DEPARTING FROM hamata

Experience Level: Aquarius requires that you are a PADI Open Water Diver, or equivalent, for this itinerary, with 16 logged dives. However, to get the most from the trip, Regaldive suggest you are certified to dive to 30 metres and be PADI Advanced qualified or equivalent. If you are not qualified to this level, you will be guided for 2 dives per day and a local cost will be paid €6 per dive. The PADI Advanced course can be completed whilst onboard but you will need to book in advance.

Discover some of the most beautiful southern Red Sea dive sites.

This exciting itinerary provides divers with a large variety of diving experiences, including caves, coral gardens, drop-offs, drift dives and wrecks.

After embarkation from Hamata divers will first visit Abu Galawa Reef, whose main attraction is a small wreck that is very rich in marine life, and ideal for a check dive or as a night dive on the return journey.

Sha'ab Sataya (also known as Dolphin House) is a huge 20km long reef. This exceptional dive site is home to a pod of over 100 dolphins, often divided into several smaller groups. Divers will have plenty of time to snorkel in the area.

Sha’ab Claudio is covered with caves, giving it a cathedral-like appearance. The light shining through the caves makes the site especially popular with photographers. Divers may encounter white tip sharks in the morning, as well as a huge Napoleon wrasse that is a resident of the area. The dive will finish at a coral garden lying at a depth of between 5-20m.

The boat will then pass the peninsula of Ras Banas, which surrounds the ancient port of Berenice, and will spend the night around the island of Sirnaka. A night dive on a wreck is poassible here.

St John's Reef is a huge reef located under the Berenice Peninsula and crossed by the Tropic of Cancer. This area offers a wealth of dive sites thanks to the many 'Habilis': a name given by locals to indicate reefs that reach the surface. Many of these stunning site are only accessible by liveaboard. The drop offs, covered with gorgonians and black corals, attract large pelagic species: gray and white tip sharks, thresher sharks and hammerheads. Schools of manta rays, in the presence of groupers and wrasses, offer are often encountered.

After 2-3 days at St John's the boat will travel to the extreme south of Egypt, to the border with Sudan.

Abu Fendira is a stunning site that is rarely visited. Rich with schools of fish, turtles, stingrays, lumphead parrot fish, clown fish, crocodile fish and stone fish.

Following Abu Fendira the boat will head back to Hamata via Sha'ab Sataya and Sha’ab Claudio for a final visit to the dolphins.

Please note: You are expected to be able to complete each dive with your buddy or following the guide. The guides may not enter the water and may remain onboard as surface support for some dives. As with all diving activities, the dive guide has the final decision regarding any divers competency to complete any particular dive. This is a sample itinerary and is subject to change without notice. The itinerary will depend on several factors including, but not limited to, weather, diving ability of guests & the number of other boats already present at the various dive sites.