Emperor Asmaa

South & St. Johns Itinerary - From Marsa Ghalib Port

• This trip takes you to some of the best diving the Red Sea has to offer. Here the diving is less arduous so it's a trip for those who want to see the best but have a more relaxed time while doing so. Sailing to the southernmost reefs, you'll depart from Marsa Ghalib Port and dive the sites at Fury Shoals en-route to Rocky, Zabargad and the vast reef system of St Johns.
• When leaving Marsa Ghalib the route can sometimes take in a dive at Abu Dabab on the first or last day. Often spoilt for choice, your guides will pick sites that they know to be the best for the time of the year and can find excellent alternatives should the weather affect the normal route. Although the distances are long, where possible we travel overnight so, as a 21 plus route, our aim is to get as many dives in as possible at some of the most impressive reefs. Below are some of the highlights.
• On the way to Fury Shoals, dive Sha'ab Sharm with its wall dives and white tip reef sharks. Oceanic white tips and silky sharks can sometimes be found in the blue and turtles often visit the south side before heading further south. At Fury Shoals, dive Sha'ab Claude with its famous swim-throughs and huge porite corals. White tip reef sharks and an anemone and clownfish settlement can be seen a little off the reef to the South. Abu Galawa Soraya has a fantastic coral garden and a wreck of a private sailing boat populated with glass fish.
• Zabargad Island lies along the western margin of the Red Sea rift with walls abundant with soft coral and spectacular coral pinnacles. A 75m long, intact wreck known as the "Russian Wreck" and believed to be The Khanka, lies 24m in the western bay on the eastern side of the island provides an alternative to reef diving.
• Rocky Island, just 4 NM south of Zabargad, has a fringing reef, sheer walls covered with beautiful soft corals, gorgonias, fans, sponges and black coral trees and vast drop-offs into the deep circle the island. Constant currents flow all year long attracting visitors such as; hammerheads, grey reef and white tip reef sharks, remember to look out into the blue for manta rays, turtles and dolphins.
• St Johns is a vast collection of small reefs offering some of the most remote and rewarding diving in the Red Sea. This incredibly beautiful reef lies a short distance north of the Sudanese border. The reef covers a huge area and many dives would be needed to explore the numerous coral heads and islands. Habili Ali offers giant gorgonians and black corals whilst grey reef, silvertip and schools of hammerhead sharks might be found on the west side. Habili Gafaar is a mass of soft corals teaming with shoals of snappers, butterfly fish and barracudas. Mantas, grey reef and silvertip sharks can often be seen in the blue.
• Gota Kebir is a massive reef, famous for its tunnels and south plateau, where jacks and barracudas can be seen and the occasional manta. The tunnels are ideal for novice cave divers.
• Gota Soraya is rated as possibly one of the best wall dives in the Red Sea, with overhangs and cracks in the reef wall full of glass fish and sweepers and an abundance of corals, Grey Reef, Silvertips and Hammerhead sharks.
• On the last day as we head back to port, we will try to take in a dive or two on the world famous Elphinstone Reef if weather and diver experience permits us, or we will finish in the Abu Dabab area perhaps with another dive or two closer to Port Ghalib to relax and unwind before your final night in port.

Reefs & Wrecks Itinerary - From Hurghada

This itinerary presents the best of both worlds, where you visit famous wrecks in the northern Red Sea along with some stunning reef diving.

The famous horseshoe-shaped reef of Shaab El Erg is a perfect example of the reefs on offer on this cruise with its beautiful hard coral garden and the chance to see dolphins.

• Abu Nuhas has four well-known wrecks: Giannis D, Carnatic, the Chrisoula K ('tile wreck') and the Kimon M ('lentil wreck'), all offering spectacular dives and plenty of fish life.
• In between wreck dives you will also visit the reefs of the Straits of Gubal, Gulf of Suez and those to the north of Hurghada. A variety of deep walls and hard coral gardens with an abundance of reef fish make them well worth a visit.
• Night dives can be superb as Gubal Island offers protected anchoring for the night. A small wreck at 8-10 meters makes for a spectacular night dive with lionfish, scorpion fish and its resident giant moray eel as well as the wreck of the Ulysses. Next onto the Kingston lying at Shag Rock, the Carina lying close to Sha'ab Ali and the Dunraven at Beacon Rock.
• Ras Mohamed lies on the southernmost tip of the Sinai and is one of the best kept National Parks in Egypt with waters full of nutrients, steep walls going down to a depth of 1000 meters attracting a large amount of big fish and earning itself a reputation as one of the top diving areas in the world. Whilst here, you may have the chance to dive at Shark Reef; a sheer wall falling into the blue, as well as the wreck of the Yolanda.
• Jackson Reef, locally named the 'Aquarium', is Tiran's most popular dive with the 'Jackson Drift' being Sharm's' fastest and most exhilarating drift dive past a stunning wall bursting with prolific coral growth. Occasionally, in the summer months, a school of scalloped hammerheads can be seen. Thomas Reef gives you plunging walls covered with soft coral, gorgonians and colorful fish life. The west wall is darker with overhangs and caves full of glassfish and sweepers. A night dive at Gordon Reef promises various species of coral, small nudibranchs hidden in the crevices and the soft corals and a chance to see white tip reef sharks, eagle rays, octopus and different types of eel such as moray, peppered and gold edged morays.
• Finally the most famous wreck in the Red Sea, the SS Thistlegorm, at Shaab Ali and including a night dive on Thistle. The Thistlegorm was sunk in 1941 after being bombed by the German Luftwaffe while on a mission to deliver a cargo of ammunition and other war materials to the British troops in North Africa.
• From here the boat heads back towards Hurghada.
• All dives sites are subject to divers' experience and weather conditions.

