Best Red Sea Diving Sites

Egypt is considered to have some of the best diving spots around the world, the most amazing spots to dive in Egypt is Red Sea diving spots, here we will discuss about top Red Sea diving spots according to expert divers reviews.

Some divers calls these sites to be the heaven under water and describe its magnificent views as one of the best around the world, the sites will be arranged according to the cities where they are located.

Top Red Sea Diving Sites arranged by cities :

1• Abu Dabbab (Marsa Alam)

Abu Dabbab is a unique red sea diving spot because of the strong presence of sea turtles  and Dugongs (sea cow) , peaceful herbivores.

Denis or perhaps Denise and Dougal is the name of the two Dugongs living in Abu Dabbab and receives special protection being species in danger of extinction, this is a rare opportunity to dive with this amazing endangered creature.

You will also enjoy the diving with the friendly giant green turtles, ghost pipe fishes, sea horse, harmless guitar sharks.

Abu Dabbab is located 30 km from north of Marsa Alam and is considered a shallow to medium depth dive location maximum of 18 meters.

2• Elphinstone Reef (Marsa Alam)

Elphinstone Reef is one of the best known southern Red Sea diving spots rich in its colorful corals and fish species that attracts large species like sharks, dolphins and hungry barracuda.

Located in very deep water, this elongated reef is known for the curious oceanic white-tip sharks  and hummer-head sharks visits and where occasionally whale sharks  are seen as well you may find shoals of jacks, silky sharks, grey sharks, barracudas.

The reef is considered the home of much more species that needs an article of its own to describe the species there,  this can makes you wonder how this tiny reef on the maps that extends for 300 meters in “U” shape could be such an amazing attraction but that’s because of the depth in the dive that makes it the home for all these species .

This reef is only for the experienced advanced divers not for the primarily for its changing strong currents and deep coral plateaus and caves.

It is located 50 km north east of Marsa Alam 10 km from the shore 12 km east from Marsa Abu Dabbab, its about 18 minutes by a speed boat or Zodiac, diving depth: 20 to 70 meters.

3•Brothers Islands (Marsa Alam)

Brothers islands are the two remote islands “Big Brother Island” and “Small Brother Island” that can be described as magnets for the pelagic creatures: manta rays, thresher sharks, gray sharks or whale sharks are attracted by the strong currents driven of this national park, suitable only for divers with several dives before.

The Little Brother Island is the best for corals with its amazing walls of hard and soft corals with an amazing colorful scenery the sandy bottom is at 47 meters, but if you are looking for the big fishes action you might prefer to go to the Big Brother island.

The brothers islands are the home to an amazing reef full of colorful marine life and fishes, Barracudas, Tuna, Sting rays and Manta rays.

You may also spot while your dive their different species of fishes like Napoleon wrasse, turtles, hummer-head sharks, tiger shark, oceanic shark, silver tip shark and much more

There are about 12 dive sites around the Brothers islands as well there is also two interesting shipwrecks diving sites on the north of the islands, “Aida” shipwreck lies on a depth between 15 meters and 45 meters, Numidia wreck and it stands vertically on a depth of 8 meters for the top of the ship to 80 meters, therefore its not accessible for recreational diving but only for tech divers.

It’s possible almost all the year to dive in Brothers Islands however some times the sea condition are rough and some times the diving there is forbidden.

Location: 125 kilometers north of Marsa Alam and 150 kilometers southeast from Hurghada

4• Daedalus Reef (Marsa Alam)

Daedalus Reef is an isolated reef which receives strong currents rich in nutrients that provides perfect conditions to have walls full of healthy hard corals,it is located 80 km from the coast of Marsa Alam the depth of this site ranges from 5 to 40 meters. To this reef arrive mackerel, barracuda, tuna, hammerhead sharks or longimanus sharks looking for schools of fish.

Located 80 kilometers east from Marsa Alam, Diving depth 25 to 40 meters.

Most of the dives in Daedalus reef are drift dives along amazing deep walls of corals.

This reef is only for the experienced advanced divers not for the primarily for its great depth as its in the open sea .

You can take a trip from Hurghada as well Marsa Alam to reach this area and start diving there, It’s possible almost all the year to dive in Daedalus Reef.

5• Samadai (Marsa Alam)

This area is known as the dolphin house of Marsa Alam as well, its considered one of the most important dolphins habitats .

a group of spinner dolphins make this area there home, this is a very good opportunity  to watch the dolphins and their behaviors in their natural habitats.

