Red Sea liveaboards

Three journeys, one sea. DIVE takes three liveaboard trips around the north, south, and islands of the Red Sea in search of some world-class diving...

Into the unknown: Egypt’s southern extreme
Report by Charles Hood

When divers discuss the southern Egyptian coastline, they generally mean the range of reefs that are found between Elphinstone and St John’s Reef. Recently, however, I decided to join an exploratory expedition starting at St John’s and heading further south to the Sudanese border. This is the true, deep south and is virgin territory. The charts are fairly inaccurate and many non-marked reefs suddenly appear out of nowhere, making navigation particularly hazardous. Conversely, we found that many reefs clearly shown on the chart simply weren’t there.

When making a trip of this nature, nothing is guaranteed. We were travelling on the Royal Emperor liveaboard. She’s not a new vessel, and this is her greatest asset – all the niggly little faults have been ironed out and she provides a professional, workmanlike dive vessel, with good food and cold beer. Most of the reefs just broke the surface by less than metre or so. However, unlike St John’s Reef to the north, they tended to be relatively shallow, bottoming out at around 25m. Anthias were prolific on most sites, providing the stunning orange and purple contrast to the blue backdrop that has become synonymous with the Red Sea. However, unfamiliar species did begin to appear.

The first immediately noticeable fish were the huge bumphead parrotfish. More than a metre long, their physical ugliness contrasted with the obvious grace with which they moved through the water. They tended to patrol at shallow depths against a backdrop of hard coral, which is utterly pristine in this area. When I discussed this with Yasser – the owner of the Royal Emperor – we surmised that as very few boats have dived the area, little anchor damage had taken place.
Among these hard corals was a profusion of brightly coloured chromis and damselfish. Every now and then a huge expanse of hard coral would be broken by clumps of red-footed anemones and the attendant clownfish. In deeper water there was the usual Red Sea life, with nothing particularly different. A noticeable exception, however, was the sea bed, where cone shells appeared to be thriving – could this be because there was no one to collect them?

This part of the Red Sea is relatively unexplored, so don’t expect the dive sites to be well known. Indeed, the only way we could name many of the reefs was to take an educated guess by looking at the chart. For me, this is part of the trip’s eccentric charm, but it can also prove frustrating. For instance, we spent nearly a whole day looking for a clearly charted wreck, to no avail. Also, getting to the deep south is a long journey. Even though the airport at Marsa Alam is now open, direct flights from the UK are not expected before summer 2003. At present it is a five-hour bus ride from Hurghada before you get on the boat. The main dive sites are then about a day’s steam away. The season should be virtually all year round, but the challenge lies in persuading a like-minded group to join you on a trip with so few certainties.

Exploratory diving is great fun. The sense of adventure and the unknown is what gives this part of the Red Sea its appeal. If you like the exploratory side of diving, then I reckon you have between 12 and 18 months of it here before it all changes, so go now before it’s too late! The Royal Emperor also makes many scheduled trips to well-known sites in the north and south Red Sea throughout the year. Virtually guaranteed Pristine hard coral, notably cone coral (Merulinidae) and yellow waver coral (Dendrophylliidae). Red anemones in large aggregations, tuna and bumphead parrotfish.

Look out for Practically anything! I certainly wouldn’t discount the shark potential of this region. We came across a large mako shark, caught and dying on a longline. It was a potent reminder of how mankind has made inroads into even this wilderness. Equally, it shows that this unexplored region still has a few surprises in store for divers.

• Charles Hood travelled with Diving World (020 7407 0019) and was a guest of the Royal Emperor liveaboard.

Adventure beyond the shore: Egypt’s offshore islands
Report by Simon Rogerson

I last dived Egypt’s offshore islands eight years ago, when they were still seen as frontier diving. At the time, the islands offered world-class adventure diving away from the crowds of Hurghada and Sharm. I was interested to see how much things had changed. The Lady M liveaboard has devised an ambitious itinerary which departs from Hurghada and visits three of the islands in the space of six days, covering great distances by sailing through the night. The diving starts off at a reef near Hurghada known as ‘The Aquarium’. The reef is small enough to circumnavigate in a single dive, and boasts impressive fish life. Here, we saw barracuda, bannerfish, jacks and a large school of silversides. It’s a healthy site, but on an ‘islands’ itinerary it serves as a humble curtain-raiser.

