Diving in Egypt

Sea diving in Egypt goes as far back as the 1950s. It all started with scuba diving in the Red Sea when the Greek and Italian workers began spear fishing while living in Egypt. Ever since then, the Red Sea and many other water bodies have been explored for sea-diving in Egypt by divers.  

Many sea-divers from Europe and the Americas have especially explored the Red Sea and popularized it as a major sea-diving location in the world. World famous French diver, Jacques Cousteau stated that the Red Sea has one of the best coral reefs in the world as it boasts one of the most beautiful reefs with varying species of sea bodies. 

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Reef Diving
In Egypt, there is quite a variety to choose from. From fringing reefs to offshore reefs. The corals in Egyptian reefs are already well adapted to extreme temperatures of 82° and even more, so they are more vibrant and bright colors than other reefs in the world. Of course, major divers frequently comment on the colorful nature of the Red Sea reef.

Reef diving also allows you to come across rare sea animals that can't be found anywhere else in the world, such as the Red Sea walkman. 
 

Macro Diving 
You could sea-dive in the Red Sea and other Egyptian reefs purposely to see colorful macro lives like nudibranchs, seahorses, frogfish, and the harlequin shrimp. Even more interesting is the probability to see the leopard blenny if you go very close to the hard corals. The Marsa Alam and Dahab reefs' seagrass meadows also contain uniquely bizarre creatures like the dead leaf-looking ghost pipefish. 
 

Wreck Diving 
You could also sea-dive to see the numerous antique wrecks of Egyptian history. You get to see the famous SS Thistlegorm, The Giannis D, The Salem Express, The Rosalie w, and other famous wrecks that represent the age-long history of Egypt. The Suez canal particularly houses numerous wrecks of war in Egypt— major war machines and ships have been submerged on its satellite reefs. 

The Dahab Canyon
This is a fascinating underwater cavern you should not miss when you go diving in Egypt. To navigate through the Dahab Canyon, you head from shore through a lagoon entrance and dive into it. Popularly, divers descend slowly over the coral gardens where Eagle rays are sometimes seen, toward the canyon which starts at 60 feet. From there, the sea floor makes way for you into the main chamber whose bottom starts at 100 feet. The Dahab canyon gradually winds down with the walls and it shrinks to an exit at around 150 feet. As a fun diver, it is advised you stay at 100 feet. 
 

The Blue Hole
The blue hole in Dahab, Egypt is one of the only three true blue holes in the world! It sits directly offshore and the entirety of it is around 160 feet wide and 400 feet deep inside. Since this unique blue hole is sitting directly inside the reef table, it houses a deep reef wall outside that table.  You could dive into the blue hole at 'the bells,' which is another opening in the reef table. You get to dive through 'the bells' at around 60 to 70 feet, and then dive along the wall until you reach 'the saddle,' the exit which is only 26 feet. Despite the scary reputation of the Dahab blue hole as the diver's graveyard due to the proximity of its enormous depth close to shore, it is one of the best for recreational diving— good visibility with no current. Fear not and enjoy.

Shark and Yolanda Reef
The Shark and Yolanda Reef is another top pick located in Sharm el-Sheikh and is part of the Ras Mohammed National Park. This reef is famous for its beautiful corals which many divers love to experience multiple times. The Shark and Yolanda Reef house three top reefs that are side by side. Here, you come across giant moray eels— these features are already used for intense diving activities. Popularly, you start at the shark reef, then move towards the Yolanda and cap it up at the tight satellite reef at the end.

The SS Thistlegorm 
Located in Sharm el-Sheikh as well, the SS Thistlegorm is one of the most popular diving sites in Egypt as it is famous for housing historic wrecks— it is one of the best and most-visited wreck diving sites in the world. The British merchant navy ship that was sunk by the German military on 6th October 1941 is on this site. It is easily accessible at a depth of 100 feet, and you find therein various armor tanks, miles, boots, and other war equipment.
 

Abu Dabbab
Located near Marsa Alam, the Abu Dabbab is one of the few diving sites in the world where you get to see dugongs in the wild. Abu Dabbab houses two of them, Dennis and Dougal. Also, in this underwater meadow, you get to experience the feel of nature that its wide expanse of sand and seagrass brings. Sean creatures like guitar sharks and green turtles are quite prominent at this dive site. 

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It all boils down to your budget and your diving experience. You could choose to do resort diving, liveaboard diving, or shore diving. If you are going solely for filing purposes and you do not have many technicalities with diving, you are advised to do shore diving as the dive sites therein are easily accessible to the seashore. More so, shore diving is cheaper, compared to others. The Dahab diving sites are good examples. 

The best time to go diving in Egypt is for late July to early December during which the waters have reasonable temperatures with brighter and more colorful corals. You do not want to go when the extreme chills set in around February to June.