Enriched Air (Nitrox) Diver

Minimum age: 12

Course prerequisite: enrollment in Open Water Diver

Divers 12 or older can earn a PADI Enriched Air Diver certification as part of their PADI Open Water Diver course. Ask your instructor for more information.

You can complete this course locally or while travelling.

Choose a dive shop close to home to:

• Support your local diving community
• Meet dive buddies in your local area
• Learn about your local ecosystem

Choose a dive shop away from home if you:

• Plan to travel to a dive destination on holiday
• Like to meet new people when travelling
• Have the time to complete your course while on vacation

This course requires both knowledge development and in-person training for certification. 

• When you purchase the PADI eLearning course from our website, the cost covers the knowledge development portion only.
• There is an additional cost to complete your practical training with a PADI Instructor. Please contact your PADI Dive Center or Resort for pricing. 

If you do not own a set of scuba equipment, and you would like to make the two optional dives, you will need to rent gear. 

If you own scuba gear, confirm it can be used with nitrox (don't worry, most modern dive equipment is compatible). If you don't have the manuals that came with your equipment, your PADI Dive Shop or Instructor can help.

Only certain scuba tanks can be filled with enriched air (you'll learn more about this in the course). Your PADI Dive Shop will provide dedicated nitrox cylinders for your enriched air dives. Your instructor will also provide an oxygen analyzer.

PADI eLearning: 2-4 hours

Entire course: 1-2 days

It's possible to earn your nitrox certification in just one day. Simply complete the online course and schedule a short practical session with your instructor. The two dives are optional. You can also earn a nitrox certification simultaneously with another course. After completing Enriched Air eLearning and the practical session with your instructor, you can use nitrox while completing dives for your Advanced Open Water Diver certification, Peak Performance Buoyancy certification, etc.

PADI's online courses are designed to work on the browsers listed below. For the best experience, make sure your browser is up-to-date.

• Chrome
• Safari
• Edge
• Firefox

If you plan to be somewhere without internet access, use the PADI Training app to download course content and study offline. Content can be downloaded in small sections with a total file size of approximately 440 MB. When you get back online, upload your progress so you can resume your training right where you left off.

The PADI Training app is available for Android™ and Apple® iOS devices. For the ideal experience, devices should be no more than three models old and running with the most current OS (operating system).

If you're interested in staying underwater for an extended period, experiencing close-up animal encounters, or exploring places few divers ever see, ask your instructor about technical or rebreather diving.

• Technical diving allows you to dive beyond recreational "no stop" limits. Stay at a shallow depth for hours, or plan dives beyond recreational dive limits.
• Rebreathers, simply put, save and recycle your breathing gas. This allows you to stay much longer underwater. Rebreathers emit little to no bubbles, so you can get closer to wildlife that might run away from the noisy bubbles of an open circuit system.