PADI Rescue Diver Course in Hurghada

The PADI Rescue Diver course in Hurghada changes the way you dive. Instead of only watching your own air and depth, you start noticing your buddy, the group and the conditions — and you learn exactly what to do if something goes wrong.

The course combines knowledge development, rescue skills practice and realistic open-water scenarios: a tired diver at the surface, a panicked diver, an unresponsive diver underwater. PADI says it will change the way you dive — in the best possible way.

Before you start, PADI requires the Adventure Diver level (Advanced Open Water covers this) with the Underwater Navigation dive completed, plus Emergency First Response Primary and Secondary Care (first aid and CPR) training within the last 24 months. Minimum age is 12.

The schedule depends on your progress, the weather and the sea, and we confirm it when you book.

PADI Rescue Diver prerequisites — check before you book

This is the question we get most, so here is exactly what PADI requires:

• Certification: PADI Adventure Diver or Junior Adventure Diver (or a qualifying certification) with the Underwater Navigation adventure dive completed. The Advanced Open Water course includes the Navigation dive, so Advanced divers qualify.
• First aid and CPR: Emergency First Response Primary Care (CPR) and Secondary Care (First Aid) training — or qualifying training — completed within the last 24 months.
• Age: at least 12.

PADI notes that Open Water divers can start the knowledge and confined-water parts early, but all prerequisites must be met before the open-water rescue exercises.

If your first-aid training is older than two years, or you've never done it, tell us when you enquire. EFR is not included unless your package says so, and an extra day may be needed if you do it alongside the course.

Bring your certification card, logbook and EFR (or equivalent) card with you to Hurghada.

What the Rescue Diver course is really like

Expect to work hard and to finish more confident than you started. The course is built around one idea: most diving emergencies start as small problems that someone could have spotted.

So the first half is about awareness — reading the signs of stress in another diver, at the surface and underwater, and stepping in early. Then come the skills: approaching and calming a panicked diver, towing a tired diver, bringing an unresponsive diver to the surface, giving rescue breaths in the water and getting them out of it.

The final scenarios pull everything together. Your instructor sets up a situation in open water and you manage it from start to finish, including organising help and emergency equipment. Hurghada's warm water — around 22 °C at its coolest in February and 29 °C in August — makes repeated surface drills a lot more pleasant than in colder seas.

On timing, PADI estimates 8–12 hours of eLearning for the knowledge part. The in-water part depends on your progress and the sea, so we agree a schedule with you when you book.

After Rescue Diver

Rescue Diver is the last recreational step before going professional. If you'd like to work in diving, the next course is PADI Divemaster — you'll need to be 18, have 40 logged dives and get a physician's medical clearance.

Divemaster is a professional programme with a supervised internship, so it suits people thinking about working in diving or spending a season in the Red Sea. Every dive you log from now on counts towards the 40 dives you need to start and the 60 you need to certify — so keep your logbook up to date.

Your EFR training stays useful too: PADI requires it within 24 months for Divemaster as well, so if you complete it for Rescue, it may still be valid when you go pro.

If not, keep diving: join our full-day diving trip or book a private diving trip in Hurghada. See all levels on our PADI courses page.