Also known as: Daedalus South, South Plateau, Southern Plateau
A soft-coral plateau under Daedalus Reef's southern mooring, entered straight from the liveaboard, with curious oceanic whitetips that often circle beneath the boats.
Last updated October 2026
The giant stride puts you in the water beside your own boat, with no RIB drop, and the plateau lies directly beneath the hull. The boats tie up at the reef's southern end near the lighthouse piers. The bed is soft corals and boulders on sand, edged by a drop-off that slopes into the south wall, and the dive runs about 45 minutes. Current is usually the lowest on the reef, which makes it a cruise across the bed on most days, though it has been dived as a fairly fast drift with plenty to see.
Anthias hang in clouds over the boulders and the drop-off, grey reef sharks work the edge and a humphead wrasse may drift over to look at the group. Oceanic whitetips are slow and direct, and they come to the divers rather than the other way round. The safety stop and the climb back aboard happen in open water under the hull.
Everything here happens under your own boat. There is no RIB pickup and no long blue-water wait: you leave the hull, work the plateau and return to it, which is a different rhythm from the reef's exposed north tip. One guide places the remains of the old lighthouse pier among the soft corals of the bed, a relic of the light that stands above the southern moorings.
The south plateau is reached only by liveaboard, about 90 km offshore, so there is no day trip. Boats mostly reach Daedalus from mid-March to mid-December, which means the October to February whitetip window is fully covered only from October to December. A January or February departure can lose dives to weather, even on the sheltered southern side, so keep a day or two of slack. A 5 mm wetsuit suits days of several dives, and the long open-water stops are where you feel the chill. Night diving is forbidden under the marine-park rules.
What makes this dive site stand out.
You enter directly from the moored liveaboard, with no RIB drop.
Curious oceanic whitetips often circle beneath the moored boats.
The reef's most sheltered zone, with lower current.
Soft corals and boulders on sand, edged by a drop-off into the south wall.
24.9310°N, 35.8700°E
October through February is the season quoted for oceanic whitetips, but boats mostly run mid-March to mid-December, so only October to December is covered by both; January to March is cooler, rougher and more often cancelled.
Advanced Open Water, our grading: the plateau starts at 30 m on one account and within a 20 to 40 m band on another, so no part of the dive sits within 18 m. Operators set their own experience gate for Daedalus itineraries, from 30 logged dives recommended to 50 mandatory, so confirm yours.
Summary
The gentler side of an offshore reef, but still deep, open-water and shared with oceanic whitetips.
Safety considerations
What can go wrong here, and what divers do about it. Conditions change - take the briefing from the operator on the day.
Multi-day safari boats with this site on their itinerary.
41m, 26-guest wooden liveaboard running Master Liveaboards' full Egyptian Red Sea catalogue from Hurghada and Port Ghalib, from northern wrecks and Tiran through the offshore Brothers, Daedalus and Elphinstone to the far-south Rocky, Zabargad and St John's reefs.
38 m wooden liveaboard with 13 ensuite cabins for 26 guests, on 7- and 10-night Red Sea trips from Hurghada and Port Ghalib.
Compact 18-guest, 9-cabin wooden liveaboard focused on Deep South and St John's routes from Port Ghalib, reaching remote Rocky Island and Zabargad.
26-guest sister of Superior with Junior and Executive suites, ranging across Emperor's Egypt catalogue from northern wrecks and offshore Brothers, Daedalus and Elphinstone to the Deep South.
13-cabin, 26-guest wooden liveaboard running Emperor's northern Red Sea wreck-and-reef weeks from Hurghada, plus offshore Brothers, Daedalus and Elphinstone.
Red Sea Explorers' largest liveaboard: 37.5m, 28 guests across 14 cabins, running the same GUE-leaning offshore and deep-south Egypt route catalogue.
36m, 22-guest steel liveaboard with a dedicated camera room and gas-blending deck, running the Brothers, Daedalus, Deep South and Fury Shoal weeks.
40m, 25-guest steel liveaboard, built 2023 for the Deep South: Daedalus, Rocky Island, Zabargad and St John's, plus Fury Shoal, from Port Ghalib.
Accounts differ. Some place curious whitetips circling beneath the boats at the southern moorings and around the mooring areas in general, while another names the north tip's east wall as the preferred area for whitetip sightings. The south plateau is a place they turn up, never a promise, and how often is not pinned down.
October through February is the season quoted for them at Daedalus, but boats mostly run mid-March to mid-December and January to March is cooler, rougher and more often cancelled. October to December is where the whitetip window and reliable boat access overlap. One regular Red Sea diver says they now show up all year because the boat traffic attracts them, which is a single voice, so plan the trip around October to December and treat a January or February departure as a weather gamble.
Accounts differ on where the reef's anemone formation sits. One account puts the Anemone City formation on the southern plateau, while another places the large anemone colony on the western wall. Ask your guide which side the briefing uses, and see the Anemone City page for the western wall.
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