Rocky - Zabarghad - St John's

What you expect to see?

Enjoy Wonderful sea life with our fantastic liveaboard scuba diving safari to Zabargad, St John's, and Rocky islands,
which are considered one of the best dive sites in the Red Sea.

The Rocky Island

Rocky Island is a mythical site that represents the diver’s dream. The fringing reef that circles the entire perimeter of the island drops steeply to an astonishing depth and the constant currents that flow all along the year favor the growth of all different kinds of life in a continuous struggle for a place on the reef.
The walls are absolutely covered with the most beautiful soft corals ever found, as well as gorgonians, fans, sponges, and black coral trees. Because of its isolated situation and the reduced dimensions of the reef wall, everything seems to concentrate on the surroundings of this small islet. Reef sharks, especially Grey and Silver Tips, you can watch in the blue, and maybe Manta Rays, Sailfish, and dolphins.

The Island of Zabargad

The Island of Zabargad is a superb dive spot. Here you can dive along walls, hover over drop-offs, or dive slowly in the shallow area, watching the fish and admiring the coral garden.
At the north side of Zabargad lays a nameless wreck. The 70m long ship lies upside down in 24m depths. The whole stern section is nearly intact- stairs, rail, lings, davit, and the bridge.
Because of the long distance, it is advisable to decide to do a 10 or 13 days safari-cruise.

St. John’s Reefs

Deep, deep in the south (near Rocky Island) are the St. John’s Reefs. Here you will find exciting drop-offs. The wall of one of the reefs is overgrown with big gorgonians; the wall of the other reef is overgrown with all kinds of colorful soft corals. You will find here a lot of fish and in the blue, you can see with a little bit of luck “big fish” like Hammerheads, Grey Sharks, Silver Tip and White Tip Reef Sharks Barracudas, Tunas, and Mackerels. Sometimes even you can see Mantas and dolphins. It is possible to reach St. John’s in one week, but you are going to sail a lot (mostly at night) and the time is very short to dive at all the reefs in St. John’s.

Highlights

Rocky Island is one of the tiny uninhabited islands in the Red Sea, lying 60–70 kilometres (37–43 mi) from the coast.
Rocky island is also well known by scuba divers as one of the best diving sites in the Red Sea because of its incredible coral reefs, and its southeastern wall is the most beautiful of its walls.
Zabargad Island is one of the best dive spots in the Red Sea, and its located in the far south of Egypt's coastline.
The island is rich in the natural rock formation, Sea marine life, and coral reefs, making Diving at Zabargad Island genuinely world-class.
Saint John's is a set of reefs 200 km South of Marsa Alam and has a healthy reef system known for soft coral, and black coral.

Schedule

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Gotat Abu Galawa

Abu Galawa: Here a wreck lies in 18 m, which sank in the 50’s. It is so overgrown with all kinds of hard corals, that it takes a little bit time till you recognize the bridge, rail and the funnel of the ship. The wreck is very appealing for every photographer. Also it is nice to do a night dive at Abu Galawa. With a little bit luck, you can see a Spanish dancer.

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Elphinstone

This long finger like reef runs from north to south in the open Red Sea. Steep walls drop to the depths on the reef’s east and west sides, while the north and south ends of the reefs are marked by submerged plateau. Sharks often swim by the spot to feed on the abundant reef fish population.

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St Johns

This massive reef system is located furthest south, 10 miles from the Sudanese border. There are dozens of excellent dives. Its reefs rise up from a gigantic underwater plateau hidden in the inky blue water.

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Zabargad

The island of Zabargad has been known since the time of the pharaohs for the presence of the ancient mines from which olivine was extracted, a green stone similar to the emerald. In Zabargad you will dive along the south wall characterized by a multitude of very scenic passages.

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Rocky Island

The site features several submerged rocks surrounded by sandy areas with a nice swim-through at around 20 m deep. There is beautiful staghorn and hard coral. You can often find a leopard shark and a whitetip reef shark resting on the sand. Turtles and pelagis fishes like the Giant Trevally are common too. The maximum depth is around 39 meters deep but most of the dive is done around 15 meters. The current can be quite strong and this dive spot is better suited to open water advanced divers.

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Marsa Abu Galawa

A huge reef with plenty of life. Big chance to see seahorse in the sea grass.

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Marsa Alam

A barrier in front of the last inhabited city south of the Egyptian coast. Here the coral gardens form large blocks that are full of flag fish, jack fish, triggerfish and platax.

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Abu Dabbab

Abu Dabbab is one of the most famous dive sites in the Red Sea and of all of Egypt. It is one of the few places in the world where you can dive with the very rare and endangered Dugong aka the Sea Cow. In fact, there are two resident Dugongs in the Abu Dabbab bay named Dennis and Dougal. This dive site also features friendly giant Green Sea Turtles that you can swim with up close and personal. In the shallow water, it is not rare to spot the bizarre looking but completely harmless Guitar Shark. In addition to the big stuff, there are also superb macro subjects such as the ornate Ghost Pipefish, the rare thorny seahorse and the delicate Hairy Pygmy Pipehorse!

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Fury Shoal

The Fury Shoals make up several reefs along the Southwest Red Sea coast, offering amazing scuba diving opportunities with some of the most pristine reefs in Egypt. The hard and soft coral are unspoiled and are a highlight of many dive sites such as the Fury Shoal Garden. The marine life is also really great with all the usual reef fishes of the Red Sea and various species of reef Sharks (Whitetip, Grey) and even sometimes the curious Oceanic Whitetip Shark. Pelagic fishes such Barracudas, Giant Trevallies, Dogtooth Tunas are also common in the area.