry-level training.
You need a PADI Open Water Diver certification, or a qualifying entry-level certification from another recognized agency. Bring the card or the digital version.
Junior divers of twelve to fourteen certify with the depth limits that match their age. Therefore the blend still helps them, even though they dive shallower anyway.
None beyond your entry-level training. Even so, the specialty makes most sense once you dive several times a day rather than once a week.
Everyone completes the standard PADI medical form. Nevertheless, if any answer flags asthma, heart or circulation problems, epilepsy, ear or sinus trouble, recent surgery or pregnancy, a doctor’s written approval comes first.
The €200 price of PADI Enriched Air Nitrox in Hurghada covers the training and the certification only. In other words, the optional dives and the cylinder fills are charged separately.
We say this plainly because guests ask: the €200 buys the training and the certification. If you want to dive on the same day, that books as a normal daily diving day, and each nitrox fill carries its own charge. Ask us and we quote the whole thing together before you commit.
Diving on PADI Enriched Air Nitrox in Hurghada means blends filled to a maximum of thirty-six percent oxygen. Consequently that covers the standard thirty-two percent blend most divers use, plus the richer mix when a shallow reef day suits it.
Every cylinder gets analyzed and labeled before it goes on the boat, and you analyze your own again before the dive. Indeed, that second check is yours to make and nobody else’s.
The trade-off is depth. A richer blend means a shallower limit, so on a deep wall day plain air is often the better choice. Meanwhile your guide plans this with you each morning, and the diving safety page sets out how we handle gas and equipment generally.
The reefs in Hurghada reward long, shallow dives more than deep ones. Consequently the blend does exactly what it is good at, and the shallower depth limit costs you almost nothing on a typical Giftun-area day.
Repetitive diving is also the norm rather than the exception. Two dives a day on a boat trip, or four on a liveaboard week, is where enriched air stops being theoretical. Furthermore, our Hurghada dive sites page shows the reefs we normally use.
For independent guidance on oxygen exposure and diving physiology, Divers Alert Network publishes clear material worth reading.
The classroom work for the PADI Enriched Air Nitrox course happens in Hurghada, on the Egyptian Red Sea coast, while the analysis practice runs at our compressor station where the cylinders actually live.
Hotel transfer inside Hurghada comes with the course. Moreover, we collect students from El Gouna, Makadi Bay, Sahl Hasheesh, Soma Bay and Safaga for a small surcharge, which we confirm in writing before you book.
If you add a diving day afterwards, the boat leaves from the Hurghada marina like any other day. Meanwhile non-diving family can join the Giftun island and snorkeling trip, and further practical answers sit on our diving FAQ.
Gallery
Enriched air pairs naturally with depth and experience. Advanced Open Water opens the thirty-meter sites, Wreck Diver suits the northern wrecks, and Rescue Diver remains the course most divers later call the most useful one they took.
The real payoff, though, comes on a liveaboard week where you dive four times a day. If structured deeper diving appeals, Tec training builds on the same gas theory, and Divemaster is the professional route. Meanwhile the full ladder sits on our PADI courses page.
Why us
Above all, oxygen and full emergency equipment on board, plus a documented action plan and a proper briefing before every dive.
Indeed, more than two decades of diving and liveaboard operations out of Hurghada, on every Egyptian route.
Furthermore, every blend gets analyzed and labeled before it goes on the boat, and you check your own again before the dive.
Moreover, we keep the class small, so everybody gets real time on the analyzer rather than a turn in a queue.
In addition, we state plainly that dives and fills sit outside the €200, and we quote the full cost before you book rather than at the marina.
Naturally, longer bottom time only helps if your buoyancy is good, so we keep coaching it on every dive.
Questions
The PADI Enriched Air Nitrox course in Hurghada costs €200 per person. In other words, that covers the instruction, the certification fee, analyzer practice and hotel transfer within Hurghada.
No. The two training dives are optional, and they book as a normal daily diving day with the usual boat, equipment and marine park charges.
No. Each enriched air fill carries its own charge, whether you dive during the course or afterwards.
No. PADI sells the digital learning materials separately, so we quote you the current figure when you book and send the link straight away.
The classroom session runs in Hurghada, while the analyzer practice happens at our compressor station. In other words, no boat is needed unless you add optional diving days.
One day, plus the knowledge sections you finish before arriving. Therefore it fits easily around a diving week without costing you a boat day.
No. The certification requires the knowledge development and the practical analysis skills, while the two dives stay optional.
Usually yes. Even so, tell us early, because we need to send the materials link before the classroom session.
Bring your certification card, your dive computer if you own one, and a pen. Meanwhile we provide the analyzers, the tables and everything else.
Up to thirty-six percent oxygen. The standard thirty-two percent blend covers most diving here, while the richer mix suits shallow reef days.
The opposite. A richer blend carries a shallower maximum operating depth, so it buys time rather than depth.
Many divers say so after a week of repetitive diving. However, PADI makes no medical claim about it, and neither do we.
Yes, every time. We analyze and label each cylinder before it goes on the boat, and you check yours again before the dive.
PADI Open Water Diver, or a qualifying entry-level certification from another recognized agency.
Twelve. Junior divers certify with the depth limits that match their age.
No, the card is for life. Nevertheless, if you have not analyzed a cylinder in years, ask your guide to run through the sequence with you again.
On two dives a day, the gain is modest. By contrast, on a liveaboard week with four dives a day, it usually pays for itself within the first two days.
Send us your dates, your hotel, your certification level and whether you want diving days alongside the course. Subsequently, we reply within twenty-four hours with availability, the materials price, the fill price and the pickup time.
Prefer to talk? Message us on WhatsApp or write to info@redsea-diving.com.
This page was last reviewed by the Red Sea Diving instructor team in September 2026.
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