DAEDALUS


Daedalus is a remote outpost of a reef, less than a kilometre wide and marked by a lighthouse, some 80 km offshore from Marsa Alam. Its isolation means it is not frequently visited and this, together with its marine park status, means its reefs are in mint condition and it’s one of the best scuba dives in the Red Sea. It features pristine hard and soft coral and an amazing marine life.

Here you can see various species of oceanic sharks like the curious oceanic whitetip whark, schooling hammerhead sharks as well as grey reef sharks and even the very rare tresher shark if you are lucky!

Most of the dives on Daedalus Reef are drift dives along amazing deep walls covered by superb coral. In addition to the Sharks, you can also encounter various pelagic fishes such as the Giant Trevally or the Dogtooth Tuna and even Manta Rays can be spotted! The Daedalus Reef is located within a Marine Park which combined with its remote location, really is the most pristine dive site around Egypt and the Red Sea.


GENERAL DETAILS

  • Highlights: deep walls and shark diving
  • Depth: 5 – >40m
  • Visibility: 20 – 30m
  • Currents: can be strong
  • Surface conditions: can be rough
  • Water temperature: 23 – 30°C
  • Experience level: Intermediate – advanced
  • Number of dive sites: 3
  • Diving season: all year round
  • Distance: 80 km east of Marsa Alam (4½ hrs), 275 km (16 hrs) south-east of Hurghada

DAEDALUS REEF

YOU MAY SPOT HERE

HAMMERHEAD SHARK

HAMMERHEAD SHARK

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TIGER SHARK

TIGER SHARK

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MANTA RAY

MANTA RAY

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TURTLE

TURTLE

___

NAPOLEON

NAPOLEON

___

GIANT TREVALLY

GIANT TREVALLY

___

FUSILIER SCHOOL

FUSILIER SCHOOL

___

... ANY MORE

... ANY MORE

fishes & sea life

ELPHINSTONE


This is a cigar-shaped reef running north-south and over 400 metres in length, located in the southern Red Sea, close to Marsa Alam. It was named after Admiral George Elphinstone, a British naval commander who served in Egypt in the Napoleonic wars at the beginning of the 19th century. It’s healthy marine life and underwater landscapes make it one of the best Red Sea diving sites.

The northern and southern tips of Elphinstone have 100m wide plateaus between 20-40m deep, covered with soft corals, huge gorgonians, sponges and sea whips.

 

AMAZING

DIVE SITES

Northern Plateau

it’s best to drop in further to the north and drift into the finger-shaped plateau. Here you’ll find purple dendronephthya, brown soft corals and crowds of redtooth triggerfish, fluttering in the current. Giant trevally and great barracuda often hunt here and reef sharks are common.

As you swim closer to the shallows you’ll join up with the wall covered in gorgonian fans and intricately carved with overhangs and cracks. This majestic underwater tapestry of Elphinstone is brightly coloured by purple and orange anthias, angelfish and emperors go about their daily business, and flutemouths move stealthily through the shallows.

Southern Plateau

No strangers to Elphinstone’s Southern Plateau and frequently spotted are oceanic white tip sharks, seemingly always accompanied by pilot fish. These sharks seem curious of scuba divers and often return for a surprise second look. Oceanic whitetips are rare sightings elsewhere in the world so this fish, perhaps more than any other, has come to represent what’s so special about diving in the southern Red Sea. Best time for an encounter: October until the end of December.

At the western side of the south tip plateau, there are a number of cave entrances at a depth of 30-35m. Here lies the infamous Elphinstone arch, a 10m high tunnel that connects the western and eastern side walls. The tunnel is beyond the limits of recreational diving and penetration should not be attempted without proper training. Stay close to the reef to avoid being swept out to sea if the current is strong.

Eastern Wall

offers an inspiring wall diving, while strong currents make this a spectacular drift too. The sheer walls plunge away vertically to invisible depths of more than 100 metres, covered in a rainbow of beautiful soft coral colours as far as the eye can see. The vibrant fish population features barracuda, schools of jacks, angelfish, snappers, napoleonfish and large tuna.

Western Wall

is steep and so has more ledges and caverns that attract titan triggerfish, soldierfish and squirrelfish. There is one huge buttress which runs down to 10m and creates a large overhang where black snapper congregate.


DETAILS

  • Reef basics: plateaus, wall diving and sharks
  • Depth: 5 – >40m
  • Visibility: 20 – 35m
  • Currents: can be strong
  • Surface conditions: generally calm
  • Water temperature: 23 – 30°C
  • Experience level: intermediate – advanced
  • Number of dive sites: 4
  • Diving season: all year round
  • Distance: 25 km north of Marsa Alam (1½ hrs), 230 km (14 hrs) south-east of Hurghada

 

 

 

ELPHINSTONE REEF

YOU MAY SPOT HERE

HAMMERHEAD SHARK

HAMMERHEAD SHARK

___

TIGER SHARK

TIGER SHARK

___

MANTA RAY

MANTA RAY

___

TURTLE

TURTLE

___

NAPOLEON

NAPOLEON

___

GIANT TREVALLY

GIANT TREVALLY

___

FUSILIER SCHOOL

FUSILIER SCHOOL

___

... ANY MORE

... ANY MORE

fishes & sea life

THE BROTHERS


The Brother Islands are a world famous scuba diving destination and offers some of the best diving in Egypt and in Red Sea. These 2 small Islands (Little Brother and Big Brother) are famous for their wonderful pristine coral as well as being one of the best places in Egypt to dive with Sharks!

