I was picked up in the morning from my hotel, the impeccable Sunrise Marina Resort in Port Ghalib, and a few minutes later was welcomed at the Emperor Divers dive centre on the far side of the marina. As this was a work trip rather than a diving trip, I hadn’t brought my dive gear. The Emperor team quickly and efficiently got me kitted out with excellent quality rental gear however, and we were on our way,

One thing that came flooding back to me as we ventured out onto the Red Sea was the colour of the water. I’ve been fortunate to dive many places, and there is nowhere else I’ve been where the colour of the water is quite the same majestic hue of turquoise. It brought a smile to my face before I’d even entered the water.

Many moons ago, when youth was on my side, I spent a season as the videographer for Emperor in Sharm el Sheikh, careering around underwater getting shots of the clients, their experiences, and the marine life they saw. This was my first opportunity both to dive the southern Red Sea, and also to be an Emperor customer. I must say both were a privilege.

With the chance for only one day’s diving on this trip, I was not expecting too much in terms of marine life encounters. The fact I was diving in early January, one of the cooler and quieter months in this area, also added to my relatively low expectations. How wrong I was.

We dropped in on our first dive and ambled along a fairly quiet patch of reef. This gave me a few welcome moments to get settled underwater and to get my bearings. We then came across a wonderful pinnacle dripping in life and colour. Healthy soft corals reached out into the blue to catch the current, and a vibrant community of marine life called the pinnacle home. As is common in the Red Sea, the picture was made perfect by the carpet of fluttering orange adoring the reef, as anthias constantly jostled for position. There are few places in the world with the kaleidoscopic colours of the Red Sea, and we are so fortunate to have it almost on our doorstep.

As we crossed from the first pinnacle to another, the dive just got better. First, a green turtle of impressive size swam serenely past, almost oblivious to the group of divers admiring her beauty and grace. Shortly after, a small school of five or six eagle rays glided past to add to the sense of glee. These were smaller eagle rays, not the juveniles sometimes found in sheltered bays, but not adults either; possibly young teenagers, making their way in the world. Another gorgeous pinnacle ended a perfect first dive.

I’d have been more than happy with my lot from just that dive. It was well worth the chill that greets recently surfaced divers at this time of year as they struggle, unglamorous, out of their neoprene. The surface interval brought more delights, and a first for me. This area of the Red Sea is known for a small population of rare dugongs. These unusual animals, who some attribute to the legend of mermaids, spend their days munching on the plentiful seagrass. The dugong is rather unlike any other animal bar their close cousin, the manatee; and they had been on my wishlist for many years. The chance to see one while snorkelling, however fleetingly, added to the magic of my morning.

A second dive brought more turtle encounters, bringing an end to a perfect day, and one that I’ll cherish for many years to come. My thanks go to Seamus, Paul, Hamada, and the entire Emperor team in Port Ghalib for such a fantastic day.

Emperor Divers are one of the longest running and most experienced dive operators in the Red Sea. They have gained a well-deserved reputation for both professionalism and excellent customer service. Based in the Marina Lodge in Port Ghalib, a short distance from Marsa Alam airport, Emperor Divers made the ideal base to explore the diving in this area.

If you’d like to discover the underwater treasures of Marsa Alam for yourself, contact Regaldive for a quotation.  

Emperor Divers operate another dive centre in El Gouna, along with a number of liveaboards as well. Contact our friendly team on 01353 659999 for full details of the diving opportunities on offer with Regaldive and Emperor Divers

Lynne, the lucky winner of our terrific 7 night All-Inclusive Regaldive holiday at the Sunrise Marina Resort Port Ghalib is back in the UK and keen to share her wonderful experience with her fellow Regaldivers:

"To win a diving holiday with Regaldive was such a surprise, what an amazing Christmas present!  We've been diving in Egypt before so knew a little of what to expect, but this was our first time to Port Ghalib and it was great to experience somewhere new.

The booking process was really easy and before we knew it we were landing at the airport where we were swiftly driven the short 10 minute transfer the hotel by Ramadan, our Regaldive representative.  Ramadan was amazing and through his (extensive!) contacts at the hotel, managed to get us not just a room upgrade to a sea-view suite, but also full VIP wrist bands!

The Sunrise Marina Resort is a lovely hotel based right next to the marina edge, with a souk market and bars to explore.  Our suite was gigantic!  The all-inclusive food buffet always had an amazing selection of food, both Arabian and European, and we were blown away by the wonderful Egyptian hospitability.

We were diving with Emperor Divers, just across the marina.  After a very professional briefing, we enjoyed five days of excellent local diving on the reefs around Port Ghalib, and taking relaxing surface intervals in the Egyptian sunshine.  The locals all thought it was very cold and wintery, but we were basking in the 25 degree warmth and sunshine like we hadn’t seen blue sky in months!  (Which was true).

