Diving and snorkeling with children in Hurghada: what works at each age

Snorkeling works at any age once a child is comfortable in the water, scuba starts at 8 in very shallow water, and real open-water dives start at 10.

Depth limits are PADI's own standards. The full list of junior ratings by agency is in our article How old do you have to be to scuba dive?

Yes, if they are comfortable in the water, wear a life jacket and have an adult right beside them the whole time.

• Life jacket, every time. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises life jackets for children for all activities in and around natural water. Armbands, rings and noodles are toys, not safety devices.
• One adult per child. The CDC also advises a named adult watching each child closely and constantly; swimming lessons don't change that.
• Child-size kit. DAN Europe advises low-profile children's masks (easier to clear), soft fins and small snorkels: no more than 150 ml for a child, against up to 230 ml for an adult, because a big snorkel holds stale air.
• Calm, shallow reefs. On our boat trips the skipper picks the reefs each morning for the wind and the sea. Our snorkeling guide covers the spots, and snorkeling safety for first-timers covers weak swimmers.

Tell us your children's ages when you book, and ask for child-size masks, fins and life jackets.

A short private trip means less time at sea; Orange Bay adds beach time; a full snorkeling day suits keen snorkelers. For small children, check age limits, a correctly fitting life jacket and the sea conditions before choosing a boat.

All three include mask and fins and hotel pickup; prices are per person except the private speedboat. You pay in cash on the day, and you can cancel free of charge up to 24 hours before. At Dolphin House we never chase, touch or feed the dolphins: read the dolphin code of conduct with your children before you go. Compare all trips on Boat Trips.

With PADI, a child can breathe from a scuba tank at 8 in Bubblemaker (2 m maximum) and dive in open water at 10 (12 m maximum).

• PADI Bubblemaker, from 8. A short first experience in a pool or calm, shallow confined water, no deeper than 2 m. It is not a certification. With us it is from €65 and takes about 1–2 hours.
• Try dive (Discover Scuba Diving), from 10. One dive with an instructor, no deeper than 12 m under PADI rules. With us it is €45, one-to-one, either from the beach (about 1–2 hours) or on our daily boat (about 8 hours, hotel to hotel). What happens step by step: Discover Scuba Diving: what to expect.
• Junior Open Water, from 10. The full Open Water course with junior limits: ages 10–11 dive to 12 m with a PADI Professional or a certified parent or guardian; ages 12–14 dive to 18 m with a certified adult. With us the course is from €365 (SSI/SDI) or €395 (PADI), everything included. Not sure which to choose? See try dive, Scuba Diver or Open Water.

Why the limits? Divers Alert Network (DAN) points to children's maturity, the weight of the gear, a higher risk of ear and lung pressure injuries, faster chilling and dehydration, and the fact that most children don't recognise a subtle symptom or say so in time. Close adult supervision is the answer DAN gives.

Check that your child wants to do it, is healthy on the day, can clear their ears, stays warm and is protected from the sun.

• Who wants it? DAN Europe calls parental pressure a red flag: never push a child who feels uncomfortable. A good test is whether they can listen, follow rules, say when something is wrong and ask for help.
• Medical form. Children fill in the same diving medical questionnaire as adults, and a parent or guardian signs the forms for anyone under 18. Follow the form's branching instructions: some answers lead to further questions, while specified answers require a physician's evaluation and approval before participation: see the diver medical questionnaire explained.
• Ears and colds. Ear and sinus problems were the majority of cases in a review of 149 DAN emergency calls about divers under 18 (Helfrich et al., 2023). Children's Eustachian tubes open less easily, so practise equalising and don't dive with a blocked nose: diving with a cold.
• Calm, not panicked. The same review found unmanageable anxiety leading to panic in some cases, and 15% of the minors' dive injuries were lung overexpansion injuries. Stop the moment your child is frightened; there is always another day.
• Cold. Children lose heat faster than adults because of their body surface to weight ratio, so a well-fitting suit of the right thickness matters even in warm water. Month-by-month advice: which wetsuit for the Red Sea.
• Sun. The NHS advises shade from 11am to 3pm, clothing that covers up, at least SPF30 with 4-star UVA protection, water-resistant sunscreen reapplied straight after swimming, and keeping babies under 6 months out of strong direct sunlight. A long-sleeved swim top saves a lot of cream; see reef-safe sunscreen.

Parents who don't dive can snorkel from the same boat, try a dive themselves, or wait on the beach.

• Snorkel from the dive boat. If an older child joins the 2-dive day (€50, normally €60), snorkelers come on the same boat for €35 with mask and fins included.
• Try it together. A parent can book a try dive alongside the child: each of you gets your own instructor, €45 each.
• Beach time. On the Orange Bay trip there is shallow water on the beach to relax and paddle; on the snorkeling trip a Giftun Island beach visit is an optional €5 per person.
• Certified parents can buddy their own 10–11-year-old Junior Open Water diver under PADI rules, and dive with 12–14-year-olds as their certified adult. Multi-day packages take up to 10% off; see the price list.

Hotel pickup is included from Hurghada, El Gouna, Makadi Bay, Sahl Hasheesh, Soma Bay and Safaga (dolphin speedboat: Hurghada). Nothing is paid in advance.