SOUTH SAFARI
This South itinerary covers the coastal section of the southern Red Sea offering stunning diving on a huge variety of reefs, walls as well as hard coral gardens teeming with fish life.
Some of the best dives are made in the early morning when you are most likely to find hammerhead and grey reef sharks circling around the tips of reefs such as on the north plateau of the famous and exposed reef of Elphinstone with its shear walls covered in soft corals.
The first stop is at Elphinstone, the most exciting and splendid of the Red Sea reefs. From here on until Wadi Gimal the cruise follows one of the most fascinating underwater diving routes that the Egyptian Red Sea has to offer.
Elphinstone is one of the most frequented dive sites in the Southern Red Sea. It's a long, narrow reef reaching approximately 300 meters in length.
Elphinstone is located 12 kilometers out from Marsa Abu Dabab. Strong currents will take you on one of the most adrenaline charged drifts of your life along amazing sheer walls covered in soft corals and teaming with fish. This spectacular reef has walls that plunge down to 70 meters or more.
The itinerary includes diving expeditions at Sha'ab Alam, famous for its great branching black coral,at Erg Alam with its amazing turrets of madrepora, and at Ras Samadai, the horseshoe-shaped reef that provides an excellent place to anchor for the night and the chance of an underwater diving expedition along underwater tunnels and in and out of passing grottoes. Ras Samadai also provides the added attraction of being able to share an underwater adventure with some resident bottlenosed dolphins.
The cruise then proceeds towards Gota El Sharm, the temple of the giant sea fans constantly presided over by deep sea fish, before reaching Wadi Gimal.
Underwater diving expeditions at Elphistone can be organised both at the beginning and at the end of the trip.
The entire reef is extremely interesting; its northern end (Punta Nord) is the exclusive territory of the hammer shark, its eastern wall is characterised by a multitude of barrier fish and its western wall is completely carpeted by multicoloured Alcyonaria, while its southern end is the favourite hunting ground of tunny shoals and carangidae.
The place to get the real buzz is on the North plateau. You'll need motorized fins to reach it, but when you do you will find yourself surrounded by white tips, grey reefs or even hammerheads.On the south plateau there is a deep archway at 55m where thresher sharks can often be seen. Here lies a large coral encrusted rock which was once thought to be a sarcophagus.
There are also cruises of one or two weeks with even more southerly routes reaching as far south as Dolpin reef and the reefs of St. John, but these trips are dependent on clearance from the Egyptian authorities and previously established embarcation points.
