Diving in Marsa Alam, Red Sea Diving in Marsa Alam offers some untouched red sea diving. If you have dived the red sea, you will know this is nothing to sniff at! With flights at 200 pounds, its a winner! With year-round dolphins at the reef 'dolphin house' it is stunning. You can swim with dolphins and dugongs amongst fantastic vibrant coral. You will soon see that Marsa Alam has it all and more. The location is set as an eco-tourism complex. It is filled with divers and you don't get the usual tourists to annoy you! Diving in Marsa alam is simply majestic. “Diving with dolphins, sharks, turtles and some of the best fauna I have ever seen. I coming back next year!” Mark Vasterbargen

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	Marsa Alam Dive Sites in Detail Their are more than 25 inshore and offshore reefs in the Marsa Alam area that Red Sea Diving Safari (Ecolodge Shagra and Nakari Village and Pioneer Divers) offers. Enabling more than 50 different dive profiles and also many snorkeling opportunities full of adventure and discovery. There are 8 shore diving sites that offer more than 16 different dive profiles for divers who prefer pure shore diving (package with unlimited house reef diving and 10 guided truck dives). However more and more dives are done as in-range speedboat or daily boat dives. For this Red Sea Diving Safari offers an in-range shore diving package with unlimited house reef diving, 6 guided truck dives and 4 guided in-range speedboat dives. We offer guided shore dives as a morning or afternoon dive or as a long day out with 2 dives and lunch on site. Guests of Shagra can dive on sites that are offered in Nakari (like Marsa, Shaab and Habili Nakari) and guests of Nakari can dive sites that are offered in Shagra (like Marsa Shagra, Elphinstone and Sharm Abu Dabbab) as a long day out. In general all the Marsas and Shaab Samadai are suitable for snorkeling. In good weather conditions some of the in-range sites can be visited for snorkeling too (can only be booked on site). Offshore boat dives can only be booked and paid on site. In-range boat dives outside of the diving package and offshore boat dives need a minimum number of divers and are weather depending. From approximately 40 kilometers North of Marsa Alam to 40 kilometers South of Marsa Alam, following the coast line, we offer the following dive sites: Marsa Shuni The dive at the south reef follows the reef at maximum 17 meters till you cross the sand after 12 minutes to find another reef with a beautiful coral garden and a steep drop off that reaches 40 meters. The north reef has a beautiful mountain of hard corals at 5 – 12 meters. Suitable for all levels. Suitable for snorkeling. Available in Shagra and Pioneer Divers. Sharm Shuni As you have to enter the water by walking over the reef top for 25 meters, this dive is only suitable for good weather conditions. You enter through a pool and a canyon to the outside reef. During the dive you will visit both the North and South reef. Have a look at the garden eels, schools of Yellow Fin Goat Fish and the magnificent and varied corals. You come back through a tunnel into the pool where you entered the water. Suitable for all levels of divers with good buoyancy. Available in Shagra and Pioneer Divers. Sharm Abu Dabbour Shore dive starting with a small open tunnel (chance of nudibranches) that has a large pinnacle in front of the opening, an eel garden in between the North and South reef. North reef has a lot of small colorful hard corals and spots with anemones and clown fish. The South reef is like a fairytale land where elves live with huge mountain corals and the possibility too see eagle rays. Suitable for all levels of divers with good buoyancy. Available in Shagra, Nakari (long day out) and Pioneer Divers. Marsa Abu Dabbab This site is famous for the Dugong that is living on the large sea grass bed. Divers can also spot big green turtles feeding on the sea grass and Guitar Rays. But make sure you also dive the excellent North and South reefs that are really rich in colorful corals and fish and special reef fish like scorpions and stone fishes. Suitable for all levels. Suitable for snorkeling. Available in Shagra, Nakari (long day out) and Pioneer Divers. Sharm Abu Dabbab (or Three Pools) This is a very special in-range boat dive that is done by speedboat starting from Shagra Bay. Divers can explore a tunnel system that connects 3 pools in the fringing reef. A real adventure! The outside reef is also called Alice in Wonderland for it’s abundance in various hard corals, reef fish, turtles and the occasional octopus. The outside reef can also be done as a drift dive. Suitable for divers with good buoyancy. Available in Shagra and Pioneer Divers. Shaab Abu Dabbab This is an offshore reef chain that is done as an in-range dive. Here divers can find a small wreck, a cave and large coral mountains. And of course an abundance of corals, reef fish and the occasional passer by like white tip reef sharks, barracuda and so on. Suitable for all level of divers with good air consumption. Available in Shagra and Pioneer Divers. Elphinstone (Shaab Shagra) A must for experienced divers! This outstanding offshore reef is only 20 minutes away by speedboat from Ecolodge Shagra Village. The reef has an abundance of soft corals in all colors. The many Anthias make it seem like a living lung. Every kind of sea life can be seen here, like tuna, turtles, dolphins, scorpions, moray eels, napoleons and even nudibranches. But Elphinstone is most famous for its sharks: hammerheads from May till mid August, Oceanic White Tips (Longimanus) from mid September till end of December and many other species like grey reef sharks, thresher sharks and silky sharks might be spotted all year round. Suitable for divers with Advanced Open Water with at least 50 logged dives (due to the unpredictable