The reef is in crescent shape with a small lagoon of sand and sea grass within it.

Diving depth is from 10 to 15 meters.

6• Habili Ali  (St. John’s) Marsa Ghalib

Habili Ali reef is the most eastern diving point of  St. John’s . Its walls and ridges are full with Elkhorn corals, whip corals, huge gorgonian fans and black corals. Through drift diving you´ll have the chance to dive with huge napoleon wrasse, giant parrot-fishes, white-tip sharks and gray sharks to be finding colorful soft coral gardens full of clown fish and anemones.

7• Ras Mohammed (Sharm El Sheikh)

Ras Mohammed is the oldest protected marine park in the Egyptian Red Sea. Ras Mohammed is the home of more than 1,200 fish species and 220 species of coral. It is a must when traveling in a diving safari in the north Red Sea that also has two extraordinary wrecks near, the SS Thistlegorm and the SS Dunraven.

8• Anemone city (Sharm El Sheikh)

Those who know Anemone City say that the reef looks like a big city at rush hour. In this reef north of Ras Mohammed can be found a lot of anemones that host thousands of clown fish  and where also live napoleon wrasse, surgeon fish or unicorn fish.

9. SS Thistlegorm (Sharm El Sheikh)

Wreck diving : One of the most famous diving sites in Sharm El Sheikh, many divers have one place on their minds when they visit the city “The Thistlegorm shipwreck”.
diving here is like a dive in an open museum, where the time freezes and you discover  the world war drama .
“The lure of this adventurous dive is the drama of its demise, the content of its cargo and the historical significance,” says Kean, who wrote the book SS Thistlegorm: World War Two’s Greatest Shipwreck, this British supply ship was bombed while en route to Suez, and it stayed on the seafloor untouched until it was rediscovered by Jacques Cousteau and his calypso crew  in 1955.

Only experienced advanced divers can dive through the holds to explore the cargo (Bedford trucks, motorcycles, racks of rifles and more) that’s still packed in the ship.

10• Jackson Reef (Straits of Tiran)

is one of the four coral reefs that runs longitudinally the Straits of Tiran . What’s special about this reef is that, thanks to the strong currents and abundant nutrients that come from the depths of the Red Sea, corals grow in good health attracting a large variety of fish what also calls big predators like hammerhead sharks, gray sharks or guitar sharks.

11• Sharm El Naga (Hurghada)

Sharm El Naga is known for its great coral reefs and almost all the year clear visibility in the water, its a natural reserved area that is about 35 km from Hurghada city and very near to Suma bay.

The dive site is suitable for all divers starting from primarily to expert advanced divers , you can make both an offshore dive or start a dive from Zodiac to reach the exciting dive sites nearby.

The bay is like a large pool that extends from 0 meters to 30-80 meters, with a walls from coral reefs surrounding you, its a home for hundreds of species like Moray Eel, parrot fish, trigger fishes, with good chances to view turtles and barracuda and much more.

For sure this is on of the best trips to do in Hurghada.

12• Dolphin House  (El Gouna)

Unlike other areas of the northern Red Sea where dolphins live in semi freedom, in Dolphin House , dolphin groups coexist in this reef, sheltered from the wind, currents and predators allowing them to rest and recover from their hunts.
In this reef have recorded up to 200 dolphins  living together in complete freedom, and divers respect towards these mammals is total.

This area is known for snorkeling as well as diving and there is daily trips from Hurghada to this area you can book a snorkeling trip from Here.

13• El Mina shipwreck (Hurghada)

Very near to Hurghada shores in front of Hurghada port, this site is for experienced advanced divers, considered one of the preferable sites for divers in Hurghada.

Location depth: about 30 to 40 meters .

These are the top rated diving sites destinations in Red Sea according to divers opinions that you will for sure enjoy diving there as the Red Sea is rich of species and coral reefs and considered to be of the greatest places around the world.

14• Turtles bay (Hurghada)

About an hour by boat from Hurghada shores you will find that amazing reef on the shape of “U” letter and its walls covered with amazing corals and its home for thousand of sea creatures.

The dive site is suitable for all divers starting from primarily to expert advanced divers, but the deep areas is only for expert advanced divers.

Those are the top Red Sea scuba diving sites according to a lot of diving experts although there is a much more amazing diving sites that have a great reputation, but we will try to add more info and update the article continuously.

If there is any diving sites you know and you think it is supposed to be in our list, leave us a comment below or send us email on contact@travelia.co and we will check all the info about the spot and add it to the article.