Diving in Marsa Alam

The diving setup on offer at Marsa Alam is one of the most convenient you will find anywhere in the world. Located at Port Ghalib, the Marina Lodge hotel is just 10 minutes from Marsa Alam airport. Our preferred diver operator, Emperor Divers, is based at the hotel and after you’ve had breakfast, the dive boats are moored literally 1 minutes stroll from the breakfast room at the hotel. It couldn’t be more convenient.

Local Sites

The local dive sites around Marsa Alam / Port Ghalib are generally little bays along the coast. This allows the boats to moor up in more sheltered waters while the divers take the plunge into this unspoiled area of the Red Sea.

There is plenty to see along the coral reefs but don’t forget to keep an eye out ‘into the blue’ as larger marine life can be seen swimming past.

Abu Dabab

The bay of Abu Dabab is renowned for a frequent visitor – Dennis the Dugong. Dennis comes to Abu Dabab to feed on the sea grass the covers the sandy floor of the bay. Obviously, it can’t be guaranteed that you will actually meet Dennis when you dive in Abu Dabab but you will have the opportunity to get up close and personal with the many turtles that also come here to feed. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for the little Ghost Pipe Fish that uses the sea grass as camouflage. Diving is from the shore and lunch facilities at the Sol Y Mar hotel are available to divers. Due to the fact Abu Dabab is sheltered and relatively shallow, snorkellers are also able to look for Dennis and the turtles.

Abu Dabab is a shore dive and you can always grab some lunch at the Sol Y Mar hotel in between your morning and afternoons dives.

Elphinstone

One of the best known dive sites in Marsa Alam is Elphinstone. Located a couple of miles off the coast, Elphinstone is a long narrow reef pinnacle that runs north-south. When the current is right, Elphinstone offers excellent drift dives where you can just ‘hang’ in the water as you slowly (depending on the current) drift past this beautiful reef. Elphinstone is also renowned as a site where you can see the Oceanic White Tip shark.

Please note, due to the nature of the dive site, you must have logged 30 dives in order to dive on Elphinstone and an SMB (Surface Marker Buoy) should also be carried by divers.

Dolphin House

Dolphin House is one of the best known reefs in the Marsa Alam area. It’s horseshoe shape offers a protected, shallow lagoon. As it’s name suggests, Dolphin House or Shaab Samadi is renowned for a number of friendly dolphins.

Booking your diving in advance will save you money on resort rates. To discuss your diving requirements, call 0208 816 8789 or send us an email via the 'Contact Us' page and we'll get right back to you.