Best of the Red Sea, Egypt

Abu Galawa Saraya Arta Beach Cedar Pride Chrisoula K Egypts Offshore Islands Djibouti Marine Life Identification Guide Elphinstone Reef Boats moored at St Johns Clown fish at Angarosh Table corals in Sudan Anthias at Abu Galawa Habili Gafar North Wall, Little Brother Mesharifa Numidia, Big Brother Seven Brothers Islands Sha'ab Claude Cavern at Fury Shoal Thistlegorm The Umbria wreck Daedalus Reef The Ultimate Guide

There was a time when pioneering liveaboards laid on special charters that encompassed the entire length of the Red Sea. Today, the tourist market approaches the Red Sea as eight separate countries and eight separate destinations, varying from the extremely popular (Egypt) to the esoteric (Djibouti) to the seldom-visited (Yemen). With the exception of a burgeoning new liveaboard charter that takes in both Egypt and Sudan, it is unusual for divers to cross Red Sea borders by liveaboard, and we think it’s a damn shame.

For several years, the two of us have been researching the Red Sea for a new sort of guidebook that would address the modern dive traveller. We wanted to celebrate the diversity of the Red Sea, its stories and its people, using the work of some of Britain’s leading underwater photographers. The book would include superior mapping, panels on visibility, conditions, water temperatures, local features, seasonality... the detail that divers want to know. We commissioned wreck illustrations and laid them out with complementary photographs that show how the features lie in situ.

We prepared a species identification section, which provides advice on how to approach the animals, plus chapters on underwater photography, travel tips, videography, liveaboards and land excursions.

As you travel along the full length of the Red Sea, some subtle differences become apparent. If you were able to travel its full length, from the Gulf of Aqaba to Aden, you would notice a series of environmental changes, often subtle, sometimes profound. This variety is the Red Sea’s great strength from a diver’s point of view: wherever your particular interest may lie, you stand a good chance of finding it. So, to mark the publication of DIVE Red Sea, we offer our own idea of the ultimate Red Sea liveaboard trip, taking in seven countries and thousands of miles of coast. We will take you from the sheltered quietness of Aqaba to the adrenalin dives of Sudan and beyond, to the famous strait of Bab al Mandab and the seven sinister islands that guard the mouth of the Red Sea.

Cedar Pride, Jordan

The great thing about the Cedar Pride is that it’s so easy to dive and to get the pictures you want. I’d wanted a new photograph to showcase my Gates camera rig in all its glory With all the walkways and smatterings of marine life dotted around the wreck, my brother managed to use the wreck as a great backdrop to capture a strong image of me at work. It’s also great fun – and nearby is the US Tank dive, which offers more easy pictures. JM

Jackson Reef, Egypt

Jackson is one of a system of four impressive reefs that make up the main attraction in the Straits of Tiran. Anyone who knows the back of Jackson (the north, that is) will know it’s current and swell can verge on the brutal. Here, I’ve enjoyed the privilege of seeing schooling scalloped hammerheads, followed by a perusal of the rusting hulk of a wreck perched on the top of the reef. JM

Shark and Yolanda, Ras Mohammed, Egypt

I love this reef. When it’s buzzing, it’s awesome. In a moment of madness, I promised a BBC cameraman friend of mine who wanted to see sharks that if he didn’t see one at Ras Mohammed, I’d pay for his trip. It was the end of June and the jacks were out in force, swirling at about 15m just off the sheer vertical wall of Shark Reef. We’d hung there for about five minutes when suddenly two big silky sharks burst through the large school of jacks and swept past us like a pair of torpedoes. My friend swam towards me, grabbed my hand and shook it strongly. The bet was paid – in full. JM

Thistlegorm, Egypt

It’s the most popular dive in the world, according to a recent poll in DIVE, and no wonder. I’ve dived it on many occasions – in warm, gin-clear seas and also in howling current and cold, greenish water. But it’s the story and the military artefacts in the holds that make this wreck so worthwhile for a film-maker. For a Blue Peter shoot, it was made all the more poignant because the presenter Matt Baker grew up ‘just down the road from where it was built’. JM

