Scuba Diving in Egypt: Learning to Dive and Choosing Where to Go

Is Egypt good for scuba diving?

Yes: the Egyptian Red Sea is one of the world's great dive destinations, combining warm water, visibility that often exceeds 20 metres, healthy hard and soft coral, famous wrecks and pelagic sharks. For Australians used to the Great Barrier Reef, the difference is access. Reefs start metres from the shore, so you can do easy shore dives from your hotel, and the dive industry is large, competitive and well equipped.

The Red Sea is also a sea of contrasts. The north, around the Strait of Gubal and Sharm el-Sheikh, is known for wrecks and coral walls. The south, from Marsa Alam towards the Sudanese border, has fewer divers, isolated offshore reefs and the best chance of sharks, dolphins and turtles. Choosing well means matching a region to your certification and interests, which is what this guide is for. If you want to spend a week at sea, our Red Sea liveaboards guide covers the routes; for staying on the surface, see our guide to snorkelling in the Red Sea.

Can you learn to dive in Egypt?

Yes, and it is an excellent place to do it: calm, warm, shallow training sites, reef on the doorstep and instructors who teach year-round. The main agencies are PADI and SSI, and certifications are recognised worldwide, including by Australian dive shops.

• Try-dive: a Discover Scuba Diving or Try Scuba session takes half a day: a briefing, skills in shallow water and a guided dive to a maximum of about 12 metres. It is the best way to find out whether you like it before committing.
• Open Water Diver: the entry-level certification, qualifying you to dive to 18 metres with a buddy. It usually takes 3–4 days, including confined-water sessions and four open-water dives.
• Do the theory at home: both agencies offer online theory you can complete in Australia or New Zealand before you fly, so your holiday days are spent in the water rather than the classroom. Some divers also do their pool sessions with a local dive shop and finish with referral dives in Egypt; check the referral is accepted before you book.
• Advanced Open Water: two more days of five adventure dives, including a deep dive to 30 metres. Worth doing if you want the Thistlegorm or offshore reefs.

Junior Open Water is open to children from 10, with depth limits. Dahab and the bays of Sharm el-Sheikh and Marsa Alam are the easiest learning environments because training happens from the shore. In Hurghada most training dives are from a boat, which is fine but adds travel time and swell.

Which region should you dive?

Learners and relaxed divers do best in Dahab, Sharm el-Sheikh or Marsa Alam; wreck enthusiasts base themselves in Hurghada or Sharm; experienced divers chasing sharks head for Marsa Alam and the offshore reefs.

Sharm's day boats reach the SS Thistlegorm, the Second World War cargo ship that is Egypt's best-known wreck; our Thistlegorm guide explains who can dive it. The Salem Express off Safaga, a passenger ferry, sank in 1991 with heavy loss of life and is treated by many divers as a memorial; some prefer not to dive it. In the south, Elphinstone Reef is famous for oceanic whitetip sharks and strong currents, so it is for Advanced divers with experience.

Travel advice for parts of Sinai differs from the rest of Egypt and changes over time, so check Smartraveller before choosing Sharm or Dahab.

Shore dives, day boats or a liveaboard?

Shore diving and day boats suit most holidaymakers because you sleep in a hotel and can mix diving with a non-diving partner; liveaboards suit committed divers who want remote reefs. A typical day-boat programme is two dives with lunch on board, back by mid-afternoon. Shore diving in Dahab or Marsa Alam is cheaper and more flexible: you can dive at dawn, at dusk or at night with a guide.

A liveaboard puts you at sea for a week with three or four dives a day and reaches sites like the Brothers and Daedalus that day boats cannot. It is wonderful if diving is the whole point, less so if you are travelling with non-divers or prone to seasickness. Many of our travellers combine both: four or five nights in a Marsa Alam dive resort after the Nile, or a liveaboard as a separate week. Our Red Sea diving holiday pairs Cairo with a land-based diving stay.

When is the best time to dive the Red Sea?

You can dive year-round; September to November is the favourite period, with the warmest water, calmer seas and the best shark action in the south.

• December to March: water about 21–23°C, so a 5 mm wetsuit and hood suit most people. Visibility is excellent, but strong northerly winds cancel more boat days, especially offshore.
• April to June: water warming through 23–26°C, generally good conditions and fewer crowds.
• July to August: water at its warmest, 27–29°C, but air temperatures of 35°C or more and European holiday crowds in Hurghada and Sharm.
• September to November: warm water, oceanic whitetip sharks most often reported at Elphinstone and the offshore reefs in autumn, and comfortable air.

Because the seasons are reversed, Australian school holidays in December and January land in the cool-water season. It is still very good diving; pack or rent a thicker suit.

Medicals, insurance and flying after diving

Everyone completes a diver medical questionnaire before training, and a "yes" to any question means you need a doctor's sign-off, which is far easier to get at home before you fly. Conditions such as asthma, diabetes, heart problems, recent surgery and some medications commonly trigger it. Download the current form from your training agency and see a GP, ideally one with dive-medicine experience, a few weeks before departure.

• Insurance: many standard travel policies exclude scuba or limit depth. Check that yours covers recreational diving to your certified depth, hyperbaric treatment and evacuation, or buy specialist dive cover. Our travel insurance guide lists what to ask.
• Chambers: recompression chambers operate in the main dive areas, including Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh; reputable centres know where the nearest is and carry oxygen on every boat.
• Flying: widely used guidelines suggest at least 12 hours before flying after a single no-decompression dive and at least 18 hours after multiple dives or multiple days of diving. Most centres advise 24 hours, so plan a dry final day before your domestic flight to Cairo or the long haul home.

How to choose a dive centre

Pick on safety, group size and equipment, not price: the Red Sea has excellent dive centres and some that cut corners. Questions worth asking:

• Which agency are they affiliated with, and can you see the instructor's credentials?
• How many divers per guide? Four to six is good; ten is too many for learners.
• Is equipment serviced and are regulators fitted with alternate air sources and pressure gauges? Is a dive computer included or available to hire?
• Is oxygen and a first-aid kit on every boat, and do the crew give a full site briefing?
• Do they require surface marker buoys on offshore sites, and teach you to use one?

Indicative market ranges at the time of writing: a try-dive roughly AUD 90–180, an Open Water course roughly AUD 550–900 including materials, and a two-dive boat day roughly AUD 100–180 plus park fees. Prices vary by region and season, so treat these as a guide only. When we build a Red Sea stay into your itinerary, we can match you with a centre that suits your level and book the course before you land.