Route Description - Daedalus, Zabargad & Rocky Island
Best of the Red Sea is exactly what it promises. This liveaboard showcases the finest diving experiences the Red Sea has to offer, including iconic dive sites such as Elphinstone, Daedalus, Rocky Island, and Zabargad Island.
•Daedalus Reef
Located over 180 km south of the Brother Islands, this vast reef is surrounded by dramatic drop-off walls and strong currents. The hard corals have grown to enormous sizes, and divers have an excellent chance of encountering the famous school of hammerhead sharks in the northeast region of the reef.
•Zabargad
This premier dive destination is known for its incredible diversity. Divers can explore steep walls, glide over drop-offs, enjoy the sensation of open water along the edges, navigate coral towers in the protected shallows, and investigate inlets teeming with marine life. On the north side lies an unnamed 70-meter-long wreck resting at 24 meters deep. Its stern is remarkably intact, featuring visible stairs, railings, davits, portholes, hatches, and the bridge—creating a picture-perfect wreck dive.
•Rocky Island
A legendary dive site that excites even the most experienced divers. Surrounded by a fringing reef, this small and exposed island supports vibrant marine life. Its walls are adorned with colorful soft corals, gorgonians, sponges, and black and fan corals. Frequent sightings include reef sharks—especially gray and silvertip sharks—and occasionally manta rays and dolphins.
•Elphinstone Reef
Also known as Sha’ab Abu Hamra, Elphinstone lies about 20 km from Marsa Alam and stretches no longer than 300 meters. Its steep walls plunge well over 100 meters, making it ideal for drift diving. The site is famous for encounters with whitetip reef sharks, hammerheads, gray reef sharks, thresher sharks, and the iconic Longimanus (oceanic whitetip shark).
The north is blanketed in soft corals, while the southern end features an archway at 65 meters—perfect for technical divers. Marine life includes barracudas, angelfish, anthias, groupers, moray eels, and schools of sweetlips.
The east face forms a sheer cliff, while the west is more sloped and sandy, offering abundant soft corals, sponges, gorgonians, and giant whip corals.
Night diving and snorkeling are only allowed in select areas of this route, as marine park regulations prohibit them in others.
The exact route and dive sites visited are dependent on weather conditions and the diving experience of the guests.