Egyptian Red Sea

The Whole Red Sea – Al Bahr Al Ahmar

The Idea

In 1990, National Geographic magazine published an article on the Red Sea. Written and photographed by David Doubilet, he had to compress a journey of 1,400 miles into a few pages. When I first read it, I was mesmerised and dreamed of being able to dive the entire Red Sea – a dream that I’ve since been able to realise.

Our friend Faisal Khalaf of Red Sea Explorers agreed to a one off exploratory dive expedition, that took in classic dive sites and very rarely visited wrecks. This safari sailed from Nuweiba to Rocky. So successful was the trip that Faisal said “lets do it again” . So I sat down with Captain Mohammad, Le’Reyce Josephs and Maysara Sayeed. We worked on the best possible itinerary for June 2024. One that would have 12 days of diving. This is what we came up with.

About Red Sea Explorers

Red Sea explorers is an old fashioned proper diving company. The RSE dive guides recognise prior experience. This means you can dive with a guide or in buddy teams. The RSE guides really know their stuff. There will be a guide on every dive, so if you feel like joining you can, and if you wish to dive with your buddy and go as slow or as fast as you like, you can.

 

The Diving Expedition

We board the MV Nouran in Hurghada and then steam gently to Carless Reef or similar.  Here we do our check dives and dive the stunning wall. Then we head south to the Brothers Islands to dive the classic wrecks of the SS Numidia and the SS Aida. Then we have a dive on the tip of Small brother, which is quite literally a boiling pot of fish. After an overnight sail we arrive on Daedalus where we have a good chance of shark sightings. The Lara is a dive for tech divers here. For the rest of us, the southern balcony is our aquarium of fish. Steaming south from Daedalus, we will enter our own little world. We are entering the Southern Reef Systems of the Egyptian Red Sea. We spend 2 -3 days on Rocky and Zabargat before crossing west to the African coast and the reefs of St Johns Reef.  After three days here we make lazy progress north to Ras Tirombi and Erg Somaya; eventually ending in El Gouna Marina. (Hurghada)

 This is an A&O signature route and is operated by no other Red Sea Dive Boat. It is a truly relaxing itinerary with time to dive and really explore.

Fast Fact 1:  Zabargad is the tallest island in the Egyptian Red Sea. She offers wall diving and shallow diving, both of which afford you with a spectacular view of the unspoiled hard and soft coral gardens found there.

Fast Fact 2: Rocky Island is the southernmost of Egypt’s Red Sea island. There reef around her drops to depth, leaving walls covered in soft corals and black coral trees. Due to the constant currents that flow throughout the year, marine life is plentiful and abundant (we usually see schools of enormous tuna and passing hammerheads). The SS Maiden is a must visit wreck for tech divers at Rocky.

Fast fact 3: Around 20% of the species of fish in the Red Sea are endemic. So if you have a camera do bring one with you to record the experience.

Technical Divers Welcome

The MV Nouran is set up to run recreational and technical diving side by side. The numbers are merely adjusted to suit. Technical diving can mean a twin set and helium and a 1 hour dive, or it can be a multi hour rebreather experience. Sofnolime and full rebreather support is available. There are no time limits on the Tech divers, they plan their dive and they do the dive.

We have dived side by side with exploratory divers every year since 2021 and There is no conflict between tech and rec diving as the sites are so carefully planned. Faisal Khalaf, the owner of Red Sea Explorers will join us to be dive team leader of the Tech Divers. There is literally no other person we know, who has so much experience of the depths of the Red Sea.

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Red Sea Dive Expedition - Price Guide

Full two-week voyage: £2165 pp

Included:

  • Return Airport Transfers Hurghada to the vessel moored in Port Galib/Hurghada

  • 1 night in a good Hotel in Hurghada prior to boarding

  • 13 nights in shared accommodation on board

  • All meals/snacks/ tea / coffee / water/soda/juice on board

  • 12 days diving with tanks and weights, 3-4 dives per day. (last day 2 dives only)

  • Nitrox (for Nitrox certified divers) * All marine park fees and taxes, * Escorted by Raf and Francisca Jah.

Not included:

  • International flights/Domestic flights, Large tanks/Twin tanks/scooter hire,

  • Egyptian visas, equipment rental, alcoholic drinks, travel insurance (mandatory), dive insurance (mandatory)

  • Tips, gratuities, items of a personal nature, any item not mentioned above in the ‘included’ paragraph.

Single Surcharge: please contact us for availability and rate. Recommended minimum tips if the crew are good: £80 per week. Tech Packages are available for Euro 400 (Open Circuit) and Euro 600 (Closed Circuit). Payable in cash on board in GBP USD or EURO.

Requirements:

Dive C card, electronic, printed or physical. Proof of insurance that covers diving accidents and hyperbaric treatment (DAN recommended). You must be a minimum open water diver with 20 logged dives (ideally 30 plus), and ideally have dived in the last year. If you have not dived recently please book a refresher dive before you arrive on the boat.

You must have an SMB (surface marker buoy) and rel and know how to use it. You should also have a dive computer. If you do not have either, Mike’s Dive Store in London is our recommended expedition supplier: www.mikesdivestore.com We always recommend bringing your own dive kit with you.

Extensions:

Cairo is only four hours away. You can dive on the last day, shower, and jump in the bus and be in Cairo for dinner. The pyramids of Giza but also Luxor and Abu Simbel are easily accessible. We would be delighted to organise this for you.

Dress and notes:

Egypt is a predominantly Muslim nation, with 80% Muslim and 20% Christian people. Both communities are conservative and thoughtful dress on land is appreciated. Longer shorts and covered shoulders are much appreciated. Skin tight clothing is a no-no for all genders. On the vessel, you may dress as if you were on the beach. There will of course be requirements such as ‘please wear a T shirt in the lounge’ etc which will be passed onto us by the MV Princess Diana crew.
It is essential that all dietary and dive equipment requirements are passed on as early as possible to us, so that we can make all the necessary arrangements to make your trip the best ever. Red Sea Explorers are a dedicated full service dive company but they cannot work miracles at the last minute. So please take the time to give us all the info that we need.

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