Diving in Egypt

Egypt's Red Sea is not one trip but several, and the right base depends on whether you came for wrecks, sharks, shore diving, or dolphins. Four resort hubs anchor the coast, two quieter towns run day boats, and an offshore set of island reefs is reached only by liveaboard.

Sharm El Sheikh, on the southern tip of Sinai, is the dive capital. Day boats reach Ras Mohammed (Egypt's first marine national park, established 1983), the four reefs of the Straits of Tiran, and the SS Thistlegorm in the Strait of Gubal. It carries the widest beginner-to-advanced range and the resort infrastructure that suits non-diving partners. Hurghada, directly opposite on the mainland, is the wreck and liveaboard hub. The Abu Nuhas reef holds several diveable wrecks, the Giftun reefs and the Sha'ab El Erg dolphin lagoon fill the inshore menu, and the country's largest liveaboard fleet departs from here.

Marsa Alam, on the southern coast, is the quieter pick. The seagrass bays at Abu Dabbab and Marsa Mubarak hold resident dugongs, Elphinstone is the regional anchor for oceanic whitetips, and the eco-villages at Marsa Shagra and Marsa Nakari bundle unlimited shore diving with day-boat trips. Dahab, up the Sinai coast, is different again. It is a shore-diving and technical town where the Blue Hole and The Canyon are reached straight off the beach.

Two mainland gateways round out the day-boat options. Safaga, south of Hurghada, is a calm-water base for the Salem Express memorial wreck, the Abu Kafan wall and Panorama Reef. Hamata, in the far south, is the fixed base for the Fury Shoals reefs and the wild spinner-dolphin lagoon at Sataya. Beyond all of these lies the offshore tier: the Brothers, Daedalus, Rocky Island and Zabargad, and St John's, dived only by liveaboard for their sheer walls, schooling hammerheads and oceanic whitetips. The four island marine parks among them carry the national 50-dive access rule, and they are what take an Egypt trip from very good to world-tier.

International certifications (PADI, SSI, BSAC, CMAS) are accepted by every Egyptian dive centre and liveaboard. There is no national diver licence; operators are licensed by the Chamber of Diving and Water Sports (CDWS), which handles operator rather than diver certification. The single most important rule for visitors is the 50-logged-dive minimum for the four offshore island marine parks: the Brothers, Daedalus Reef, Rocky Island and Zabargad. Liveaboard crews check logbooks before boarding these itineraries.

Three international airports cover the recreational coast. Hurghada (HRG) is the main mainland gateway and primary liveaboard departure port; Sharm El Sheikh (SSH) is the Sinai gateway and road head for Dahab, 80 km away; Marsa Alam (RMF) is the southern gateway near Port Ghalib and the launch point for the far south. Direct flights from most European capitals reach all three.

Recompression chambers operate in Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada, Marsa Alam and Dahab. The diving-emergency hotline for Egypt is DAN Europe on +39 06 4211 8685, and DAN or equivalent dive-accident insurance is the de facto standard for liveaboard travel given chamber costs and evacuation logistics. Marine-park fees are usually bundled into trip pricing.

Shoulder seasons read best across the coast. Hammerheads at the Brothers and Daedalus run June to September; oceanic whitetips at Elphinstone peak October to April; November to February winds can cancel offshore day trips, so flexible itineraries help. A 3 mm shorty covers summer, a 5 mm suit the winter when water drops to 21 to 23C. One honest caveat on coral: the 2024 and 2025 bleaching events damaged hard corals along parts of the southern coast, so expect a mixed picture rather than universally pristine reef. Pelagic encounters at the offshore reefs were not noticeably affected.