Diving the Red Sea

A world as interesting as the temples and tombs on land exists beneath the surface of the Red Sea. Both the northern and southern Red Sea areas offer excellent diving chances, with the former offering amazing wrecks such as the world-famous SS Thistlegorm, and the latter, which includes the islands of Big Brother, Little Brother, and Daedalus, offering dramatic encounters with manta rays and various shark species.

Scuba divers go to the Red Sea's coral reefs for both the soft corals and the variety of sea life, which includes everything from colorful reef fish and nudibranchs to sharks, dolphins, turtles, rays, and even dugongs. The most well-known town for divers is Sharm el-Sheikh, which is located on the Sinai Peninsula and is closest to the reefs of Ras Mohammed National Park as well as the reefs of the Straits of Tiran. Advanced divers should head to Marsa Alam, the closest base for diving Egypt's "deep south" dive sites. In addition to fish and coral, the Red Sea is a popular wreck-diving location.