Dolphin & Shark (Daedalus-Fury Shoal-Elphinstone)
Dolphins and Sharks
(Daedalus-Fury Shoal-Elphinistone)
Sunday: departure from Port Ghalib for the day of readaptation.
Monday : Deadalus is situated 100 miles south of the Brother Island and is not really an island. In fact it is a huge circular reef with a lighthouse in its centre which hosts a group of soldiers like at The Brothers. A large bridge reunites this area built in the southwest part of the edge of the reef where the boats come to moor. A stunning excursion when soldiers permit it, is a visit to the top of the lighthouse where the panoramic view is unique !
The possibilities to dive are numerous because of the size of the reef. The northern part is often chosen when the weather conditions allow it, for the first dive at dawn, and is an ideal area for large gatherings. Grey sharks and white tip reef sharks, schools of hammerheads, big trevally and barracudas. Manta rays and eagle rays are part of the visitors of this area. There is also a wreck located north of the reef, but unfortunately off limits to dive without special blends. The peculiarities of the drop offs on the west, besides the beautiful and soft black corals, are a huge colony of sea anemones with their clownfish in the more shallow area of the drop off, a place that is also nice for snorkelling. The wall on the east side consisting of madreporic formations is also a place where all types of gatherings are possible. Near the bridge the coral “pyramid” is lying, coral formations attached to the drop off at a depth of 8 metres that are rising to the surface
Tuesday : Daedalus (Shark)
Wednesday: Fury Shoal ((maksour-sataya dolphin house-malahi)
2 dives in Maksour which is a similar plateau but bigger than Elphinstone. You can do 2 dives there. One on leaving from the north by dinghy towards the south either east or west depending on the currents, depth 20/25 m and for the dive in the south you will find a good number of wet corals, well-loved by turtles. It is highly likely that they will be there waiting for you. Two fine pinnacles richly decorated will help you to pass your security stop.
Shaab Claudio is one of the largest caves in the shape of a cathedral (maximum 9 metres depth) and offering a magical play of lights. It is not uncommon to encounter small white-tip sharks along the tunnel and very often a large napoleon fish wandering around under the boat. There, once again, we will finish the dive in a coral garden going from 5m to 20 m deep.
Sataya is a large reef over 2 kilometres long. In the summer the temperature of the water is more than 33 degrees in the lagoon.
This site is home to a colony of more than a hundred long beaked dolphins (Stenella longirostris) often categorised into several groups. Depending on the time of year, baby dolphins can be observed performing with their parents. It is possible to get close to these magnificent sea mammals while snorkelling. We will end the dive in a superb coral garden from 5/8 metres of depth and beautiful schools of red sea bannerfish, red mullet, carynx and napoleon fish
Departure for Wadi Gimal to spend the night there.
Thursday: Fury Shoal et wadi el gimal (Claudia cave-abu galawa-shiriniat)
Wadi Gimal
There are more than 10 dive sites on this protected reef. The dive on this reef is strongly dependent on optimal weather conditions (winds, currents, visibility) Rich in marine life (turtles, napoleon fish, carynx, tuna barracudas and soft and hard corals as well as large tables. These easy dives are perfect examples of what can be seen in the Red Sea.
Shaab Sharm
This is a mountainous reef, 700 m long with plateaus at each end at a depth of 30 m. The reef’s main feature is a number of different types of soft and hard corals.
You will discover a large amount of table coral
As well as large tuna fish and schools of barracudas. Some white tip sharks and napoleon fish of all ages and sizes
Friday:
Elphinstone is made up of two north and south plateaus. At the tip of the reef hammerhead sharks pass by frequently, whilst diving down at this point, you will be watched by a school of barracuda.
When drifting towards the east coast, big tuna fish will be visible in the blue. Keep an eye on the reef because the pipefish (family of seahorses) and sea cucumbers will be guests there.
The second dive on the southern plateau will give you the opportunity to meet the large carynx and napoleon fish and the highlight, the great-sized longimanus. You can even see them from the boat because they swim in shallow waters
The arrival in Marsa Alam will take place on Friday afternoon. Dinner and overnight stay in Marsa Alam. The disembarkment is planned after breakfast around 9.00 am on the Saturday. For technical reasons, the last night from Friday to Saturday can be spent in the hotel. Should the departure take place from Marsa Alam, a dive will take place in Shouna before the Elphinstone site.
The itinerary and the dive sites given below are given as a guide. The number of interesting and varied dive sites is so vast that we are unable to state all the options. The captain and the diving instructors will suggest the best options for this area depending on the weather conditions (wind sea swell, currents, visibility and air times.