You do not need a diving licence to dive in Hurghada. Thousands of people take their very first breath underwater here every week without any prior experience or certification. The programme that makes this possible is called a try dive, or Discover Scuba Diving, and it exists precisely for people who want to actually dive, not just read about it. Here is how it works.
What a try dive actually is
A try dive is a real dive in the sea, guided one-on-one by a certified instructor. You are not certified afterwards, which is the one thing it is not. What you get is a proper introduction: a short briefing on the three or four things that matter, a few minutes practising breathing in shallow water, and then a slow, guided dive along a gentle reef with the instructor holding on and controlling everything for you.
Depth is limited to 8 metres, and in practice most of the dive sits shallower where the coral and fish are densest. There is no exam, no theory to study, and no swimming test beyond being comfortable in water. If you can relax and breathe, you can do this.
What you can and cannot do
The honest limits matter, so here they are. On a try dive you can dive to 8 metres, always accompanied by an instructor within arm's reach, and you can repeat it as many times as you like. What you cannot do is dive independently, dive with just a buddy, or rent gear on your own. Every try dive starts the briefing again from the top, because you are not certified to carry the responsibility yourself yet. That is not red tape, it is the line that keeps a try dive safe.
Who it is for, and the small print
The minimum age is 10. You need to be in reasonable health, and you will fill in a short medical questionnaire first, if anything is flagged (asthma, heart conditions, recent surgery) a doctor's sign-off sorts it out. You do not need to be a strong swimmer, but you should be comfortable putting your face in the water without panic. That is genuinely the whole requirement.
If you are travelling with non-diving family, they can snorkel over the same reef while you dive, so nobody sits on the boat bored.
What it costs, and the part most people miss
A try dive with us is 35 euros, which includes all the gear and the guide. The detail worth knowing: if you fall in love with it, the fee counts toward the PADI Open Water course. So a try dive is not money spent instead of learning to dive, it is the first step of it, credited back if you continue. You can also do the try dive on a normal daily diving boat trip, so the rest of your group can dive the same day.
Try dive or full course?
Simple rule. If you want to see whether diving is for you, do a try dive. If you already know you want to dive properly, on your own with a buddy, anywhere in the world, for the rest of your life, skip straight to the Open Water course. It takes three to four days, the card never expires, and every dive center on earth accepts it. Many people do a try dive on day one of their holiday and start the course on day three because they could not stop grinning.
Ready to breathe underwater?
No licence, no experience, no problem. Pick a day, and we will take care of everything else. Tell us your dates and we will get you underwater on a gentle Hurghada reef with an instructor who does this every single day.