Safaga

SAFAGA DIVE SITE

ALL SAFAGA DIVE SITE

LOCAL DIVE

ALIVEABOARD DIVING TRIP

• The industrial port of Safaga lies around one hour’s drive south of Hurghada. The town is largely undeveloped, although it is well known as the main terminal for ferries to Saudi Arabia, which means that thousands of pilgrims descend on its shores as they make their way to and from Mecca during the Haj.

• A handful of dive centres service the Safaga dive sites, which are also popular with safari boats stopping on their way to and from the southern Red Sea. Consequently, the area surrounding Safaga is still relatively undiscovered and a reminder of just how exceptional diving in the Red Sea can be when development and diver numbers are limited by either nature or design.

• Most of the area’s best diving is at the spectacular offshore reefs and wall dive sites of Panorama, Middle Reef and Abu Kifan. Luxuriant corals cover walls that plummet hundreds of metres down to the seafloor. Stunning landscapes formed by hard corals offer dives amongst underwater labyrinths. Marine life is plentiful with everything from the tiniest nudibranch, to vast quantities of reef fish, barracuda and reef sharks to encounter.

• The wind and the currents can be awesome here, which also makes Safaga one of the most popular windsurfing and kite surfing destinations in Egypt. For divers, this means that some of the more exhilarating sites are off the menu much of the time. Fortunately, Safaga also offers a wealth of nearby sheltered reefs and shallow coral gardens that are just perfect for novice divers and changeable weather.

• Safaga also offers the controversial wreck

• of the Salem Express, an Egyptian e passenger ferry that sank in 1991 on its e return journey packed with pilgrims from U Mecca. The loss of so many lives on board t makes this one of the greatest Egyptian

marine tragedies of all time.