Try dive, Scuba Diver or Open Water: which should you do in Hurghada?

Only Open Water lets you dive without a professional. A try dive gives you no certificate, and Scuba Diver keeps you with a dive professional at all times. The table compares the three levels using PADI's and SSI's own standards.

The agency names differ, but the levels line up. For how PADI, SSI and SDI compare, see PADI vs SSI vs SDI. For the depth limits of every later course, see how deep can you dive?

Not for a try dive: your instructor stays beside you and no certificate is needed. What people call a diving licence is a certification card from a training agency such as PADI, SSI or SDI.

• Try dive: no card. You dive only with your instructor.
• Scuba Diver card: you can join guided dives, but always under the direct supervision of a dive professional, and no deeper than 12 m.
• Open Water card: you can dive with a certified buddy to 18 m, in conditions like the ones you trained in. On our 2-dive day trip you still dive with a guide, at most 4 divers per guide.

Bring your card or e-card when you travel. The card from one agency is the same level whichever centre you dive with next.

A PADI Discover Scuba Diving experience can earn credit towards Open Water if your instructor includes the required additional skills and you start the full course within 12 months. PADI's FAQ and progression guide both explain that the confined-water session and, if completed, the optional open-water dive can count. The instructor must confirm which requirements you completed; credit is not automatic.

After 12 months the credit lapses and you repeat the first confined-water and first open-water dive. SSI's standards for Try Scuba do not say it counts towards Open Water. If you think you might go on to a course, tell us before your try dive so your instructor can record the right skills.

A Scuba Diver certification is a different case. PADI calls it a subset of Open Water. SSI lists what is left to upgrade: the remaining theory, three more pool sessions, two more open-water dives and the Open Water final exam.

You need to meet the minimum age, fill in a medical questionnaire and be comfortable in the water. How well you must swim depends on the level.

• Medical form: every level starts with the diver medical questionnaire, published in 2020 by an international committee of diving doctors. Some answers need a doctor's sign-off before you dive. See the diver medical questionnaire explained.
• Try dive: PADI says you don't need to be a strong swimmer, but you should feel comfortable in the water and be able to keep yourself at the surface.
• Scuba Diver: PADI asks for adequate swimming skills and good health. SSI requires its water fitness evaluation before any open-water dive.
• Open Water: PADI's water skills check is a 200-metre swim, or 300 metres with mask, fins and snorkel, plus a 10-minute float or tread.
• Age: 10 for PADI's try dive, Scuba Diver and Open Water; 8 for SSI Try Scuba. See how old do you have to be to scuba dive?

Choose by what you want to do after this holiday.

• Try dive: you want to find out if you like breathing underwater, you have one free day, or you are not sure about committing to a course. PADI Discover Scuba Diving is €45.
• Scuba Diver: you have two or three days and you are happy to always dive with a guide. It is cheaper and shorter, and you can upgrade to Open Water later.
• Open Water: you want to dive on future holidays, rent gear, dive with a buddy or join a liveaboard. Our North Wrecks & Reefs liveaboard is open to Open Water divers. PADI Open Water is €395; SSI and SDI are €365.

The step from Scuba Diver to Open Water costs €135 more with PADI (€260 to €395) and €165 more with SSI (€200 to €365). If you have the days, doing Open Water in one go is usually simpler than coming back to finish it.

A try dive is €45. Scuba Diver is €260 (PADI) or €200 (SSI). Open Water is €365 (SSI or SDI) or €395 (PADI). Every course price includes your instructor, full gear, learning materials, the certification fee and hotel pickup from Hurghada, El Gouna, Makadi Bay, Sahl Hasheesh, Soma Bay or Safaga.

• Try dives are one-to-one; courses have at most 4 students per instructor.
• Nothing is paid in advance: you pay in cash when the course starts.
• Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.

Every agency's price is on our Courses page and the price list. To see how the first dive goes, read what happens on your first try dive; for the course itself, Open Water, day by day.