Enriched Air Diver teaches you to plan and dive using nitrox: breathing gas with more oxygen and less nitrogen than standard air. The payoff is not magic. You still have depth and time limits. You absorb less nitrogen on a given dive, which can extend no-decompression time and shorten surface intervals on repetitive diving days.
PADI's course is mostly classroom and practical work. You learn to analyse cylinder oxygen content, label tanks correctly, set your dive computer for enriched air and stay within oxygen exposure limits. Open water dives are optional, not required for certification.
Most divers finish eLearning in two to four hours at home, then meet an instructor for a half-day practical session. It is a popular add-on before liveaboards or multi-dive holidays where everyone else is on nitrox and you want to join them safely.
Enriched Air Diver is knowledge-heavy with a practical gas-analysis component. No open water dives are required.
Quick answers about this qualification. For anything else, use live chat or browse bookable activities below.
Find activitiesIt is the PADI specialty that qualifies you to dive using enriched air nitrox within trained limits. You learn theory, gas analysis, computer settings and oxygen exposure rules.
It is one of the most popular specialties because many dive trips assume you can use nitrox safely.
No. PADI does not require open water dives for Enriched Air Diver certification. The course is eLearning plus an instructor-led practical session.
Some centres offer optional nitrox dives if you want in-water practice. Ask when you book.
You must be enrolled in or certified as Open Water Diver or hold an equivalent entry-level card.
Many students take nitrox right after Open Water or Advanced Open Water before a diving holiday.
eLearning is typically two to four hours at home. The practical session with your instructor is usually about half a day.
Optional dives add time. Most people finish in a single day if eLearning is done beforehand.
Enriched air nitrox is breathing gas with a higher oxygen percentage and lower nitrogen than standard air. Common recreational blends include 32% and 36% oxygen.
Less nitrogen on a dive can mean longer no-decompression time at a given depth, which helps on repetitive diving days.
Used correctly, nitrox can reduce nitrogen loading on repetitive dives. It is not automatically safer. Higher oxygen brings oxygen toxicity limits that cap your maximum depth.
The course teaches when nitrox helps, when it does not, and how to analyse and plan every fill.
No. Oxygen toxicity limits mean your maximum depth is often shallower on nitrox than on air for a given blend. The benefit is usually longer bottom time at recreational depths, not extra depth.
For dives toward 40 metres, look at Deep Diver and appropriate experience instead.
For the course, centres provide analysers for the practical session. After certification you need a nitrox-compatible dive computer and access to analysed nitrox fills.
Leave a comment when you book if you want help checking whether your current computer supports enriched air modes.
You use an oxygen analyser on the fill, record the exact percentage, and mark the cylinder and your dive plan accordingly. Your instructor drills this until it is habit.
Never dive a nitrox fill you have not personally analysed or verified per centre procedure.
Twelve years old for PADI Enriched Air Diver. Junior divers must follow the same oxygen exposure and depth rules with appropriate supervision.
Centres may set a higher age for nitrox fills on boats. Confirm when you book for teenage divers.
adventuro lists PADI centres running Enriched Air Diver in the UK and abroad. Book before a liveaboard if the itinerary assumes nitrox-certified guests.
Half-day classroom courses pair well with a weekend of fun dives at the same centre.
From € 350
Sardegna (Sardinia), Italy
From Dhs 525
The Palm Jumeirah, Dubai
From £ 200
East Central Scotland, United Kingdom
From € 245
Tenerife, Spain
From € 205
Mallorca, Spain
From £ 200
Surrey, East and West Sussex, United Kingdom
From £ 195
Surrey, East and West Sussex, United Kingdom
From $ 205
Minahasa Regency, North Sulawesi
