DIVE ITINERARY - DEEP SOUTH

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HABILY OMRAN - Usually provides easy dives and is therefore suitable for beginners or a first morning checkout dive. The best depth here is at about 20 m, currents rarely flow around it and the visibility underwater is usually excellent. Dive duration is normal around 50 minutes.

 

DANGEROUS REEF - Is the most southerly of the St. John's reefs, but seems oddly named since it is one of the few dive sites in the Southern Red Sea that offer a reasonably shallow flat bottom. This makes it good for an overnight anchorage and night diving, where you can find squid, Spanish Dancers, hunting moray eels. The topography here makes for great swim-throughs. There are many breaks in the reef shallows that allow easy and safe penetration.

 

HABILI ALY - Habili Aly is another incredibly popular dive site that can feel like diving in an aquarium!  Reef predators such as jacks and grey reef sharks are commonly seen, Hammerhead sharks and manta rays are also encountered, though less frequently. It is not unusual to see Bottlenose Dolphins on the surface here, and sometimes underwater.  Manta Rays are around during the summer months. Butterfly Fish, Red Sea Banner Fish, Angel Fish, and Big Eye bimble around in the shallows and for those that have sharp eyes, you will see Large Dragons and Purple Flabellina moving slowly over the walls.  Overhangs and Black Corals are found in the south.

 

HABILI GAFFAR - is a smaller reef flat, perhaps 30m across at the surface, with a ledge running around it at 20-35m deep before the reef plunges in to the depths of the Red Sea. Its small size means you can circumnavigate the entire reef 2 or 3 times during a dive or zizag up one side, depending on the strength of the current. The strong currents attract snapper, barracuda, tuna and reef sharks on the northern side where a small protusion forms at 40m. The shallower sections of the reef are dominated by pink clasping soft corals and fairy basslets. Schools of bigmouth mackerel race across the reef top in search of food. Liofish slowly stalk in the shallows, waiting for their opportunity to strike on unsuspecting prey.

 

ZABARGAD -  Is the largest marine park in Egypt’s southern Red Sea and is often grouped with the Rocky Island Marine Park which lies just 5km southeast. Zabargad’s Turtle Bay is home to an abundance of reef fish, cuttlefish, octopus, blue spotted rays and crocodile fish, and is also a nesting ground for turtles during August. Beyond the sheltered coves, Zabargad offers thrilling walls, Both hard and soft corals live here and strong currents as well as the Khanka Wreck and sightings of oceanic whitetips, grey reef sharks, hammerhead, silvertips and manta rays. 

 

ROCKY ISLAND – Rocky Island provides fantastic diving, with sheer vertical walls and rugged, jagged profile. Strong currents can make diving a drift dive. The reef composition here is generally stony, with fairly good coral cover. Divers can discover sharks of all species, a whole range of reef and pelagic creatures and different coral types such as stony corals, plate and cabbage corals, acropora, fire coral, and Dendronephthya soft corals.

 

ABU GALAWA – The main feature of this dive is a World War II wreck of a Chinese Tug Boat, the “Tien Hsing.” Measuring approximately 34 meters in length, the stern of the wreck lies at 17 meters and the tip of the bow peaks above the waves at low tide. Apart from the wreck, the adjacent area offers beautiful reef and diving along coral walls, pinnacles and passageways.

 

SAMADAI (DOLPHIN HOUSE) - Marsa Alam has one of the most important dolphin habitats in the Red Sea and the world. Samadai reef, more commonly known as “Dolphin House.” Home one of largest families of spinner dolphins.

If you ever dreamt of swimming with wild dolphins in their natural habitat, this is the place to do so.

 

Sample itineraries and maps are for illustrative purposes only. The exact route and sites visited are subject to change based on local regulations, guest experience, weather and logistics, and is at the Captain’s discretion.