Rosalie Moller, Egypt

I was introduced to the Rosalie Moller by a veteran Red Sea guide, Grant Searancke. It was thanks to his knowledge of this, more challenging, wreck that I was able to squeeze down into the workshop and engine room with my rather bulky camera. But once here, with limited time and air at some 45m deep inside the wreck, the sight of an old paraffin lamp lying on a bench caked in rust, as it must have fallen when the ship went down more than half a century beforehand, was quite mesmerising. JM

Elphinstone

Anything can happen at Elphinstone. Its relative proximity to land means it is often surrounded by boats, but there’s always something to see in the water, whether it be grey reef sharks on the northern point or oceanic white-tips patrolling under the boats. Even then, the coral walls are an attraction in themselves. SR

Abu Galawa Soraya, Egypt

Of all the coral reefs in the Red Sea, this for me is one of the most beautiful places on earth. It is a living, breathing oasis of nature’s undersea finest. A short swim from the picturesque wreck of a yacht, I remember being guided towards a lagoon filled with ornate formations of hard corals. The corals took my breath away – it was like a Garden of Eden, a coral wonderland. JM

NUMIDIA, Big Brother, Egypt

Could this be the prettiest shipwreck in the world? With its expanse of soft corals and anemones, I certainly think so. You have to be very unlucky to run into one of the few islands in the very centre of the Red Sea, but that’s how it was for this cargo ship, which ploughed into Big Brother’s north point in July 1901. You get a real feeling of inner space diving on this wreck, which sits on a reef slope with the propeller at 90m. Both the Brother islands merit a few dives on our fantasy trip, as there is a good chance of shark encounters on Little Brother’s north point, and thresher sharks are seen regularly off both islands. SR

North Wall, Little Brother, Egypt

I always tell people they can’t really call themselves proper Red Sea divers until they’ve dived the Brothers. At Little Brother, I’ve been lucky enough to see a whole range of sharks, from silkies and grey reefs to schooling hammers. But this was the site of my first thresher, with its long sweeping tail, in only 15m of water – and all on camera. A special memory. JM

Daedalus Reef (Abu Kizan), Egypt

As Egypt’s premier hammerhead spot, Daedalus is a must for our fantasy itinerary. This 600m-long reef is the most isolated dive site in Egypt, sitting about 50 miles east of Marsa Alam, so it is fitting that this is one of the best places to find that elusive shark, the scalloped hammerhead. As is so often the case, the northern tip is best for shark action. I have visited this site on 22 separate occasions, 14 of which have yielded hammerhead encounters, with March to May the most productive time. SR

Sha’ab Claude/Claudia, Fury Shoal, Egypt

Of all the patchwork reefs of the Fury Shoal, this is my favourite. It’s your basic cavern dive, a series of tunnels leading to openings in the reef, with an average depth of about 12m. This dive often has a profound effect on people – it’s a relaxing experience because of the shallow depth, while the light streaming down from openings in the cave roof provides moments of inspiration. SR

Habili Gafaar, St John’s Egypt

I think the habili (a reef lying just below the surface) dives of St John’s are much more interesting in the summer, when they are home to large amounts of fish life. This is the smallest of the pinnacles – so small that you can swim around it repeatedly on a dive, working your way up and looking out for pelagics in the blue. To be honest, it can be a disheartening dive if there are too many people on the pinnacle, but if you can get it to yourself there’s a good chance of spotting hammerheads from March to June, then manta rays in the hot months from July to September. SR

Mesharifa, Sudan

Manta rays like shallow, warm water with a slight current, perfect conditions for the zooplankton on which they feed. Mesharifa is a classic, shallow, manta site, a protected bay running at depths of 6–15m, and studded with little ergs. The best time to find manta rays here is from June to October, when dozens of pectoral fins can sometimes be seen breaking the surface. SR

Angarosh reef, Sudan

The first time I managed to dive this reef, I thought the RIB was going to be turned over as we struggled through the swell to get to the all-important north point. I was clinging grimly onto the rope, at the same time trying to keep my camera secure between my feet while the boatman made unimaginable jokes in Sudanese. The dive was worth it – a quick descent to a shelf at 30m, then a parade of jacks, barracuda and silvertip sharks. SR