Here you can encounter the Oceanic Whitetip Shark, Schooling Hammerhead Sharks as well as Grey Reef Sharks and Silvertip Sharks! The very rare Thresher Shark can also sometimes be spotted! In addition, the Brothers Islands are home to a fantastic reef life with myriads of colourful reef fishes, pelagic fishes such as Barracudas, Giant trevallies, Tunas and even the magnificent Manta Ray!

Diving with sharks is just one of the mindblowing fish encounters you can experience while diving at Brother Islands in the Red Sea. With amazing vertical walls covered with corals and spectacular fish population, diving at the Islands is definitely unforgettable! Altogether, there are about 12 possible dive sites around the Brothers. There are 2 particularly interesting wrecks to dive on the North of the Big Brother Island not far from the lighthouse, the Numidia Wreck and the Aida Wreck.

FAMOUS

DIVE SITES

Little Brother Island

is shaped like a rain drop, falling from the north west to south east. Deep walls surround the island on all sides except the northern point, where the reef slopes very slowly away from the island before dropping to a deep plateau at 40m. This plateau is one of the best places in the Red Sea for diving with sharks. Silvertips and grey reef sharks frequent the area and great hammerheads sometimes rise from the deep for a quick inspection before descending into the deep blue once again.

On the eastern and western walls, it’s not about size but about quality. Surrounded by sheer walls covered with black corals, mammoth gorgonian fans with exceptionally dense hard and soft corals covering the spectrum of colours, it’s easy to miss all the beauty as your view is obscured by schools of fish so plentiful that it often blocks out the light.

The current on both these walls tends to run from north to south, so you are likely to end a dive on either wall at the southern plateau. This is a wide ledge some 20m or more deep. Schools of barracuda often circle here, and dogtooth tuna and reef sharks are often prowling close by.

Big Brother Island

lies about 1 km to the north of its smaller sibling. Characterised by an impressive healthy fish population, it is dominated by tiny anthias, glassfish and sweepers. All are resident on or around a fringing reef that plunges steeply away on all sides. The walls are densely covered by huge gorgonians and colourful soft corals.

Numerous sharks are attracted to the south east point of Big Brother. Grey and white tip reef sharks, hammerheads and the more ominous oceanic white tips are commonly spotted. Make a dawn dive here and you could be lucky enough to see thresher sharks, particularly in Autumn and Winter, that are rarely seen elsewhere by divers.

Big Brother is also home to 2 Red Sea wrecks, lying quite close by one another off the north east point of the island, near the lighthouse.

It is a perfect spot for those typical Red Sea coral reef photographs. As always at Big Brother, half an eye should be kept on the blue for passing pelagics but this part of the island boasts perhaps the prettiest section of reef, at this, one of the Red Sea’s most famed dive sites.

Numidia (wreck)

is also known as the Railway Wreck due to the 2 locomotive wheels that she was carrying as cargo and now lie in the shallows. She met her end in 1901 when bound for India on only her second voyage. This was a 130m long British wooden cargo ship that ran aground. The bow is broken up and lies in only 8m of water.

Soft corals have claimed the Numidia as their own now and decorate the entire remaining metal framework, bringing the ship back to life for Red Sea scuba divers, this time in the form of a vibrant and colourful living reef. You can follow the hull and a series of masts down to greater depth, but the ship’s stern lies in 90m and well beyond recreational diving limits, so even though you might be able to see it, it would be wise to not follow your enthusiasm.

Aida (wreck)

was a 75m transport supply ship that came off last during a head-to-head with Big Brother and sank in 1957. Her bow rests at 30m and the stern lies at 60m and deeper, where large groupers lurk. The picturesque wreck has been claimed by the reef and is completely covered in soft and hard corals and a haven for all manner of marine creatures that you’ll see when diving in the Red Sea.

There are various ways to dive Big Brother and if this site is on your liveaboard itinerary then you will probably visit it at least 3 times. A common entry point is on top of the Aida wreck from which you make your way along the length of the island with the sloping reef on your left. Look out to the blue for sharks, barracuda and napolean wrasses. The wall boasts a very healthy reef and is covered mostly in soft corals, in particular broccoli soft coral (Lithophyton arboretum). You can slowly make you way into shallower water here since the reef is in prime health all the way to just below the surface.


GENERAL DETAILS

  • Reef Basics: wrecks and sharks
  • Depth: 5 – >40m
  • Visibility: 20 – 30m
  • Currents: can be strong
  • Surface conditions: can be rough
  • Water temperature: 23 – 30°C
  • Experience level: intermediate – advanced
  • Number of dive sites: 7
  • Diving season: all year round
  • Distance: 125 km (6½ hrs) north of Marsa Alam, 150 km (8 hrs) south-east of Hurghada

 

The Brothers

YOU MAY SPOT HERE

HAMMERHEAD SHARK

HAMMERHEAD SHARK

___

TIGER SHARK

TIGER SHARK

___

MANTA RAY

MANTA RAY

___

TURTLE

TURTLE

___

NAPOLEON

NAPOLEON

___

GIANT TREVALLY

GIANT TREVALLY

___

FUSILIER SCHOOL

FUSILIER SCHOOL

___

... ANY MORE

... ANY MORE

fishes & sea life