currents from all directions caused by the position of the reef). Available in Shagra , Nakari and Pioneer Divers. Marsa Shagra This is the very rich house reef of Ecolodge Shagra Village that has produced many pictures of species in Red Sea reef guides like Debelius and Collins. According the author of Collins guide, Shagra is home of 15 endemic species of fish only living on this reef (because it was protected for so long); there are about 300 species of fish and 100 types of corals. It has an easy access for unlimited house reef diving. The bay is frequented by dolphins and manta rays during certain seasons. The North reef gives chance to see baby black tips seeking shelter on the reef top, to see the resident turtle, and to see many other species like barracudas, potato groupers, mackerels, black and white tip reef sharks, sometimes frog fish and even an occasional leopard shark. The south reef has a plateau with a wonderful drop off. You have a chance to see reef sharks, nudibranches and a lot of very colorful coral patches that are like mini gardens. Suitable for all levels. Suitable for courses. Suitable for snorkeling. Available in Shagra, Nakari (long day out) and Pioneer Divers. Abu Nawas Garden (Shagra house reef South extension) An in-range boat dive that starts from Shagra Bay. It is a very rich coral garden offering a wide variety of corals with beautiful dome like shaped porite corals and many species of fish like schools of damsels, groupers and so on. Because the dive is shallow at maximum 8 meters you will enjoy the light playing on the reef to a maximum. Suitable for all levels. Available in Shagra and Pioneer Divers. Gabel El Rosas (Nemo City) An in-range boat dive that starts from Shagra Bay. A varied dive with a coral garden in the beginning that has an abundance of clown fish and damsel fish. A beautiful sight when the anemones close in the afternoon like a flower at night! Every now and then you can find a white tip reef shark resting in this garden. In the second half of the dive you will be amazed at a landscape of reef slopes that go down from the surface to 40 meters or more with on every slope a different kind of hard or soft coral dominating. Suitable for all levels. Available in Shagra and Pioneer Divers. Marsa Gabel el Rosas A natural bay with easy access, suitable for all divers, but needs a special profile to be enjoyed. Reef chains sloping form the surface to 40 meters, a large patch of very bright green salad corals can be enjoyed at 5 – 12 meters. Resident barracudas of both kinds can be found, the yellow and black fin. Beautiful bouquets of fire corals and many giant clams of different colors. Suitable for all levels. Suitable for snorkeling. Available in Shagra and Pioneer Divers . Egla Top An in-range boat dive that starts from Shagra Bay. A beautiful dive with and Eel Garden at 22 meters and a shallow pool at 8 meters with nice groups of hard corals and connecting to a second pool which shows mountain corals and brain corals. A coral Garden sloping down from 12 meters to 22 meters. Suitable for all levels. Available in Shagra and Pioneer Divers. Marsa Assalai (often wrongly named Marsa Egla) This natural bay makes a very easy and shallow dive with an aquarium-like quality. There is sea grass in the middle, where very seldom the Dugong is spotted and most of the times Green Turtles feed. Expect to find some nudibranches, anemones with clown fishes and lion fish hiding at the pinnacles. Suitable for all levels. Available in Shagra and Pioneer Divers. Habili Marsa Alam An offshore boat dive starting from Shagra or Nakari Bay. It is a very rich dive site with big and a small pinnacle. Habili are reefs that did not yet hit the surface (Habili is a local word for a pregnant woman who still has some time to go to give birth). The pinnacles are covered in an abundance of soft corals that house many species of reef fish like morays and lion fish. There is a chance to see sharks. Suitable for advanced level. Available in Shagra, Nakari and Pioneer Divers Marsa Samadai A natural bay with very easy entry to the north reef where you can find a twin umbrella of table corals with resident masked butterflies and an eel garden on the corner at 17 meters. Also easy entry to the south reef that needs a special profile to be enjoyed, saving air in the first part of the dive to arrive at a beautiful patch of coral pinnacles. So please follow your guides briefing! Suitable for all levels. Suitable for snorkeling. Available in Shagra, Nakari and Pioneer Divers. Ras Samadai An in-range boat dive that starts from Nakari Bay or shore dive as long day from Shagra combined with Marsa Samadai. Ras is the Egyptian word for ‘head’, a small and narrow piece of land sticking out in the sea. Famous ‘heads’ are Ras Mohamed and Ras Banas. The fringing reef opens up to a pool like shape that is surrounded by many small and beautiful pinnacles covered with hard corals. Chances to see black stingrays, reef sharks, moray eels or a tuna in the blue on the East side. The area is so rich in coral formation that you can enjoy different dive profiles at this site. The inside of the pool is a common resting place for bottlenose dolphins. Suitable for advanced level divers. Available in Shagra and Nakari. Shaab Samadai (Dolphin House) This is an offshore boat excursion starting from Nakari Bay. Shaab Samadai is the home of a group of Spinner Dolphins, that use the horse shoe shaped reef for shelter, rest and play. This reef is a National Park and a fee of 15 Euro has to be paid at the diving centre to enter. The site is protected by the Rangers who have zoned the inside of the reef into a no go zone marked by red buoys, a snorkeling zone marked by white buoys and a diving zone. In between the dives there is a chance to snorkel with the dolphins if they are present in the snorkeling