Safaga, Brothers & Elphinstone Itinerary - From Hurghada To Marsa Ghalib Or Marsa Ghalib To Hurghada

The area around Safaga has some great diving, the best being the offshore reefs of Panorama Reef, Middle Reef and Abu Kafan. Some divers say this area equals the great sites of Ras Mohamed. The diving offers a combination of shallow reef dives and drop-offs, as well as the famous wreck of the Salem Express.

• The Salem Express is a dramatic dive. Around 500 people perished in one of the worst marine tragedies of all times. The 100-meter ferryboat was on its way back from Mecca to Safaga after the annual Muslim pilgrimage in December 1991 when it hit the reef during a stormy night and sunk rapidly without giving the crew and passengers the chance to board the lifeboats. It is now home to a thriving underwater life, including a famous resident frogfish, blue-spotted stingrays, angel and butterfly fish. The ship itself is covered in a large quantity of hard and soft corals. It is one of the largest wrecks in the Egyptian Red Sea, roughly the same size as the Thistlegorm.
• There is superb wall diving at Panorama, on the south-east of the plateau is a gorgonian and glassfish corner with the whole plateau covered in soft corals and on the south side is an anemone city.
• Hal Hal (Middle Reef) is a rarely chosen dive site due to its distance from the coast, which makes it a virgin spot. The north side is a drop off going down to 80 meters and is a perfect location to spot tunas, barracudas, turtles and sharks. The southern side has colorful coral gardens along with some caves and canyons.
• Abu Kafan is a 300-meter long, narrow reef offering a plateau at both north and south tips. We normally jump in the water on the north plateau and glide with the frequent strong current southwards along the impressive walls covered with soft and black coral, giant fans and gorgonians.
• The Brother Islands are the pinnacles of two undersea mountains rising from the depths of the abyss and are located about 60 miles offshore. Part of the Marine Park Islands National Park, these islands offer stunning wall diving, with the walls being covered in soft corals and forests of gorgonians, creating a kaleidoscope of ever-changing colors.
• They attract a diverse array of marine species and large pelagics. Large tuna, jacks and snappers cruise in the blue, accompanied by occasional hammerheads, silvertips, silky and oceanic whitetip sharks and mantas. Even the rare thresher shark can be found here. Sightings of the grey reef shark are almost guaranteed on the North and South Plateaux of Small Brother.
• Abu Dabab is six reefs commonly known as "Fathers Steps" or "Fathers Stepping Stones" and as the name suggests a set of fairly shallow reefs ranging from depths of 25 meters to the seafloor. In between Abu Dabab II and III at approximately 15 meters is the wreckage of a small ship sunk after a fire in 2004. The reefs themselves offer colorful coral gardens and an underwater cave system to explore. Pods of dolphins have been known to frequent the area as well as blue spotted rays, Napoleons, giant puffers, box fish, sweetlips, batfish, nudibranchs and more.
• Elphinstone is approximately 30km from Port Ghalib; Elphinstone reef is 300 meters long with sheer walls richly covered in colorful pink and red soft corals and elegant red gorgonians descending to around 40 meters. Other areas of the reef have near vertical cliffs, overhangs, small caves and drop-offs of up to 100 meters. Elphinstone is known to experience some strong currents attracting many diverse species such as barracuda, angelfish, groupers, Napoleons, morays, reef sharks and great shoals of dogtooth tuna and jacks. Occasional sightings include dolphins, turtles, oceanic whitetip and hammerheads sharks.

Southern Sharks - From Marsa Ghalib

• Looking for some shark action? We know the best time to have the best chance to see those sharks in action! Explore the majestic southern Red Sea during the warm summer months of May to August with our much anticipated Southern Sharks itinerary offering flexibility and focus for 'action' dives. These months are best-known for the variety of sharks visiting some of the remote offshore reefs. But be prepared to change diving plans at the last minute because we go where the action is.
• Our guides select the best possible action sites to visit based on their immense local knowledge and on insider-data on recent activity including a variety of Red Sea sharks, dolphins and anything else that chooses to join the party.
• Some of the sites we might visit are St Johns, Rocky, Daedalus and Elphinstone. However, please remember that the focus of this trip is not about where we go but about what we want to see, sharks! And it's subject to weather conditions.
• As you may be visiting some of the remote offshore Red Sea reef systems many of these may have deep drop-offs and be exposed to strong currents so be prepared to spend some time waiting 'in the blue' or in the shallows looking for those unmistakable shapes and shadows.
• There are no guarantees in life but one thing is for sure, this itinerary will give you the best chance of close encounters of the 'sharky' kind.