Marsa Alam/Port Ghalib new port fee
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December offers from Oxygene Emperor
Oxygene Emperor Fleet offers one or two week itineraries to both the Northern and
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Dive sitesA selection of daily boat diving dive sites: Shaab Abu Nugar The reefs of Shaab Abu Nugar present a huge variation of marine life and offer many different dive environments. The main reef sits on a sandy bottom with dispersed pinnacles and coral gardens. There are several cleaning stations around where groupers and snappers line up for a brush-up by shrimps and wrasses. Torfa Abu Nugar Torfa Abu Nugar is located in the north and stretches in an east-west direction with a lovely coral garden. Gota Abu Nugar This oval shaped reef lies to the east and is small enough to swim around in just one dive. Erug Abu Nugar This reef lies in the south and offers a tour from one pinnacle to another over a flat sandy bottom with numerous coral blocks to explore.
El Fanadir is a very popular site for night diving. The shape of the reef suggests a drift along the wall which is the main attraction because of the cracks and caves sheltering an immense range of marine life. All along the sloping wall you will find blue spotted rays resting and an endless trail of cleaning stations.
Umm Gamaar Umm Gamaar is a coral surrounded island stretching in a north-south direction with a plateau at each end. A sheer wall runs along the east as well as the west. The corals on the wall are clouded by anthias and silversides. At rare occasions white tip reef sharks patrol the wall. This site makes an excellent drift dive. Umm Gamaar North Umm Gamaar North is a bend in the reef of Umm Gamaar with a sandy bottom sloping via two big coral blocks into the abyss. The bottom gives way to a vertical, draped by gorgonias and soft corals, wall to the south and a steep sloping wall to the north. You will find big schools of anthias, snappers, sweetlips, a variety of groupers and butterfly fish of every known kind. Shabruhr Umm Gamaar This exposed oval shaped reef is circled by a shelf at a depth of 15-30 meter that on the west side widens to a sandy flat. On the east side, it narrows down to a ledge. Fanous East The Fanous (beacon) that has given the site its name is placed on the top of the main reef. It’s a shallow wall rising from a sloping sandy bottom with spread out coral blocks and spectacular pinnacles where lionfish offer a never ending show. It is common to encounter a pod of dolphins here. Fanous West This is perfect site for a drift dive. A narrow channel leads into a 9m deep lagoon via a coral garden sloping down to 14 m. Turtles can be seen feeding in the coral garden, and dolphins sometimes pass along the wall of the reef. Hamda This site is also known as Stone Beach or Lion’s Head. From the top of the reef there is a tiny wall down to 12-15m that transforms into a slope before turning into a stepped drop. The slope turns into vertical walls to the north and the south. Banana Reef This crescent shaped reef encloses a coral garden and two gorgeous pinnacles covered by soft corals and gorgonias. A drift is the natural way to dive this site. You will find eagle rays, feather tailed rays and turtles swimming by over the coral garden. Shaab Sabina This site is a natural drift dive. A maze of ridges and ergs spread to a dramatic underwater landscape north of the main reef, and an exquisite coral garden to the northwest. The main feature of this site is the dramatic underwater landscape although the marine life is interesting in many ways as well. Erg Sabina Erg Sabina is a small reef offering an extraordinary dive because of the rich marine life. Next to the reef there is a coral garden, around which schooling fish hover, facing the current. About 50m north there is a breathtaking little erg full of soft coral. You will find turtles, eagle ray, feather tailed ray and napoleon wrasse here. Small Giftun At this site a drift is a natural choice. All over the drop-of in this area huge gorgonias form a virtual jungle swaying in the current, whereas soft corals squeeze in wherever there is a space big enough to root. The gorgonias serve as a smokescreen for the longnose hawkfish that awaits its prey. Turtles swim over the coral garden on occasion as well as napoleon wrasse, barracudas and giant trevally. Erg Somaya Just north of Small Giftun the vertical wall below transforms into a shelf with an erg reaching up to 5m below the surface. Further north, the shelf gives way to a steeply sloping wall with two sculptured coral formations. The wall presents a huge variation of marine life such as barracuda, snapper, jackfish and tuna. The erg, covered with invertebrates, is one of the most fascinating reef systems you’re ever likely to see.
