Diving in Marsa Alam

Marsa Alam is a fringing-reef coast cut by sheltered bays called marsas, and most of the diving starts from a beach. Seagrass meadows fill the shallows of Abu Dabbab and Marsa Mubarak, where a small resident dugong population grazes in water a newly certified diver can handle, and marsas such as Marsa Murena and Marsa Shouna give easy shore dives between boat days.

Two sites are the reason to book boat days. Samadai Reef is a horseshoe reef under zoned marine-park access, with a resident pod of spinner dolphins. Elphinstone is the shark dive: a reef roughly 375 m long, about 30 km north of Marsa Alam town along the coast, with drop-offs past 100 m and oceanic whitetips that usually peak in autumn, from October to December. Gota Marsa Alam adds coral towers and walls for experienced day-boat divers.

The mood is quiet and dive-first. Red Sea Diving Safari runs eco-village camps at Marsa Shagra and Marsa Nakari with unlimited dives off the house reef, and nights are early. Port Ghalib is the marina side, with day boats off the pontoons and the liveaboard fleet for the offshore islands further south.

The coral carries the mark of 2024. Monitoring found bleaching rising from north to south, with up to 50.1 percent of colonies bleached in the southern sector around Wadi El Gemal against 9 percent at Hurghada, and preliminary estimates put 2025 recovery at 75 to 88 percent depending on species and location. Much of the hard coral on affected reefs died, with new growth already showing, and condition varies from reef to reef.

The town itself is young. Development began in 1995, Marsa Alam International Airport opened in 2003, and Wadi El Gemal National Park, which covers 2,100 square kilometres of sea south of town, was established the same year.

Weather decides the offshore days. From November to February strong wind and a choppy sea can cancel dives at exposed reefs such as Elphinstone, so a trip built around one boat day has no margin, and the sheltered bays make the fallback. October to May is the best window. Winter water sits at 22 to 24 C and calls for a 5 mm suit, summer runs 28 to 30 C in a 3 mm, and summer is the stronger season for night dives.

Elphinstone day boats usually ask for Advanced Open Water plus 50 logged dives and some apply it strictly, so confirm with the centre before you pay. Open Water covers the sheltered bays and house reefs. Elphinstone and Shaab Sharm bring strong current and suit divers with drift experience.

Centres follow three patterns: the eco-village camps diving from the shore with boat and Zodiac extras, hotel-affiliated centres with their own house reef and transfers to satellite sites, and the Port Ghalib operators working from day boats. The camps keep you beside the reef you dive from, and the other two patterns trade that for boat days to Samadai and Elphinstone.

Fly into Marsa Alam International (RMF), which receives direct charters from the UK, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands. The alternative is Hurghada, 274 km north, a 3 to 4 hour transfer.