zone. The first dive is a drift from the zodiac along the North-East reef that ends on the corner in a rich landscape of mountain corals next to a sandy bottom with large and small reef patches with soft corals scattered around (ending in a drop off, an eel garden and flower-like anemones on the sandy bottom and sea grass. The dive can also be done from the boat through the coral patch garden to the drop off and back to the curve and the boat. The second dive leads along an anemone city through a shallow tunnel system that is open on the top (magnificent light effects!) and ends in a landscape of mountain corals into a canyon and back through a sandy bottom with patches of reef scattered around. Chances to see an abundance of anemone fishes, nudibranches and to make that picture with a diver framed by soft corals! Suitable for all levels. Suitable for snorkeling. Available in Shagra, Nakari and Pioneer Divers. Ras Tundoba An in-range boat dive that starts from Nakari Bay. Ras is the Egyptian word for ‘head’, a small and narrow piece of land sticking out in the sea. It is the northern corner of Tundoba Bay. Famous ‘heads’ are Ras Mohamed and Ras Banas. Look for blue spotted sting ray, schools of goat fish and small barracudas in the beautiful coral garden. Suitable for all levels. Available in Nakari. Sharm Hesham An in-range boat dive that starts from Nakari Bay. A very shallow drift dive along a gallery of reefs with many colorful reef fish and a white sandy bottom. A true aquarium! Suitable for all levels. Available in Nakari. Marsa Nakari Like the house reef of Shagra, also the house reef of Ecolodge Nakari Village has been protected since a long time. It suffered from a flood in 1996 (floods are the only source of nutrients for the Red Sea), but has recovered in an amazingly short time. In the natural bay that gives easy access for unlimited house reef diving and is suitable for all levels, you have a chance to find our resident sea horses and ghost pipefish hiding on the reef or in a small patch of sea grass near the South reef. The North reef has an abundance of colorful corals with a garden-like quality, a big chance to see various species of nudibranches and a resident very territorial clown fish at the end of the dive. The South reef is heavily pitted with many swim throughs. You never know what you might find around the corner… maybe a resting shark or a turtle eating. Soon in the dive you can admire huge mountain coral blocks that reach down till 30 meters, an impressive landscape! Suitable for all levels. Suitable for courses. Suitable for snorkeling. Available in Nakari and in Shagra (as a long day out) . Habili Nakari An in-range boat dive that starts from Nakari Bay. A group of pinnacles that did not yet reach the surface and start at 5-10 meters to reach a maximum of 24 meters. Habili is a local word for a pregnant woman who still has some time to go to give birth. Huge soft corals in many colors cover the pinnacles. Have a look at the reef from a distance and admire the Anthias swarming the reefs and the sunlight playing on the corals. Many of the colorful reef fish like Picasso and Sweetlips can be seen here, but also groups of barracudas and the occasional reef shark. In Spring there is a chance to see Whale Sharks and Manta Rays. Suitable for advanced divers. Available in Nakari.. Shaab Nakari An in-range boat dive that starts from Nakari Bay. A nice drift dive (best done in the morning with the sunlight on the East-South reef) starting with a plateau and drop off in the North going to the shallower South. On the way you will see many patches and small pinnacles with beautiful hard and soft corals. Chances to see a resting white tip reef shark in a small cave. Chances to see Napoleon, Moray Eels, Lion Fish and the multi-colored reef fish that are abundant in the South Red Sea. Suitable for all levels. Available in Nakari. South Garden An in-range boat dive that starts from Nakari Bay. Lose yourself in a maze of pinnacles that look like little reef gardens with a variety of hard and soft corals and reef fish at maximum 15 meters. Suitable for all levels. Available in Nakari. Habili El Gahdeer An offshore boat dive starting from Nakari Bay. Habili are reefs that did not yet hit the surface (Habili is a local word for a pregnant woman who still has some time to go to give birth). The habili is pencil-shaped with on the North side wonderful hard and soft corals and fish in amazing abundance. Possibility to see Grey Reef Sharks and White and Black Tip Reef Sharks, turtles, barracudas, Napeoleons and so on. On the East side a plateau slopes down softly interrupted by more beautiful pinnacles, while you drift to the South. Suitable for advanced levels. Available in Nakari. Shaab El Ghadeer An offshore boat dive starting from Nakari Bay. Banana shaped reef that is especially interesting on the North and South curves with nice corals and marine species like turtles, lion fish, moray eels, napoleons and so on. Suitable for all levels. Available in Nakari. Shaab Sharm An offshore boat dive starting from Nakari Bay. On this reef that is oriented North-West to South-East we dive 2 profiles. First a drift NW – SE along the drop off at the West side. There is a chance to see Hammerheads at the beginning of the dive at 30 meters from Spring till mid August. In Autumn there is a chance to see White Tip Oceanics (Longimanus). The West side offers a nice landscape with good corals and many marine life species. The second dive takes the East wall at 17 meters till you hit the huge and wide South plateau full of pinnacles and rocks and the reef heavily pitted. Here you have the chance to see anything on the reefs and pinnacles and anything passing by, like many shark species all year round and Manta Rays in Spring. A must do dive! Suitable for advanced level and at least 50 logged dives.

