The Best Dive Spots in Egypt
Egypt is a scuba diver’s dream because it has over 1,800 miles of coastline, clear water, mysterious shipwrecks, and coral reefs full of fish. The “Land of the Pharaohs” is between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, making beautiful underwater places where some of the world’s best diving can be found.
Egypt’s reefs look like a kaleidoscope full of colorful corals and schools of fish. Reefs in Egypt are a great place for people who want to try diving for the first time, learn about marine life, or explore shipwrecks.
So diving in Egypt considers the best place to go if you want to see a reef system in clear, clean water with many suns. It’s an excellent place for technical diving and training because it’s easy to go deeper, and there’s a lot of light. Dive sites in Egypt include shipwrecks, walls, drifts, pinnacles, beach dives, day boats, and liveaboards.
Destinations diving in Egypt:
There are a lot of places to dive, some of which are near famous areas in Egypt. Planning a trip that takes you to more than one place is not complicated; this lets you learn about different places and ways of life. Since the Red Sea is close to Egypt’s eastern coast, scuba divers have been going there for more than 50 years.
Egypt’s diving industry has always been focused on big resorts like Hurghada on the mainland and Sharm El Sheikh on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. But scuba divers have a lot of other places to go, and not many people know that the northern coast of Egypt is right next to the Mediterranean. Here are the top 10 sites in Egypt for scuba divers.
1- Diving in the Red Sea
Diving in The Red Sea is now one of the best places to dive worldwide. Because it doesn’t rain much and much water evaporates from the desert, the water is saltier. More than 1,200 kinds of fish and more than 200 kinds of coral are because of this. Different species often meet and interact at the southernmost part of the Bab El Mandab straits, which connect the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. But only about 20% of the species in the Red Sea are actually from there.
Check our Tour Submarine Trip under the water of the Red Sea at Hurghada & Semi Submarine underwater Trip in the Red Sea at Sharm el Sheikh
2- Diving in Alexandria
Alexandria, a port city on the Mediterranean, is a must-see for history buffs and scuba divers who want to try something new and challenging. Many ancient ruins, like Cleopatra’s palace, the Lighthouse at Alexandria, and shipwrecks from different times, are under the dark, quiet seas. From Alexandria, you can take a day trip to Omu Sukan. It has gorgeous reefs where triggerfish, turtles, white-tip reef sharks, and a family of citizens eagle rays live.
Check our Tour Alexandria Sightseeing Tours & Alexnadria city Tour & Alexandria Transfers.
3- Diving in Marsa Alam
Marsa Alam is a great place to shore diving in the Red Sea, and it’s also a nice break from the busyness of nearby Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh. Also, you won’t have to spend hours in a boat to get to reefs and schools of fish. There are also day trips to places like Elphinstone, which are great for diving and where you might see white-tip and hammerhead sharks. Do not miss the chance to go scuba diving with the few remaining dugongs in the Red Sea at Marsa Abu Dabab.
Booking Snorkeling Trip at Port Ghalib from Marsa Alam
4- Diving in Dahab
Dahab is a popular tourist destination in Egypt because it has a laid-back vibe and some of the best scuba diving in the world. Backpackers love it because it has fewer tourists than Sharm El Sheikh, which is 80 kilometers south. The best way to dive into the famous Blue Holes is also one of the few places to attack right from the beach. The Canyon is also part of the area, and it is a big hole in the rock in the middle of a gently sloping reef with tiny coral bommies and a lot of fish.
5- Diving in Hurghada
Egypt’s Hurghada used to be a quiet fishing village, but tourism has grown so much since the 1980s that it is now the largest resort on the Egyptian mainland. It’s a great place to start learning how to scuba dive. Many reefs in the Red Sea are in shallow, safe waters, so there are a lot of them. Divers who are used to diving in deeper water and stronger currents will feel at home here. Divers of all skill levels like to go to the Giftun Islands, which are about the same distance north of El Gouna. Sha’ab Abu Nuhas is popular with divers of all skill levels because it has many shipwrecks.
6- Diving in Safaga
Safaga is about 70 kilometers south of Hurghada, a popular place for scuba diving because of its wall dives, beautiful coral gardens, and the wreck of the Salem Express. In 1991, when this boat sank, it killed about 470 people. Ras Abu Soma and the Tobia reefs, also called the “Seven Pinnacles,” are the best places to dive. You can get to any of the dive sites in the area by boat, and if you stay in or near Safaga or Soma Bay, you can even dive from the beach.
Panorama Reef is probably the most well-known dive site in the area because of its beautiful 200-meter-deep cliffs, which are great for drift diving, its many hard and soft coral formations, and sightings of grey reef sharks, barracuda, and schooling jacks. Middle Reef has some of the most beautiful coral gardens, but Abu Kafan is even better. One of the best places to dive worldwide is the Salem Express, and the coral that grows on the ship’s hull makes it a well-known, solemn dive. Makadi Bay, about 30 kilometers to the north, is also a good choice because it is in the middle of the more popular diving spots in Hurghada and Safaga.
7- Diving in Sharm el-Sheikh
Sharm El Sheikh has long been the most popular place in Egypt for scuba divers. Sharm El Sheikh is probably where more of Europe’s diving tourism money comes from than any other place in the world. Shark and Yolanda reef in Ras Mohamed National Park at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula is a popular place to go diving because it is where the Red Sea proper, the shallow Gulf of Suez, and the deep Gulf of Aqaba meet. Sharm has a lot of different places to dive, from areas that are good for beginners to sites that are better for more experienced divers, like the quick drifts around the island reefs in the Straits of Tiran.
Best diving time in Egypt
Egypt’s best months for scuba diving are August and September when the water temperature is above 30°C. You can go any time of year, though. The water in Dahab is a pleasant 18°C from January to April. Even more beautiful are the Mediterranean waters near Alexandria (it even snows there from time to time). Even in the south, the average temperature is 23 degrees Celsius. When the wind blows in the winter, especially at sea, you need long pants and a fleece.
[ Check out our Egypt Vacation Packages & Trips ]
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