Daedalus & Fury Shoal

Daedalus Reef is a remote outpost of a reef, less than a kilometre wide and marked by a lighthouse, some 80 km offshore from Marsa Alam. Its isolation means it is not frequently visited and this, together with its marine park status, means its reefs are in mint condition and it’s one of the best scuba dives in the Red Sea. As with the comparable Brothers, strong currents tend to run from north to south along the steep walls of this outcrop and winds can cause surface swells and waves to lash the reef. However, the incredible action below the surface can make the challenging conditions seem all worth it.

Diving at the north point of Daedalus can be the toughest when strong currents are running since the currents tend to split here. But its these same conditions that almost gaurantee you some predator action, so find yourself an eddy in the currents, hide out and wait. Hammerhead sharks frequent the area, particularly in the summer months, as do other large pelagic fish such as trevally and tuna.

Due to the Earth’s rotation around the Sun (or is that the Sun around the Earth?!), its best to dive the eastern wall in the morning and the western wall in the afternoon. Again, both walls make drift dives to the southern point. Both walls are thickly overgrown with fans and soft corals but its the western wall that has more variety. A deep ledge at 30m provides homes for anemones and their hosts, endemic Red Sea dottybacks, moray eels and large pore hard coral formations. At the southern point of Daedalus Reef, keep an eye out for a special appearance from thresher sharks.

Elphinestone Reef The Reef of Elphinstone, a truly legendary reef, is one of the most beautiful reefs in the Red Sea, with its north and south plateau, and the walls covered with soft corals, black corals, wire corals and gorgonias. Hammerheads, oceanic whitetip sharks and grey reef sharks can also be spotted here.

Fury Shoals is in southern Egyptian part of the Red Sea and a Mecca for dolphins. Here are tons of beautiful reefs with thousands of colorful fishes. The biological diversity on corals, both hard and soft, is astonishing. Diving varies from easy to quite challenging depending where one dives such as Sha’ab Maksour with drop off and drift dives, Sha’ab Claudio with caves and his local Napoleon that greets our guests most of the time. Sha’ab Sharm offers a good observation point for viewing passing sharks.

Photogenic wrecks can be found at Abu Galawa and not to forget the main spot at the Fury Shoal, Sataya, the dolphin reef with it’s easy dives and snorkeling possibility.

Night dives and snorkeling are prohibited at Daedalus Island.