Confident mask skills
To begin with, children remove, replace and clear the mask underwater, and they also learn to breathe and open their eyes without it.
CMAS Silver Dolphin Diver · Kids Scuba · Hurghada
The second step for young divers who already hold Bronze Dolphin. Here your child learns to clear a mask underwater, to find the way back to the start and to reach the surface calmly in any situation, while an instructor and an assistant stay close the whole time.
The CMAS Silver Dolphin Diver course is the second level of the CMAS children’s scuba pathway, a confirmation program that builds on the skills a child learned at Bronze Dolphin. In Hurghada it costs €260 per child with Red Sea Diving, while we list CMAS registration and certification fees separately unless your confirmed booking includes them. To join, a child needs the CMAS Bronze Dolphin Diver certificate as well as at least five dives since earning it. The standard then requires at least six hours of in-water training and two open water dives of 20 minutes or longer, always on air, in daylight and without any decompression stop.
Moreover, Silver Dolphin is not a repeat of the first course. Instead, it adds new skills such as clearing a flooded mask, breathing without a mask, ascending on the instructor’s spare regulator and navigating back to the starting point. We follow the standard published by the World Underwater Federation, and our instructors adapt the pace to each child.
| Course | CMAS Silver Dolphin Diver, the confirmation level of the CMAS children’s pathway |
|---|---|
| Price | €260 per child |
| CMAS fees | Separate, unless your confirmed booking includes them |
| Minimum age | 8 years, with written consent from a parent or legal guardian |
| Prerequisite | CMAS Bronze Dolphin Diver certificate |
| Experience | At least 5 dives since Bronze Dolphin |
| In-water training | At least 6 hours |
| Open water dives | At least 2, and each one lasts 20 minutes or longer |
| Depth | Set by age, so from about 7 meters at 8 to 10 years up to 15 meters at 12 to 14 |
| Conditions | Daylight, sheltered calm sites and direct access to the surface |
| Supervision | A CMAS instructor certified in children’s diving, as well as an assistant |
| Next level | CMAS Gold Dolphin Diver |
| Location | Hurghada, Red Sea Governorate, Egypt |
| Operator | Red Sea Diving, a dive operator in Hurghada since 2000 |
The CMAS Silver Dolphin Diver course is for children who already hold Bronze Dolphin. However, a certificate alone does not tell us everything, so we review each child’s experience before we confirm a place.
No Bronze yet? In that case, start with the Bronze Dolphin course. Otherwise, if your child has fewer than five dives since Bronze, we can arrange the missing dives first, charged separately.
Bronze Dolphin teaches a child to dive. By contrast, Silver Dolphin teaches a child to cope, so that small surprises underwater stop being frightening.
To begin with, children remove, replace and clear the mask underwater, and they also learn to breathe and open their eyes without it.
Then they practice asking for air, ascending on the instructor’s alternate air source and swimming up without a mask, so no situation leaves them stuck.
In addition, they read the direction of the sun, keep a straight line and return to the starting point or the boat.
Moreover, children learn to notice whether they are rising, sinking or staying level, while their buoyancy control keeps improving.
Likewise, they swim on the surface fully equipped, clear a snorkel, make surface dives and learn how to drop the weight system.
Finally, they recognize fish and plants with an underwater slate, use new signals such as stop and come closer, and describe each dive afterward.
CMAS sets the minimum training rather than a fixed number of days. As a result, the schedule follows your child’s progress, and the instructor assesses skills continuously instead of in a single final test.
To begin with, the instructor reviews the Bronze Dolphin card, the five dives since then and how recently the child last dived.
After that, the child practices mask clearing, breathing without a mask and the alternate air ascent where standing up is always possible.
In total, the in-water training adds up to at least six hours, because CMAS does not allow the course to be rushed.
Once the new skills feel easy, the child repeats them in open water on a dive of at least 20 minutes.
Then a second dive of 20 minutes or longer adds direction finding, so the young diver leads the way back to the start.
Finally, every child explains the route, the depth and the marine life, since telling the story shows real understanding.
However, we never push a child to finish on a schedule. If a skill needs another session, we simply add one, and we agree it with you in advance.
A CMAS Silver Dolphin Diver follows the same age-based depth limits as every CMAS children’s level, and those limits stay deliberately conservative.
However, a Silver card never means a child should go straight to the maximum. Instead, the instructor sets each dive by age, ability, comfort and the conditions on the day. In addition, every dive uses air and stays inside no-decompression limits, so no mandatory stop is ever needed.
You can also read about the local dive sites around Hurghada, since the sheltered reefs near town are where young divers train.