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Your questions about diving in Marsa Alam answered below:



Common Questions (Answers below)
Where is the Red Sea ?
Why is the scuba diving in the Red Sea so good?
What fish and ocean life will I see?
What after-diving fun can I expect?
Does it have year-round sunshine?
Is the diving the same year-round?
What equipment will I need to dive in the Red Sea ?

Where is the Red Sea ?
The Red Sea separates the north east coastline of the African continent from Saudi Arabia and the Middle East .The Gulf of Aqaba and the Gulf of Suez around the Sinai peninsular come together creating the northern most point of the Red Sea, and at its most southern point meets the Indian Ocean . Only 5 hours flight from the UK , the Sinai peninsular is surrounded by Egypt , the Gaza strip, Jordan and Saudi Arabia . The Red Sea also flows past the Sudan , Eritrea , Djibouti and Yemen coastlines.

Why is the scuba diving in the Red Sea so good?
The higher salt content and protected topography of the Red Sea has allowed hard corals to grow over thousands of years. Heat from the deep Median trench (reaching a depth of 2,850 metres) beneath the Red Sea , warms the water to a much higher temperature at depth (21 o C at 1,000 metres where normally the Ocean temperature is 6 o C). The high mineral content, warm temperatures and year-round sunshine have created one of the most bio-diverse seas in the world.

What fish and ocean life will I see diving in the Red Sea ?
Hopefully will see: Dolphins, grey reef sharks, manta rays, white tips, scalloped hammerheads & turtles! Normally always see: Blue spotted eagle & sting rays, lionfish, yellow clown fish, napoleon fish, large moray eels, yellow and blue masked butterfly fish, emperor angel fish, giant triggerfish, steep headed parrot fish, stone fish, bluespine unicorn fish, shoal surgeon fish, bluegreen pullers, octopi, blackfin barracudas, large shoals of jacks, red antheas, lined butterfly fish, nudibranchs, fan corals and much, much more...
Sighted on occasion: Whale sharks, tiger sharks and whales.

What after-diving fun can I expect?
Diving is a social sport. The Red Sea is a very social place, with Sharm el Sheikh being quite lively and upbeat, and Dahab a more relaxed and laid-back place. It has plenty of bars and restaurants. Locals and tourists mix freely, and our divers and instructors often spend time in the evening over a beer discussing the days dive, and anything that comes to mind! Some divers prefer time alone, and relax with a nice evening meal watching the sunset. All rooms have a few sky channels.

Does the Red Sea have year-round sunshine?
Yes! Being far closer to the equator (on the same latitude as the Sahara Desert ) it is hotter, and has only two seasons. The Sinai peninsular air temperature ranges between 20 o C and 40 o C, has an average humidity of 55% and an annual rainfall of 250mm. So, it is hot and sunny year-round.

Is the diving the same year-round?
The visibility is fairly consistent – around 30 metres. During the winter months you will see less divers, but also less large predators and Manta rays. The spring season brings hundreds of baby fish, so the visibility drops a little. The summer is the best time go scuba diving in red sea and see large marine life, especially for diving in sharm el sheikh.

What equipment will I need to dive in the Red Sea?
Most divers use anything from a 3mm shorty to a 5mm one or two piece wetsuit. If you get cold quickly use a 5mm, especially in the winter months. DSMB's are generally not needed (non-tech diving) but of course it's always safer if you have one. Torches are great for the many crevices and coral heads. Adjustable strap fins and wet boots definitely recommended over full foot fins. Contact us for more information.

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