Route Description - Brothers, Daedalus, Elphinstone (BDE)
This route is the Holy Trinity of the Red Sea.
BDE is an offshore national park and a must-see for any avid diver.
The area is known for all the different types of sharks, including tiger sharks, hammerheads, oceanic white tips, whale sharks, as well as threshers, silky and reef sharks.
These are exclusive dive sites with no daily boats in sight.
The area is home to some of the rarer species of the Red Sea.
Abu Dabbab
The reefs of Abu Dabbab are located nearby Elphinstone in the Marsa Allam area and offer beautiful coral gardens and swim through a canyon system. Here divers will also find a small shipwreck of a liveaboard from 2004. Depths reach up to 30-40 meters and currents may be strong.
Brother Islands
Both Brothers offer incredible wall diving, covered in soft corals and forests of gorgonians. The islands attract a wide variety of species including large tuna, jackfish and snappers, not to mention the hammerheads, oceanic white tips, silky sharks and mantas. Even the rare thresher shark is commonly spotted around these stunning islands.
There are two wrecks on the Big Brother; Aida, an Egyptian supply vessel, and the Numidia, a cargo ship that lies against the wall of the Big Brother. Both wrecks are covered in soft and hard corals.
Daedalus
Located 80km east of Marsa Allam, this isolated offshore reef offers some of the more impressive dives in the Red Sea. Less than a kilometre wide, the reef is adorned with coral walls and filled with a handsome variety of typical Red Sea species. Always remember to keep an eye in the blue where anything can be passing by; oceanic white tips, thresher sharks, mantas and reef sharks are often spotted there. Daedalus is especially known for scalloped hammerhead sharks, which during the summer months can be seen in large schools.
Also located on Daedalus reef is the Zealot, a loaded cargo ship from the late 1880s. Beginning at 75m and plunging deep down to 110m, this site is exclusive to advanced, technical divers.
Elphinstone
The Elphinstone reef is located 12km offshore and about 30km from Marsa Alam. Famous for drift dives, these take you along the wonderful deep walls, rich with coral. If you´re lucky you could come across oceanic white tips, hammerheads or reef sharks. With outstanding plateaus on both the north and south sides, you will need a minimum of three dives to fully explore this fantastic dive site.
Wadi El Gemal
A national park that is located south of Marsa Alam and north of Ras Banas, the marine area makes up 2100 square km and boasts coral reefs with hundreds of coral species and over a thousand species of marine life; islands in this area are breeding grounds for numerous species of birds. Notable reefs include Shaab Sharm, Habili El Ghadeer and Shaab Marsa Alam. Depths reach a maximum of 20m.