This page covers the area from just north of Hurghada to the Sudanese border. This is not a comprehensive listing of all dives sites in the area -- only the ones we've been to. It's our condensed, combined logbook.
Dates:24/7/98
Max depth: 27.6m Average depth: 15m
Location: Boat dive off Hurghada
Description: Saddle-shaped reef, the "seat" of the saddle about 16m deep with the "sides" dropping to much deeper. We dove both along the wall and over the top of the reef where there were many nice coral formations. There are lots of moray eels all over the place.
Dates: 24/7/98
Max depth: 16.7mAverage depth: 14m
Location: Boat dive near Hurghada
Description: Small coral island with a lighthouse. The reef slopes down gently from the surface. We dove on the north side of the reef where we passed one particularly beautiful formation of sea fans and siphon sponges. We had the company of a turtle for most of the dive and saw a lot of blue-spotted stingrays and puffer fish.
Dates: 24/7/98
Max depth: 15m Average depth: 8m
Location: Boat dive near Safaga. 26°50'N 34°E
Description: Coral corridor with a sandy bottom at about 18m that slopes gently up. The area was very rich in corals and large fish but the beauty was somewhat marred by the abundance of plastic bottles and other garbage at the site.
Dates: 24/7/98
Max depth: 18m Average depth: 7m
Location: Boat dive near Safaga. Just around the "corner" from Ras Abu Soma. 26°50'N 34°E
Description: We did this as a night dive. There are four major pillars and three smaller ones. Due to night and poor visibility it was not possible to see the pillar the boat was moored onto from the boat and it was necessary to follow the rope to it. It was also impossible to see one pillar from the next so if you are going without a guide study the pillar chart and use your compass to get from one to the other.
Dates: 25/7/98
Max depth: 24.5m Average depth: 6m, 12m
Location: Boat dive near Safaga.
Description: A circular reef just touching the surface. We saw a turtle and a small Napoleon wrasse. After the dive we saw dolphins here and jumped in to swim with them.
Dates: 25/7/98
Max depth: 23m Average depth: 10m
Location: Boat dive near Safaga.
Description: Small finger-shaped reef with lots of soft corals. There is a steep wall to at least 100m. We started at one side of the wall and got picked up by the zodiac on the other end (where currents can get strong).
Dates: 25/7/98 (two dives)
Max depth: 19m Average depth: 12m
Location: Boat dive near Safaga.
Description: Crescent-shaped reef. We dove the "outside" during the day and did a night dive on the "inside". The outside is a gently sloping wall full of fish and coral. We saw a big group of masked butterflyfish and at the end of the dive we encountered a group of 7 dolphins that included 2 small babies. The inside of the reef is shallower, a little twisty and with some small pillar formations. Guy had an encounter with a sea urchin here so we cut the night dive short.
Dates: 26/7/98, 30/7/98
Max depth: 26m Average depth: 18m
Location: Boat dive. 25°18.34'N 34°51.75'E
Description: Long and narrow reef going from north to south and almost reaching the surface. At the northern and southern sides the walls go down to plateaus while on the east and west sides there are steep walls going all the way down. The northern plateau is about 42m deep. On the south side there is an archway going across the reef some 10m long starting at a depth of 56m. The reef is fairly rich in coral and fish life and especially at shallower depths. Deeper there is a larger chance of pelagic encounters and we did see 2 sharks from a distance at the north end of the reef.
Dates: 26/7/98 (twice)
Max depth: 13.7m Average depth: 5m
Location: Boat dive. 24°59.02'N 35°00.02'E
Description: Horseshoe-shaped reef with mostly rock and hard coral. We dove here once during the day and once at night. We didn't see anything spectacular but there are supposed to be dolphins living here.
Dates: 30/7/98
Max depth: 10m Average depth: 6m
Location: Boat dive.
Description: This is a system of six reefs. The reef we dove was small with a system of narrow and twisty caves going through it which were fun to tunnel around in. The reef wasn't especially rich in coral or fish but was interestingly-shaped with lots of twists, turns, and bulges. We spotted 5 crown-of-thorns starfish here.