We dived every day on the house reefs, short boat rides away from the base in Port Ghalib.  The variety of fish and sea life and corals was stunning.  They even have a resident Dugong which we were lucky enough to dive with!  One day we tried to go to Elphinstone but the waves were too choppy for the journey, which was actually incredibly lucky as instead we dived my favourite dive of the holiday… we found seven turtles on one dive!  

I run a blog about reducing plastic waste (www.theplasticsoup.com) and I was determined to do my bit in the fight against plastic in the ocean by doing every dive as a Dive Against Debris for Project AWARE.  We were actually really impressed with the reefs that we dived – they are obviously well looked after!  On the first four days we only found one or two pieces of plastic we could safely remove.  Interestingly, on the last day of diving we were near an inlet where a river flowed into the sea.  Here we did find a lot of plastic being washed into the sea, and during one surface interval I managed to collect over 30 pieces of plastic from the surface alone.  It was mainly plastic bags, packaging, bottles and little water cups.  It was really interesting to see how concentrated the plastic was in one small area.

On our last day we didn’t dive, and enjoyed the beach and snorkelling on the beautiful house reef at the marina.  Our brilliant rep Ramadan had arranged an excursion for us to visit a Bedouin village in the desert, complete with a camel ride.  It was the perfect way to end a fantastic Egyptian holiday, thank you so much for everything Regaldive! 

Lynne Medlock"

Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback, Lynne. All of us at Regaldive are delighted you both had such a great time. Please call us when you are planning your next diving trip.

Our Speechless winner...

London-based Lynne and her partner, both passionate divers, are all set to enjoy a wonderful 7 night All-Inclusive Regaldive holiday at the Sunrise Marina Resort Port Ghalib. Their incredible prize includes hand-picked return flights to Marsa Alam, resort transfers and Red Sea diving with Emperor Divers.

What’s more, advance diver Lynne also receives a haul of high-end dive gear from Mike’s Dive Store. The combined value of this incredible prize is a staggering £3,500! We can’t imagine a better way to dive into the New Year than with a diving adventure to the Red Sea.

On hearing the news that she had been picked at random Lynne was happy and speechless. She is hoping to use this unexpected opportunity to travel to Egypt to realise her dream of diving Elphinstone Reef, as an add-on excursion with Emperor Divers.

“Thank you so much Regaldive! This will be our first trip to Marsa Alarm, so we're very excited to be travelling there with you.

"The combined prize really is perfect for me as I have most of my dive kit already, but was just missing the regulators and dry suit... so it's such a super coincidence that those were the prizes from Mike’s!” 

Lynne has promised to share memories of her surprise Regaldive holiday with all of us on her return from Egypt, in a Special Trip Report for the Regaldive blog. Watch this space for her winner’s write- up…

Finally, warmest congratulations to you, Lynne, on behalf of Regaldive and Mike’s Dive Store on your prize – we're all wishing you the most wonderful Red Sea diving holiday !

Situated 22km south of Safaga, Coral Sun Beach Resort is a spacious hotel with plenty of amenities located on the southern end of a long sandy beach by the beautiful Gassous Bay. The resort provides a relaxing stay with superb views over the bay and to the western mountains. Gassous Bay offers a fabulous house reef; ideal for both divers and snorkelers.

Coral Sun Beach has 110 well-designed, comfortable and spacious rooms, spread over three floors. All rooms offer air conditioning, a mini-bar, satellite TV, hairdryer and safe. Room options include Garden View, Sea & Pool View and Sea View.

Safaga offers some exceptional diving and is still relatively undiscovered.  Tucked in just south of Hurghada, most diving is conducted by boat to reach the spectacular offshore reefs and wall dives of sites like Panorama Reef, Middle Reef and Abu Kafan.

Despite the area’s reputation for exciting wall diving, Safaga is also a good choice for novice divers. Several reefs are situated just 30 minutes boat ride away and offer several sheltered spots ideal for beginners.

As divers head further away from the coast, Safaga offers more challenging and breath-taking sites where the diving is concentrated primarily on three areas: Panorama Reef, Middle Reef and Abu Kafan, or ‘the deep one’.  Abu Kafan is probably the most spectacular dive site in Safaga with stunning, sheer walls plummeting towards the seafloor hundreds of metres below.

Wreck enthusiasts are often drawn to Safaga to visit the Salem Express, an Egyptian passenger ferry that sank on its return journey from Mecca in 1991. This is a stunning site, but a dive that is generally considered one for reflection, rather than pleasure.

To find out more, please call our friendly team on 01353 659999, or send us an email.