Silver Dolphin adds harder skills, so the CMAS standard also adds more supervision than at Bronze level.
Because children lose heat faster than adults, we also check that each child’s exposure suit suits the water temperature. Furthermore, a parent or legal guardian completes the medical documents with us, and when the form calls for it, we ask for a doctor’s clearance first.
You can read the rest of our procedures on the diving safety page, as well as the current fitness guidance from Divers Alert Network.
The CMAS Silver Dolphin Diver price with Red Sea Diving is €260 per child, and it covers our local training program in Hurghada. Meanwhile, we list the CMAS fees separately, unless your confirmed booking includes them.
Therefore we confirm the exact inclusions and every CMAS fee in writing before you book.
Hurghada lets a young diver keep progressing in warm, clear water, with sheltered reefs a short boat ride away. Depending on the site, children may meet butterflyfish, angelfish, parrotfish, surgeonfish, moray eels, stingrays and schools of reef fish over hard and soft corals. Of course, marine life is wild, so we can never promise a particular encounter.
Meanwhile, parents who dive can join our daily diving trips in Hurghada, and the whole family can also spend a snorkeling day at the Dolphin House.
Gallery
We teach children’s programs from three agencies in Hurghada, so parents of older children often compare these three. In short, the right choice depends on your child’s age and on which certificate they already hold.
From age 8 and €260 per child, although only after Bronze Dolphin plus five dives. Moreover, it keeps a young diver inside the CMAS children’s pathway toward Gold Dolphin.
From age 10, at €350, with four open water dives. However, it starts from zero, so it suits children who have not dived before rather than Bronze Dolphin holders.
From age 10, at €250 plus BSAC fees. By contrast, it takes a child to 12 meters under supervision and counts toward BSAC Ocean Diver.
After Silver, the CMAS children’s pathway continues with Gold Dolphin Diver. From age 14, a young diver can then move on to the adult CMAS One-Star Diver course. You can also compare every PADI program on our PADI courses page.
Why us
Above all, every young diver develops at a different pace, so our instructors plan around the child rather than the calendar.
Moreover, we build on the skills from Bronze instead of rushing children toward greater depth.
Furthermore, age, ability, comfort and the actual conditions decide every dive plan, while an assistant supports the instructor throughout.
Indeed, we have run diving trips from Hurghada for more than two decades, as our about us page explains.
In addition, young divers learn that protecting the reef is part of being a good diver, not an extra rule.
Likewise, we set out the €260 price and every CMAS fee in writing before you confirm.
Questions
The Red Sea Diving price is €260 per child. However, we charge the applicable CMAS fees separately unless your confirmed booking includes them.
Please send your child’s full name, age, current certification, number of dives, deepest dive so far and the date of the last dive. In addition, tell us the height, approximate weight, shoe size, your travel dates and your hotel in Hurghada.
Yes. Local transfers within Hurghada come with the €260 on training days, so just tell us your hotel when you book.
Air cylinders and weights come with the course. However, full equipment rental depends on your confirmed booking, so send your child’s height, weight and shoe size and we will match the sizes.
Yes. The CMAS standard asks for the Bronze Dolphin Diver certificate as well as at least five dives since the child earned it.
Eight years, with written consent from a parent or legal guardian, although the child must also hold Bronze Dolphin first.
No. The child keeps diving under the direct supervision that CMAS requires for children, with an instructor and an assistant on every course dive.
Depth depends on age and experience. Children from 8 to 10 stay within about 7 meters, while older children progress gradually to 10 and then 15 meters.
No. Every children’s dive takes place in daylight, and the program requires direct vertical access to the surface, so we never take children inside wrecks or caves.
Each of the two required open water dives lasts at least 20 minutes, and every dive stays on air with no mandatory decompression stop.
Above all, removing and clearing the mask underwater, breathing without a mask, ascending on the instructor’s alternate air source and finding the way back to the starting point.
The next level is CMAS Gold Dolphin Diver. After that, from age 14, the child can move on to the adult CMAS One-Star Diver course.
Send us your child’s name, age, Bronze Dolphin details, number of dives and date of the last dive, together with height, weight, shoe size, your travel dates and hotel. Then we confirm the schedule, the €260 price and any CMAS fees in writing. For liveaboard diving in Egypt, see also redsealiveaboard.net.
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Red Sea Diving, Madares Street, Hurghada 1, Hurghada 84511, Red Sea Governorate, Egypt. Diving and dive training here since 2000.
This page was last reviewed by the Red Sea Diving instructor team in September 2026.
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