Also known as: Seberged, St John's Island (historical), Topaz Island, Zabargad Island, Zabarjad, Zeberged, جزيرة الزبرجد
Offshore island with a sheltered south-coast wall, Turtle Bay's green turtles, coral towers and easy groupers, plus current-swept north walls.
Last updated October 2026
The standard south-coast dive, Turtle Bay to the Eastern Tip, enters from the platform and drifts along the upper fringing wall at 10 to 15 metres, with the reef on your left shoulder. A mild current runs eastward when there is one, and the hour ends with a safety stop and a RIB pickup at the tip. The wall drops from the surface to about 15 metres and gives way to a sand slope of coral pinnacles. Below 20 metres that slope carries very little coral, so the dive stays up on the wall.
Turtles graze the slope. In the bay, cuttlefish, octopus, blue-spotted rays and crocodilefish settle among dozens of slender coral towers, where tropical groupers let you come close. The wall is pocked with cave openings, but they are exceptionally narrow, tight and finish in dead ends, so they are for looking at from outside.
The outer north wall is a different dive altogether: up to 40 metres, strong current past the island's tip, and the chance of barracuda, reef sharks and other pelagics. The Russian Wreck is a separate dive from the reef.
Zabargad is a mountainous, uninhabited island, and its bulk shelters the south coast from the dominant northwesterly wind and waves. That shelter lets liveaboards moor there overnight, and it keeps the wall, the sand slope and the coral towers in calm water. Turtle Bay takes its name from the green turtles that use its beach.
The island is said to be the ancient Topazos, where Romans and Egyptians mined green peridot, and only a military outpost stands ashore today. Turtles in the shallows, towers on the slope and a mining past above the waterline give one mooring several different days.
Zabargad can be dived only from a liveaboard, and the permit is arranged through the operator. The south is gentle and the exposed walls are a clear step up, which is why operators and guides recommend Advanced Open Water and 50 or more dives for the whole cruise. Carry a surface marker buoy for the north walls, where the current runs hard past the tip. Keep out of the cave openings in the south wall.
The island sits far from the coast and from medical facilities, so dive within your limits and keep a reserve of gas.
What makes this dive site stand out.
Green turtles graze the sand slope, and the beach is a nesting ground in August.
A fringing wall drops from the surface to 15 m, then a sand slope with coral pinnacles.
Dozens of slender coral towers, with tropical groupers that are easy to approach.
Cuttlefish, octopus, blue-spotted rays and crocodilefish.
The outer north wall reaches 40 m with strong current past the island's tip.
23.6000°N, 36.2120°E
March to May is balanced weather in high season; September to November is warm and quieter. Turtles nest in August, and the summer months give the best chance of large nesting females in the shallows.
Operators and guides recommend Advanced Open Water and 50 or more dives for the cruise; the south-coast wall itself is shallow and gentle, while the exposed walls call for advanced experience. A recommendation, not a regulation.
Summary
Mild current in the sheltered south; the exposed walls and the north tip are an advanced dive.
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.
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.
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.
Red Sea Explorers' tech flagship: a 37m, 22-guest steel liveaboard with a full trimix/CCR fill station and scooters for offshore and deep-south Egypt safaris.
131ft (40m), 26-guest steel Aggressor liveaboard for the remote Deep South Red Sea, running two alternating Saturday-to-Saturday itineraries from Port Hamata: Rocky & Zabargad Islands, and Elba Reef, reaching Egypt's southernmost reefs and St John's.
Accounts differ. One liveaboard operator lists a 30-minute night dive of about 12 m, stepping off the boat after dusk, and another diver recalls night dives here around 2004. A diver writing in 2024 said Rocky and Zabargad offer none because of the marine park. Ask your operator whether a night dive is on your itinerary before you pack for it.
Green turtles are in Turtle Bay through the year, grazing the sand slope. The island is a nesting ground in August, and the warm summer months give the best chance of seeing several large nesting females in the shallows.
It is the gentlest dive on the Rocky and Zabargad route: a drift at 10 to 15 m along the upper wall in a mild current, with a RIB pickup at the end. The operator's own guidance is that the mild south allows less experienced divers while the exposed walls need advanced experience, and guides recommend Advanced Open Water and 50 or more dives for the cruise as a whole because of the currents beyond the coves.
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