Abu Ramada North This site is best as a drift dive providing that the wind comes from the north. The plateau gently slopes from 20-35m, extending from the north end of Abu Ramada Island transforming into a vertical wall. You will find schools of giant barracuda, big eye trevally, yellowfin tuna, turtles and squadrons of eagle rays flying in formations. Abu Ramada South This terrace-profiled plateau lies next to a shallow wall at the very south tip of Abu Ramada. The plateau extends as a shelf to the west, eventually yielding to a drop-off. The shelf to the west of the main reef slopes from 11m at the bottom of the wall towards the drop-off around 14m. Halfway, you will find an eel garden swaying in the current. Further south, a hill-shaped coral formation clings to the edge of the drop-off. You will find free swimming morays cruising the wall and napoleon wrasse. Gota Abu Ramada This site is commonly known as the Aquarium. The reef is oval shaped with coral outcrops situated on a flat, sandy bottom. This site is one of the most popular Hurghada dive sites because of the spectacular amounts of marine life. To the east are three large pinnacles, and a beautiful coral garden. Cascading brain corals and tiny grottoes offer some of the best underwater topography in the area. Erg Abu Ramada This site is situated on the southeast side of Abu Ramada Island and is also known as Camel reef. It comprises a big erg with three peaks on a long plateau with a sandy bottom that turns into a coral garden to the north. The erg is covered with soft corals and anthias. You will find big schools of glassfish in the caverns and cracks, crocodilefish under the table corals, moray eels, napoleon wrasse and all sorts of schooling fish. Abu Hashish This site is the habitat of a variety of species of moray eels. Numerous ergs and pinnacles spread out over a vast area north of Gota Abu Ramada, over a primarily sandy seabed. Though this is often considered to be one dive site, there are actually three: beginning from the southwest with Erug Diana, via Erug Giftun in the middle and finally Erug Gigi in the northeast. Erug Giftun is a cluster of seven pinnacles, as is Erug Diana. Erug Gigi has eleven pinnacles more or less in a straight line. You are likely to bump into napoleon wrasse, blue spotted rays, crocodile fish and scorpionfish.
Wrecks El Minya El Minya is an Egyptian mine sweeper which sunk in 1970 by Israeli fighter planes. Now she rests on her portside outside the harbour at a depth of 25m under the bow, and 32m at the stern. The top of the wreck is at 17m near to the blast hole where the bomb that sunk her hit. The starboard side anchor is still in place. At the stern the rudder and propeller can be found intact below the waterline. The deck features winches and cable rolls, and torpedo-like mine sweeping devices. Big schools of glassfish find refuge in the plentiful openings of the wreck where lionfish compete with jackfish trying to catch them. Balena This steel vessel sank following a fire on April 12th 2001. Although she has only been down for a short time, she is already covered with beautiful soft coral and is home to about 200 Barracudas. The wreck lies in 9m of water but the majority of the dive is at 5m. The Balena wore the German flag and was one of the biggest safari vessels. She was built in 1952 in Norway and served as a Post ship and Tender for the Norwegian government. Once retired, she became a safari liveaboard in 1988. Excalibur or Suzanna The Excalibur was a beautiful twin mast motor- and sail vessel, around 22m in length. She sank some time between the end of 1995 and the beginning of February 1996 and now rests upright (with a slight lean towards her starboard side) in a small sand lagoon in 22 meters of water. Coral boulders surround the lagoon perimeter making for a surreal setting. The wreck is crowded with glassfish. Crocodile fish, lionfish and stonefish are common visitors. Abu Nuhas
The Giannis D sunk 19 April 1983 in a storm. She sat on the edge of the reef for 6 weeks before storms broke her and settled her beneath the waves. The wreck lies at an angle to the reef and the stern section is the most interesting. This is where the bridge, accommodation areas, workshops and engine room can be entered and explored. Strong currents can surge through this rear section of the wreck. The tip of the crane gantry here reaches to within 4m of the surface. The central hold section is quite broken up but allows inspection of the cargo which has been scattered across the sand. The bow, which rises up several meters, lies on its port side. Here the foremast now stands almost parallel to the seabed and the anchor winch, chain locker and the anchor chains themselves can be easily found. After only a few hours of leaving Suez on September 13, 1869 this P & O mail steamship struck the northern edge of the reef at Abu Nuhas. Tragically, due to the excellent weather conditions, the 230 passengers and crew decided to stay on board. Over 24 hours later disaster struck when the ship suddenly broke in two. 27 people then lost their lives in the ensuing confusion. The Carnatic now rests at the foot of the 18m drop-off with her bow pointing towards the east and lying on her port side. Some of the interesting features around the hull and skeleton of her structure include the propeller, the large boiler and parts of the tandem compound engines, the table corals (acropora) growing on the end of the davit and a protruding spar, the square portholes on the passenger accommodation and, even now, a number of bottles among the debris inside the blackened, forward hold. This Greek cargo boat sunk in 1976 and the bows still lie broken on top of the eastern tip of the reef. The remainder of the wreck lies at a right-angle to the reef, on its starboard side. The propeller and stern area is at 32m and the remains of the deck lie perpendicular to the seabed. Since all of the cargo has now disappeared, there are large areas of the ship to be explored. Local stories tell of vast populations of fish living in the wreck due to the plentiful supply of edible cargo! In rough weather some movement can be felt through the wreckage so it is likely that there is yet to be further settlement of the wreck. There are indications that the Chrisoula K. may lie upon another wreck and it is probable that this may have been carrying copper or bronze. It is from this cargo that Abu Nuhas gets its name Wreck of the Thistlegorm
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