Sha’ab Rumi, Sudan

This is the reef that has everything – a drop-off where hammerheads are frequently spotted, a plateau patrolled by great barracuda and grey reef sharks, and one of the world’s strangest wreck sites. The wreckage is that of the Conshelf II experiment in underwater habitation, a Jacques Cousteau project carried out over four weeks in 1963. SR

Sanganeb atoll, Sudan

Around 14 miles northeast of Port Sudan, Sanganeb is the only true coral atoll in the Red Sea. I had read about this reef years before visiting it, in a superb book called Shark – a Photographer’s Story by Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch. When I finally visited, there were fewer grey reef sharks, but the coral bommies along the southwestern point were just as Jeremy had described them, mini mountains of perfect, scarlet soft coral. SR

The Umbria, Sudan

Some say the Thistlegorm, but I say the Umbria. I’ve dived this wreck a good dozen times, but each dive only serves to reinforce the fact that there is always more to discover inside its rusting corridors. The famous story here relates to the 360,000 items of ordnance this Italian ship was carrying when her crew scuttled her while impounded by the British authorities. Yet there’s so much else to see inside – ovens, piles of wine bottles, machinery and even three Fiat Lunga cars. SR

Mojeidi Island South, Eritrea

This reef is typical of the Dahlak archipelago, but its position at the eastern end of the islands means it is close to deep water, so you get better visibility. I think of this reef as a ‘little Sipadan’, because it seems to attract so many green and hawksbill turtles. SR

Seven Brothers, Djibouti

Fans of adrenalin diving will love the Seven Brothers, a series of barren islands that stand in the current-blasted entrance to the Red Sea. Underwater, you gat a mixture of Indian Ocean and Red Sea regulars, all in 40m visibility (or 5m if you visit during a plankton bloom). There are a great many schooling fish, but you also get mobula rays and some very healthy expanses of coral. SR

Arta Beach, Djibouti

Arta Beach sits in the Gulf of Tadjourah just to the south of the Red Sea, but the site could easily be incorporated into any liveaboard itinerary visiting the Seven Brothers. I made a special trip here to document the whale shark aggregations that take place during winter, and I was absolutely stunned by what I saw. In a relatively small bay, around 30 young sharks were swimming up and down, feasting on a mass of gelatinous zooplankton. Sometimes I could even see them swimming together, juvenile giants in a murky playground. SR

Quoin Rock, Yemen

At the time of writing the book, there were no commercial diving operations on Yemen’s Red Sea Coast, so we put together our guide with data from previous trips. Quoin Rock is probably the best dive in Yemen, sitting to the south of the Zubayr islands. As with many of the southern dives, the fish aggregations are spectacular, but there is an absence of sharks, due to the Yemeni finning industry. However, there are a few species that are not susceptible to long-line fishing, so you can still find the zebra shark here. SR

Hanging Garden, Farasan Banks, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has the longest coastline of all the Red Sea nations, stretching 1,800km from the border with Jordan to the shallow Farasan archipelago and Yemen to the South. The Farasan Banks, however, are located close to deep water and provide dives reminiscent of the Egyptian/Sudanese offshore classics. This site is named after one of the most beautiful caves in the Red Sea, where yellow, blue, white and red sponges hang form the ceiling among great bushes of black coral. SR

Washing Machine, Mar-Mar Island, Saudi Arabia

Seen from above, Mar-Mar Island looks like a giant egg, with the sandy topside section representing the yolk and the fringing reef the white. This reef drops away to depths of 500m, and attracts schools of scalloped hammerheads, as well as silky sharks. Hammerheads seem to be quite bold in Saudi waters, and quite often make a point of changing direction to check out visiting divers. SR

Abu Mansi, Saudi Arabia

As we steam up back towards the Gulf of Aqaba and the conclusion of our extraordinary (if theoretical) voyage, we find ourselves in the Seven Sisters reef system, south of the town of Yanbu. The southern side is the best place to look for hammerheads, while the western side has resident manta rays. This is close to being the total Red Sea reef experience, and it’s a fitting climax to the trip. SR

DIVE RED SEA The Ultimate Guide by Simon Rogerson and John McIntyre, costs £20 and is available from all good bookshops or through Amazon via the DIVE website www.divemagazine.co.uk