Deep South Red Sea safari

Two routes into the far south, where few boats go.

The Deep South safari runs on two routes. Ask us which one is planned for your dates.

The St. John's route goes to the last reefs before the Sudanese border. St. John's is not a single reef but a group of about ten remote reefs, with walls dropping into deep blue water, pinnacles rising from the sand, and caves lit by sunlight from above. On the way the boat dives Elphinstone and Shaab Sharm off Marsa Alam and the sheltered reefs of Fury Shoals, where spinner dolphins rest in the Sataya lagoon. The day by day plan below is for this route.

The Brothers, Daedalus and Elphinstone route goes to the offshore reefs in open sea: the two Brothers Islands, Daedalus Reef with its lighthouse, and Elphinstone Reef. These are reefs for walls, currents and big fish.

On both routes you can expect grey reef sharks and oceanic whitetips, hammerheads in season, barracuda, tuna and eagle rays along the walls, and turtles, Napoleon wrasse and moray eels on the reef. Sightings are never guaranteed.

The route is a plan, not a promise. Many of these reefs sit in open sea with no shelter, so they can only be dived in calm weather. When the sea does not allow it, the captain uses sheltered reefs instead. The calmest months are in spring and autumn.

1. 01St. John's reefs
2. 02Habili Ali
3. 03Umm Khararim (Cave Reef)
4. 04Gota Kebir
5. 05Fury Shoals
6. 06Sataya (Dolphin Reef)
7. 07Brothers Islands
8. 08Daedalus Reef
9. 09Elphinstone Reef