Review Diving in Marsa Alam

Marsa Alam is located in the south of Egypt, along the Red Sea, near the border with Sudan. This former fishermen’s village has now nearly 6000 inhabitants and turned into a lovely seaside touristic destination, ideal for a diving trip with the opening of an international airport in 2003. Marsa Alam has, however, managed to keep its charm with an intelligent mix between old ruins and modern infrastructures consisting of hotels, shops and dive shops. This village also has the peculiarity and the advantage of being much less popular with tourists, that why it is still a hidden heaven. Around town, divers will find, in the turquoise waters of the Red Sea, a whole range of protected reefs and spectacular drop offs. During your diving holiday, you can explore a large sample of diving spots, mostly accessible from the shore. The best dive site is probably: Abu Dabab, which is the residence of two dugongs, giant turtles, guitar sharks, pygmy seahorses, and ghost fish. The offshore reefs of Sha’ab Abu Dabab Marsa Alam Sha’ab, Sha’ab Samadai and Elphinstone Reef diving site are considered by many as the best dive sites of Egypt. To swim with dolphins, Dolphin Reef spot is only accessible to snorkelers.

Best time to go diving in the red sea?

For a diving trip, the best time to travel to Marsa Alam lasts 8 months, from March to November.

Scuba diving conditions

Visibility is excellent in waters near Marsa Alam from 25 to 40 meters in general.

The currents are low along the coast but can be strong when further from the coast.

Difficulty: If you are a beginner, Marsa Alam has all it takes to start diving in ideal conditions. In addition, from your first immersions, you should be able to see many extraordinary species. More experienced divers will go on and move to more remote dive sites just as fabulous but representing a greater challenge.
The water temperature ranges from 20 ° to 29 ° during the months of July and August.

Diving cruise in Egypt

Enjoy your dive stay at MARSA ALAM by booking a diving cruise. To discover a wide choice of cruises, we invite you to visit the website of our partner liveaboard. You will have the chance to see different species such as barracuda, seahorse, dolphins or Napoleon and many others. And discover throughout your cruise different diving spots, for some accessible only in cruise. You can book your next dive cruise in Egypt by booking on liveaboard. You will be able thanks to our partner to dive in Abu Nuhas known for its numerous wrecks or Fury Shoals sheltering the most beautiful reefs of the Red Sea.

What to see ?

Marine mammals, pelagic and macro photography

Marsa Alam is an ideal diving destination to observe hundreds of different species of fish, of invertebrates and of crustaceans flying on colorful coral reefs, steep drop-offs or seagrass. Divers are particularly fond of interactions with dolphins, dugongs, giant turtles and napoleon fish present in large numbers in the region. Other pelagic species are also very interesting for divers such as sharks, barracuda and giant trevally. Macro photographers will, instead, prefer to take great shots of nudibranchs, leaf fish and pygmy seahorses.