Dates: 29/7/98
Max depth: 15m Average depth: 10m
Location: Boat dive near Marsa Alam.
Description: We dove the "inside" part with a sandy bottom and many beautiful coral pillars with sea fans and soft corals. There were lots of small coral formations in the sandy bottom between the pillars. We spotted 5 crown-of-thorns starfish here as well as some plankton that looked just like miniature, transparent gazelles with cilia on their stomachs!
From the pillars we continued to the reef itself and dove along the east wall which didn't have many fish but was very interestingly-shaped with all kinds of curves and nooks and consisted mostly of hard coral. We got a glimpse of the "outside" (northern) part which appears to be a lot richer (in Guy's opinion but not Michal's).
Dates: 29/7/98
Max depth: 15.5m
Location: Boat dive.
Description: A collection of ergs none of which reaches the surface, some with small caves. The area has lots of hard and soft corals and lots of fish of all sizes including schools of surgeon fish and schools with both black snapper and bigeye emperor. We saw an octopus hiding and a reef shark at the end of the dive. This was the spot where Michal had the classic experience of yelling "shark, shark" and having everyone jump off the boat to join her (and the shark) in the water.
Dates: 29/7/98
Max depth: 31m Average depth: 20m
Location: Boat dive.
Description: Wall dive. We dove east along the north side of the reef and around the corner and a little to the west along the south side where visibility was not as good. The reef was very pretty at shallow depths with all kinds of corals and fish. We saw a BIG turtle eating corals on the bottom.
Dates: 27/7/98
Max depth: 19.1m Average depth: 16m
Location: Boat dive. 15 min south of Sha'ab Sharm.
Description: At least 5 underwater pinnacles with their tops at about 5m. Bottom depth between the pinnacles is 7 to 16 meters. There were strong currents near some of the pinnacles and lots of fish everywhere, many in schools. There are also lots of small coral formations between the pinnacles. The sandy sea floor seems covered with dead coral pieces, maybe the result of an earthquake.
Dates: 28/7/98
Max depth: 10m Average depth: 1m
Location: Boat dive.
Description: This was a half-day half-night exploratory dive and we didn't really find anything. We swam on top of the reef trying to get to the deeper side but ended up trapped surrounded by reef. There is supposed to be a pillar somewhere further from Wadi Gimal Island but it was too far for us to get to.
Dates: 28/7/98
Max depth: 17m Average depth: 10m
Location: Boat dive.
Description: Small reef that can be circled in one dive. Check the currents or be prepared to battle them. The southeast "corner" of the reef looks like a coral "rock slide" and is absolutely dead. The rest of the reef is nice with many hard corals. The sandy bottom has a lot of coral formations and a few big pillars.
Dates: 28/7/98
Max depth: 16m Average depth: 8m
Location: Boat dive. Fury shoal reefs.
Description: A tugboat wreck that penetrates through the surface at low tide with the bottom at about 16m. We started the dive at the wreck which is very nice and covered with coral. We continued east with the reef on our left towards a stony pillar where we met a cute whitetip reef shark on patrol. We swam on till we reached a sandy lagoon on the other side of the reef which is home to several blue-spotted stingrays. We then came back the same way for another look at the wreck (and the shark) and the went a little bit further west to discover a nice cave. The reef is rich with coral and fish and this dive is highly recommended.
Dates: 27/7/98, 28/7/98
Max depth: 23m Average depth: 5m
Location: Boat dive.
Description: Horseshoe-shaped reef. The first dive we did was along the SE wall of the inside lagoon. This makes for a shallow dive and there are pretty rock formations and corals. The second dive was on the outside wall where there were areas of hard coral alternating with areas of soft coral and there were many big fish including a group of hammerheads.
Dates: 27/7/98
Max depth: 30m Average depth: 15.5m
Location: Boat dive.
Description: We went deep (30m) in the beginning to the plateau at the southern tip of the reef to find some whitetip reef sharks. Aside from the sharks, the plateau also featured a lot of beautiful corals. Coming up from the plateau, we followed the unexciting eastern wall of the reef for a while then turned around and headed back. We did spot a small turtle on the east wall but little else of interest. However the reef in general seems to have a lot of big pelagic fish.
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