Sharm el Sheikh is a great location for divers wishing to find out what diving in Egypt is all about. Divers enjoy clear blue water, exotic fish and flora and for the adventurous there are fabulous opportunities for wreck diving in Egypt on wrecks such as the Thistlegorm and the Dunraven to check out. Scuba diving in Egypt is a fantastic thrill.
The area is on uplifted coral, so all Egypt diving sites in this vicinity are near shore as the coral starts at the very waters edge. This creates a shore reef that extends up to 30 meters out is just 1 meter in depth. The reef then drops vertically creating the typical diving in Egypt experience. These amazing 'drop offs' range in size from 10 to a staggering 800 meters! Care therefore needs to be taken in crossing the reef if diving by the shore and awareness and control of depth is needed during the dive.
Amongst the most popular diving holidays in Egypt are taken at Ras Mohammad which is at the southern end of the Sinai Peninsula and The Straits of Tiran. Local dives are available along the entire coast range of Sharm el Sheikh, from Ras Nasrani in the north to Ras Cathy in the south. All of the dive sites can be reached by boat in less than an hour.
Ras Mohammed: This offers unique Egypt diving thrills with its very deep waters heading vertically down from the shore reef . Being the first land the water reaches the currents here are very unpredictable and can be extremely strong. This can make for some exciting drift dives for the experienced.
The site of Sharks Reef and Yolanda Reef are very popular, forcing the National Park to put in a rota system, these sites offer the most southerly scuba diving in Egypt sites and have very deep water
Ras Cathy offers good Egypt diving experiences. There is a shallow area which is great for buoyancy practice and getting the weights right, also useful for doing the safety stops. In the shallows are coral heads coming to within a couple of meters of the surface. Further on the reef drops down on a 45 degree angle to the depths allowing divers to follow the reef towards a plateau on the corner. The currents on the corner aren't often strong but any diver going to the corner needs to watch their air supply carefully as it can be quite a swim back at 18m before the reef starts to shallow out!
Ras Nasrani: This is the most northerly venue for diving holidays in Egypt. This is the dive site on the mainland that is dived most regularly. This site can be done as a drift dive or a mooring dive, depending on the currents.
If done as a mooring dive from a boat it is worth having a look on the plateau either at the start or the end of the dive as there are some large Gorgonia Fan corals there, but watch the current as you will have to fight it to get back to the boat. So don't go to far that way.
Whatever sites you deciding to go diving in Egypt you can be assured that your diving holidays in Egypt will be one of the most memorable of your life.