For those in search of easily-accessible adrenalin diving in southern Egypt, I have no hesitation in recommending the elliptical reef known as Elphinstone. It’s only 12km off Marsa Alam, so the site is prone to crowding by dayboats and even a few RIBs, but I never ran into any other divers underwater. Elphinstone has beautiful walls off its eastern and western sides, but the real attraction here is the northern plateau, which extends into the deep and offers genuine excitement.
Here, grey reef sharks and scalloped hammerheads are regularly encountered at the points where currents converge. Red Sea hammerheads are more curious than those found in big schools in the Eastern Pacific, and sometimes approach divers closely. Moving off the plateau and onto the eastern wall, my group was treated to a flyby by a distant manta ray.

The southernmost point of our voyage took us to Daedalus Reef, or Abu El Kizan. This is the ideal place to look for scalloped hammerheads in the Egyptian Red Sea: the best dive starts on the northeast corner, where assorted wreckage is scattered along the reef from 15 to 40m. The real action here is out in the blue, just off the northeastern point, where our group saw a school of about 25 hammerheads pass overhead. An already exciting dive got better when individual hammerheads made close passes to divers out in the blue, while, nearer the reef, large dogtooth tuna sliced through a school of silversides. Among the divers on the Lady M was a contingent from Seven Seas Divers, a BSAC branch based in Epsom, Surrey. Enthused by some close hammerhead encounters, they told me that Daedalus had been the highlight of their trip.

For my money, the Brothers Islands represent the very best of Egyptian diving. Located in the middle of the Red Sea between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, they drop off into extremely deep water and act as a magnet for pelagic fish. Big Brother, the largest of the two islands, covers an area of 300 square metres and is topped by a lighthouse built by the British in 1880. Its main features are the two wrecks that lie on its northern walls. One of these is a large freighter which starts at 9m and plummets to 80m. Situated right on the current point, it is festooned with soft corals, the quality and vibrancy of which have not lessened since my last visit. If anything, coral growth here is better than ever before. The area between the freighter and Big Brother’s other wreck – the troop steamer, Aida – is one of the most colourful wall dives in the world. Plumes of purple and red soft coral hang down like vast drapes, while schools of golden coloured anthias venture into the blue, plucking morsels from the current.

There are no wrecks on the smaller island, Little Brother, but there’s an extremely good chance of seeing grey reef and silvertip sharks off the north point. Thanks to the current and swell, getting to the north point is easier said than done, but more than worth the effort. After a strenuous swim, I enjoyed the easy drift along the wall and back to the south point, where a small oceanic thresher shark appeared below us, circling cautiously at 20m. Old hands complain that the Egyptian Red Sea isn’t the perfect wilderness it once was, but as long as they can offer coral-covered walls, wrecks and rare sharks, these islands should be regarded as a genuine world-class destination. Crucially, this trip benefited from the skipper’s willingness to travel through the night, and the dive guide’s determination to put divers in at the best spot. My only gripe is the inclusion of three dives at Panorama Reef – the dives aren’t up to the same standard as the other highlights of this itinerary.

Virtually guaranteed Small schools of jacks and barracuda, big walls, grey reef sharks (although they don’t come close), scalloped hammerheads at Daedalus and Elphinstone, exceptional soft coral and wrecks at the Brothers, caves and swim-throughs.
Look out for Manta rays, whale sharks and thresher sharks, all of which have been seen recently.

• Simon Rogerson travelled with Tony Backhurst Scuba Travel
(01483 271765), and was a guest of the Lady M liveaboard, http://www.ladym.com

Best of both worlds: Egypt’s northern sites
Report by Charlotte Boan
Heading north on our trip on the liveaboard Panorama Sharm, we stopped first at Temple Reef which lies west of Ras Umm Sid at the entrance to Sharm El Moyia. I was told it was a mere warm-up dive, however, I was treated to a large grey moray eel, a titan triggerfish, giant colourful clams, clownfish, butterflyfish, trevally and a coy lionfish hiding itself in the coral – my first taste of the Red Sea. It is these sites in the northernmost part of the Egyptian Red Sea that we hear so much about. Shark and Yolanda Reefs are two of the most celebrated sites, found on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula at the south end of the Ras Mohammed National Marine Park. Cruising through Anemone City at 18m, it is hard to find a section that is not teeming with life. Shark and Yolanda Reefs are two peaks of a single coral seamount rising just off the coast of Ras Mohammed, which are separated from the mainland by a shallow channel. The coral is sparse in the wall sections and dense in the shallower, flat garden areas. We finned around the back of Yolanda where I could see big tuna, a magnificent Napoleon wrasse, a large potato cod and a shoal of jacks.

