Diving in Egypt
Always featured among the top dive destinations in the world, the Red Sea seems to have it all: magnificent corals, shoals of playful fish, large pelagic species to add thrills, and eerie shipwrecks to add drama.
The Red Sea is a premier diving location for everyone from beginners to experts. Almost a backwater and cut off from the oceans, its water is warm year-round—usually between 75°F (November through March) and 82°F (April through October)—which is ideal for coral formation. Warm temperatures also means that divers don't get too cold, making it a great spot for beginners.
Coral reefs run close to land along much of the Egyptian coast and support a rich ecosystem of over 1,000 marine species. Whichever town you choose as your dive base, you’ll have a quality experience with few time-consuming boat transfers to dive sites and great dives, whether you explore the shallows or the depths. Visibility is good, on average 49 feet (15 meters), so you get great views while you’re on your submarine explorations.
Red Sea Environmental Centre
The Red Sea Environmental Centre (www.redsea-ec.org) in Masbat, Dahab, is a private conservation institute dedicated to the study of the Red Sea marine environment. In collaboration with the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency and educational institutions worldwide, the center offers training to dive instructors as well as tourists.
Egypt's Best Dive Sites
Dahab
The Blue Hole. Internationally famed, this narrow natural chimney at 100 feet below the surface leads to drop-off of over 1,000 feet. The water’s hue gives the dive its name. Marine life abounds in the upper levels.
Eel Garden. The sandy bottom at around 100 feet makes the perfect habitat for hundreds of eels that stick their heads out of their holes in unison to feed. You also see a wide variety of hard and soft corals.
Hurghada
Abu Hashish. Named after the acres of sea grass that blanket the seafloor, the landscape of Abu Hashish is characterized by coral bommies (individual towers of coral) erupting from the sea floor through the swaying fronds. It rewards divers with the chance to glimpse some of the more secretive sea life including octopus, seahorses, and cuttlefish.
El Minya. Meaning "the harbor," this Soviet-built minesweeper was bombed and sunk by the Israelis in Hurghada harbor in the late 1960s. It’s bristling with antiaircraft guns, and you can enter the interior, home to a large moray eel.
Small Giftun Island. A mixture of drifting ergs (underwater sand dunes), chimney caves, and a deep drop-off add up to the variety here, with soft and fan corals, glass fish, lionfish, and groupers among the more colorful inhabitants. Erg Somaya has a deep drop where hammerheads and barracuda gather.
Marsa Alam
Elphinstone. A short but spectacular section of reef has precipitous walls dropping on both flanks, plus natural arches and pinnacles. The soft corals are noteworthy, and the sea life includes groupers and morays, with visiting hammerhead sharks a regular sight.
Safaga
Arba Erg. Also known as Tobia Arba, this site has a group of seven rocky peaks rising from the seafloor to just under the water surface with good coral growth and marine life including lionfish, puffers, and groupers.
Sharm El-Sheikh
Jackson Reed, Tiran Strait. A favorite hunting ground of hammerhead and tiger sharks, dolphins, and turtles, the reef has impressive gardens of both soft and hard corals and varieties of colorful fish that always make your trip worthwhile.
SS Thistlegorm , Ras Muhammed National Park. This 400-foot cargo steamer was sent 100 feet to the bottom by a German bomb in 1941. The explosion ripped the superstructure apart, spreading its contents of vital war supplies across the seabed.
