Diving in Rocky Island & Zabargad

Everything at Rocky Island starts with the current. It usually runs south to north, hits the islet hardest on its western and eastern sides and shifts with the island's exposure, so guides pick the entry on the day and the dives are drifts along walls that fall away past 600 metres. The islet is tiny, described as anything from 200 to just over 500 metres long, and sits at the far southern end of Egypt's Red Sea, 60 to 70 kilometres offshore near the Sudanese border. The area's big animals belong here: oceanic whitetips and grey reef sharks patrol the walls, hammerheads appear in the warmer months, usually deep, and tiger sharks have turned up on some autumn trips. Sightings vary by trip: some divers have had sharks on every dive and others on only a few.

Zabargad lies 3 to 5 kilometres to the northwest, and its bays give the week a sheltered counterpart. It is a much larger, mountainous island, an uplifted block of Earth's upper mantle ringed by a turquoise lagoon, and it was a gem island long before divers arrived: peridot was mined here from Ptolemaic times. Turtle Bay holds cuttlefish, octopus, blue-spotted rays and crocodilefish, green turtles nest on the beaches in August, and coral gardens, canyons and walls fill the rest.

In the western bay a Russian MOMA-class (Project 861M) survey ship, reportedly fitted for signals intelligence, sits upright in 24 metres with its mast breaking the surface at low tide. Divers call it the Russian Wreck or the Khanka, a name nobody has proven, and wreck-trained divers can enter the pilothouse and engine room. One liveaboard week can mix hard drift dives at Rocky with easy reef and wreck days at Zabargad within the same 24 hours.

Egypt declared both islands marine reserves with strict regulations in 1983, and they belong to the offshore group known as Marine Park 2. The southern reefs have been under heat stress: divers returning in December 2024 described them as in very poor condition, with water above 30 C blamed, so expect coral that is patchier than older write-ups suggest.

Deeper still, the SS Maidan, a steamer lost on the islet's reef, sits 80 metres down and more, to 120 on its south side, a dive for technical divers.

Fly into Marsa Alam (RMF), the nearest airport, and board at Port Ghalib or Marsa Alam. Hurghada works as an alternative arrival, with a drive of about three hours south to Port Ghalib. Both islands are uninhabited and there is no day boat, so every dive runs from a liveaboard on a week-long far-south itinerary, often combined with St John's Reef and Fury Shoal. Book the boat and the route together, and confirm the route actually includes this pair. Boats usually spend the night at Zabargad or St John's, since captains prefer those moorings to Rocky.

Operators expect Advanced Open Water and real drift experience, on top of the park's own logged-dive minimum. Zabargad's sheltered bays suit a moderate diver, while Rocky's exposed walls are advanced. March to May and September to November balance calm crossings, warm water and good visibility, and the exposed islands can be undiveable in strong weather.