The most impressive profusion of life is on the wall at Shark Reef. Many large pelagics can be seen in the blue, including big sharks of many species, such as hammerheads, grey and black-tip reef sharks. On the reef, hundreds of different reef fishes can be spotted, as well as large moray eels and bluespotted and blackspotted stingrays. As the sun rose the following day, we were briefed on the wreck site of the Chrisoula K at the southeast end of Shab Mahmud. A fascinating collection of wrecks dating from different eras can be found in this area, such as the Dunraven and Carnatic. The Chrisoula K sank in 1981 and lies with its bow section on the tip of the reef. There are a lot of opportunities to penetrate this wreck, so I was glad of a torch. The steep reef to the south of the wreck has an impressive collection of stony and soft corals. Reef species compete with pelagic species that are drawn by the reef’s profile and strong currents. It was here that we were treated to the sight of dolphins.

To avoid the inevitable crowds we dived at sunrise on the Rosalie Moller wreck, west of the southern Gubal Island. The wreck lies upright, with the bow at 39m, the rudder at 45m and the top of the mast at 17m. This wreck is fairly intact, with glass still in its windows and portholes in place. Fish and coral life is plentiful, but because of the depth, bottom time is limited. With unpredictable currents, it can only be explored in good weather.

For a drift dive you can’t get much better than the wreck of the Sarah H, the dive drifts towards Shag Rock reef. Both are located at the southern tip of the Shab Ali reef complex in the northern Strait of Gubal. The remaining wooden slats of the wreck lie at around 6m and the adjacent reef slopes down to 27m. As the current propelled us along the reef wall, we passed an array of corals. Back on the RIB, two photographers proudly told us that they had been fortunate enough to see 40 dolphins swim past.

Perhaps the most famous wreck in the Red Sea is the Thistlegorm, situated just northeast of Shag Rock. Despite stories that this wreck is ‘not what it used to be’ it is still one of the most impressive and celebrated dive sites in the world. But this comes with its problems, as crowds of boats queue to get in. It is best to dive this site more than once, as the wreck spans about 150m in length. There is so much to investigate both in and outside its structure, as it was once an army supply ship carrying guns, motorbikes, locomotives and an anti-aircraft gun. Many fish and coral take refuge in the area, including large jacks, schools of snapper, bannerfish and huge groupers, as well as soft corals. This wreck is subject to strong currents and visibility can be unpredictable, which means it’s not always suitable for night dives, or indeed day dives for the inexperienced.

The last few days offered yet more delights. Small Crack is both an excellent drift and night dive. This site is halfway along the Shab Mahmud reef system and the area is frequented by large moray eels and turtles, including a stunning collection of smaller life which can be seen in and around a tiny crack in the reef wall at 5m. Another impressive reef is the Ras Ghozlani at Ras Mohammed. It was recently reopened to divers and provides an extraordinary collection of unspoiled corals and life.

The most impressive collection of reefs, include Woodhouse Reef and Thomas Reef situated second from the north in the Strait of Tiran reef chain. And nearby is Jackson Reef, the northernmost of four reefs extending down the centre of the Strait of Tiran for the end of our trip. It was here in the blue where we spotted a lone oceanic white-tip reef shark and a gliding manta ray. A fantastic end to a trip, packed with excellent reef and wreck treats.

Despite complaints that some sites are over-dived in this part of the world, these sites are still up there with the best. Certain sites can be packed with dive boats, but with an experienced dive guide who knows when to avoid the busiest times, you will probably only see just a handful of other divers. In this part of the Red Sea, algal and planktonic growth related to a change in temperature can cause marked drops in visibility in the spring and autumn months. Winter is usually best period of visibility, with waters too cool to support explosive growth of marine micro-organisms. Virtually guaranteed Strong currents, pelagic in the blue, soft and hard corals, lots of fish life, reef walls, excellent wreck diving; and hair-raising drift dives. Look out for Manta rays, dolphins, turtles and the rare possibility of an oceanic white-tip shark.

• Charlotte Boan travelled with Oonasdivers (01323 648924), and was a guest of the Panorama Sharm liveaboard, http://www.panorama-sharm.com
.