Diving in Rocky Island & Zabargad

They sit five or six kilometres apart at the far southern end of Egypt's Red Sea and form a single marine-park unit, so liveaboards dive them on the same leg. The appeal is the contrast: Rocky is exposed shark walls and strong current, while Zabargad offers sheltered turtle bays, coral gardens and a wreck. One trip can run hard pelagic dives and relaxed reef dives within the same day.

The marine park widely requires a minimum of around 50 logged dives, with Advanced Open Water or equivalent and genuine drift and deep experience strongly recommended. The reason is the current: Rocky's exposed walls demand confident drift skills. In practice most divers on a southern liveaboard are experienced anyway, but newer divers should build their logbook before booking the pair.

No. Both islands are uninhabited and 60 to 70 kilometres offshore, far beyond any day boat. Every dive runs from a liveaboard on a week-long Deep South safari out of Port Ghalib or Marsa Alam, usually combined with St John's Reef and Fury Shoal. There is no shore base and no independent access.

Reportedly a Soviet survey ship rigged for signals intelligence, usually described as a Cold War spy vessel, sitting upright in about 24 metres of sheltered water in Zabargad's western bay. It is popularly called the Khanka, though that name has never been confirmed and no record of the ship's loss survives. The pilothouse, engine room and holds are penetrable for wreck-trained divers, making it the calm, curious dive of the safari.

Spring and autumn give the best all-round conditions: calm crossings, warm water and excellent visibility. Autumn into early winter favours oceanic whitetips and tiger sharks. For hammerheads, the cooler water of May and June brings the schools nearer the surface, whereas in high summer they sit deep. Strong winter winds can cancel the exposed offshore legs.

Because the islands are tiny, far from land and ringed by strong, shifting currents, with big ships passing in nearby shipping lanes. A diver adrift at night here would be very hard to recover. The offshore marine-park rules prohibit night diving for that reason, so boats moor overnight in the sheltered bays and dive only by day.

No. Rocky has some of the best pelagic-shark odds in Egypt and a rare tiger-shark reputation, but sightings vary trip to trip and whole weeks can pass with only a few. Treat the sharks as a strong possibility rather than a certainty, and value the wreck, the turtle bays and the variety as the reliable rewards of the pair.

It is mixed. The pair's exposed walls remain among the healthier offshore reefs, but the southern Red Sea saw real coral bleaching through the mid-2020s after unusually warm summers, and recent visitors have found patches ranging from healthy to largely dead. The diving holds up on its variety, sharks, turtles and the wreck, but set your expectations on the coral itself.