Southern Red Sea: This itinerary covers the coastal section of the southern Red Sea, offering pristine and Uncrowded diving all year round.

Only a few of the sites have been described here with many more splendid dives left for our experienced dive guides to show you.

Elphinstone:

Best dived in the quiet of the early morning when you are most likely to see hammerheads. This is a magical reef in deep blue water with countless rewards for divers and underwater photographers. Along the southern plateau lies the most famous coral phenomenon: the Arch and face of the pharaoh. Here large schools of surgeon fish dwell in the shadows of the arch as you drift through, while big pelagics swim in and around the deep-water corals. As you slowly ascend to your stops, observe the large silvertips along the plateau. The northern plateau is the perfect place to see hammer-heads-in only 25m of water! As you drift back along the wall, you are bound to see a turtle, or another large silvertip speeding after its prey, while the more timid creatures take refuge in the crevices of the reef itself.

Erg Wadi Gamal:

This is one of the best reef dives of its kind and a personal favourite with the Dive Guides. The 18-20m site is set among flowing banks of hard coral and yellow -green soft coral, separated by sandy beds. Resident species include angel and butterfly fish and white tip reef sharks. The site is seasonally visited by huge schools of unusually placid jack and tuna, allowing for great wide angel shots . A resident turtle can be found chomping its way through soft coral and sponges.

Sha'ab Masksur:

Situated on the north-east of Fury Shoal, Maksur can be dived in two ways. By zodiac, you can be dropped off to the north-east over a gentle plateau where there is a good chance of seeing hammerheads. Alternatively, descend over the drop-off and round to the left below the plateau, taking in the strange red sponges and majestic soft coarl . Coming up over the plateau, you find white tips and turtles, before coming across an unfor-gettable picture of soft corals and large schools of fish. Divers usually find sharks here and may find themselves accompanied by a curious dolphin. At the end of the dive you encounter an explosion of sub-aquatic life with nudi-branches scorpion fish, morays and clouds of anthias.

Sataya "Dolphin Reef"

Situated south of Fury Shoal, this is one of the most popular dives in the area, made up of a huge lagoon surrounded by an oval-shaped reef with a resident pod of bottlenose dolphins. Seven imposing stacks of coral named Dha'ab Hassan guard the lagoon's entrance with depths ranging from 18m to 22m along the rim, lessening to 12m as you approach the lagoon. The outer wall of Sataya offers some excellent drift diving with large pelagics and turtles. You are dropped off by zodi-ac and the dive begins at the north-west edge, keeping the reef to the left. Large outcrops of soft coral cover the wall and white tips are sometimes spotted half asleep under the table coral, slowly moving away as divers approach.

ST John's Reef:

Fourteen square miles of splendidly diverse coral atolls and reefs, located 40kms north of the Sudanese border and 20km south-west of Zabargad. This reef system is only accessible from May to September and is subject to port of sail, weather and government permission. Sha'ab Aiman is arguably one of the most beautiful reefs in the world. Situated in just 15m of water on an elongated plateau, it has the appearance of a landscape garden. In the early morning, white tip reef sharks can be spotted against a vivid display of hard and soft corals. Sha'ab Mahrus is rated as one of the best wall dives in the world, with large caves full of life, and an abundance of corals including sea whips and gorgonian. The wall is a favourite hang-out for grey, silvertip, oceanic white tip and thresher sharks.