Small Giftun Island has been a marine reserve for a few years now and it makes a big difference as this is one of the best dives in the area. The wall drops away to about 100m so pick your depth and gradually work your way back up as you drift along in the current. There are some picturesque coral formations sticking out from the main wall to explore, often decorated with soft corals. Tunas & barracuda are some of the inhabitant of this reef.
Panorama is a very large coral formation, with walls dropping off to more than 100m. You will be dropped off by the zodiac to explore this reef with its profusion of corals including gorgonians. Jackfish, Barracuda and sharks frequent the area. There are also a huge number of anemones here with their resident clownfish.
This island is the smaller of the two as the name implies. At the northern end is a long tongue of reef that extends seaward and in good weather it is possible to drop in here and drift. The current runs from east to west and here sharks may be seen cruising. On the south east side is a superb fan coral forest but it is deep and starts at 35m, there are also plenty of caves, overhangs, black coral, and lots of pelagics including sharks, tuna, barracuda, turtles and schools of reef...
The northerly of the two islands and has a small lighthouse. It has two wrecks laying on its walls. At the northern most tip of the island lays a large freighter named the Namibia, the other is the Aida II, an Egyptian supply vessel that struck at night. There is excellent wall diving all along the southern side of the reef with strong currents promoting the growth of a spectacular forest of soft corals. Frequent sightings of big pelagics and an astonishing variety of marine life.
Abu Dabab is a cluster of seven shallow reefs at depths ranging from 15m to 25m, with many caves and colourful coral gardens to explore. You can expect to see plenty of red anemones with their ever-present clownfish in this area, Blue-spotted stingrays, and Napoleon wrasse. There are frequent dolphin sightings here, too. Night dives in the vicinity are interesting, as well, as Spanish dancers are often seen here. On the southern outer reefs shark encounters are likely.
Elphinstone Reef is a long thin reef formation with stepped plateaus at both the north and south ends and sheer vertical drop-offs to the east and west. Beautiful pink and purple soft corals can be found here as well as Gorgonian fans at between 20 – 30m depth. The site is excellent for encountering large marine life including White and Grey Tip Reef Sharks, Hammerheads, Thresher sharks and Oceanic White Tips.
Deadalus Reef is an isolated coral reef some 96 km offshore from Marsa Alam. It is marked only by its lighthouse. The reef table here is submerged and made up of pristine hard corals with abundant soft coral growth. The table drops off at around 30-40m depth with steep walls descending to depths of over 500m. There is a huge variety of reef life here and, as ever, with the remote southern sites, the increased opportunity for encounters with Hammerheads, Grey...
Shaab Sharm, or Gota Sharm is a large, kidney-shaped reef with steep sloping wall on its east and south sides. The crescent of reef around the reef’s southern tip offers the best diving, with rich coral growth from the surface shallows down. There are numerous soft coral and hard corals. There is also some black coral on the wall’s deeper sections.
Groupers, barracudas, snappers and unicorns can be seen here. Currents here can be quite strong.
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