Emperor Elite

South & St. Johns Itinerary - From Marsa Ghalib Port

This trip takes you to some of the best diving the Red Sea has to offer. Here the diving is less arduous so it's a trip for those who want to see the best but have a more relaxed time while doing so. Sailing to the southernmost reefs, you'll depart from Marsa Ghalib Port and dive the sites at Fury Shoals en-route to Rocky, Zabargad and the vast reef system of St Johns.

• When leaving Marsa Ghalib the route can sometimes take in a dive at Abu Dabab on the first or last day. Often spoilt for choice, your guides will pick sites that they know to be the best for the time of the year and can find excellent alternatives should the weather affect the normal route. Although the distances are long, where possible we travel overnight so, as a 21 plus route, our aim is to get as many dives in as possible at some of the most impressive reefs. Below are some of the highlights.
• On the way to Fury Shoals, dive Sha'ab Sharm with its wall dives and white tip reef sharks. Oceanic white tips and silky sharks can sometimes be found in the blue and turtles often visit the south side before heading further south. At Fury Shoals, dive Sha'ab Claude with its famous swim-throughs and huge porite corals. White tip reef sharks and an anemone and clownfish settlement can be seen a little off the reef to the South. Abu Galawa Soraya has a fantastic coral garden and a wreck of a private sailing boat populated with glass fish.
• Zabargad Island lies along the western margin of the Red Sea rift with walls abundant with soft coral and spectacular coral pinnacles. A 75m long, intact wreck known as the "Russian Wreck" and believed to be The Khanka, lies 24m in the western bay on the eastern side of the island provides an alternative to reef diving.
• Rocky Island, just 4 NM south of Zabargad, has a fringing reef, sheer walls covered with beautiful soft corals, gorgonias, fans, sponges and black coral trees and vast drop-offs into the deep circle the island. Constant currents flow all year long attracting visitors such as; hammerheads, grey reef and white tip reef sharks, remember to look out into the blue for manta rays, turtles and dolphins.
• St Johns is a vast collection of small reefs offering some of the most remote and rewarding diving in the Red Sea. This incredibly beautiful reef lies a short distance north of the Sudanese border. The reef covers a huge area and many dives would be needed to explore the numerous coral heads and islands. Habili Ali offers giant gorgonians and black corals whilst grey reef, silvertip and schools of hammerhead sharks might be found on the west side. Habili Gafaar is a mass of soft corals teaming with shoals of snappers, butterfly fish and barracudas. Mantas, grey reef and silvertip sharks can often be seen in the blue.
• Gota Kebir is a massive reef, famous for its tunnels and south plateau, where jacks and barracudas can be seen and the occasional manta. The tunnels are ideal for novice cave divers.
• Gota Soraya is rated as possibly one of the best wall dives in the Red Sea, with overhangs and cracks in the reef wall full of glass fish and sweepers and an abundance of corals, Grey Reef, Silvertips and Hammerhead sharks.
• On the last day as we head back to port, we will try to take in a dive or two on the world famous Elphinstone Reef if weather and diver experience permits us, or we will finish in the Abu Dabab area perhaps with another dive or two closer to Port Ghalib to relax and unwind before your final night in port.

"Get Wrecked!" Itinerary - From Hurghada

The Get Wrecked cruise combines the 'best of the best' of the most famous wrecks in the northern Red Sea along with some stunning reef diving. Leaving from Hurghada, we aim to dive all the wrecks in the area including:

• El Mina, an Egyptian mine sweeper lying just outside Hurghada's harbour; the Carnatic, the Chrisoula K ('tile wreck'), the Kimon M ('lentil wreck') and Giannis D at Abu Nuhas; at Gubal islands we dive the Barge, the Ulysses (sunk in 1887) and the Rosalie Moeller; next onto the Kingston (or Sarah H, sunk in 1881) lying at Shag Rock; and, of course, the Dunraven (sunk 1876) at Beacon Rock situated in the Ras Mohammed National Park, then finally the most famous wreck in the Red Sea, the Thistlegorm, which lies at Shaab Ali.
• These wrecks are spectacular and make fantastic material for the underwater photographer, being smothered in corals, especially the Carnatic, which sank in 1869. The famous SS Thistlegorm and the Rosalie Moller are World War II wrecks and one of the highlights of this cruise.
• The SS Thistlegorm was sunk in 1941 after being bombed by the German Luftwaffe while on a mission to deliver a cargo of ammunition and other war materials to the British troops in North Africa. The Rosalie Moeller, carrying a cargo of coal, suffered the same fate just two days later.
• In between wreck dives, you will also visit the reefs of the Straits of Gubal, Gulf of Suez and those to the north of Hurghada. A variety of deep walls and hard coral gardens with an abundance of reef fish make them well worth a visit.
• All wrecks are subject to divers' experience and weather conditions.

Safaga, Brothers & Elphinstone Itinerary - From Hurghada To Marsa Ghalib Or Marsa Ghalib To Hurghada

The area around Safaga has some great diving, the best being the offshore reefs of Panorama Reef, Middle Reef and Abu Kafan. Some divers say this area equals the great sites of Ras Mohamed. The diving offers a combination of shallow reef dives and drop-offs, as well as the famous wreck of the Salem Express.

• The Salem Express is a dramatic dive. Around 500 people perished in one of the worst marine tragedies of all times. The 100-meter ferryboat was on its way back from Mecca to Safaga after the annual Muslim pilgrimage in December 1991 when it hit the reef during a stormy night and sunk rapidly without giving the crew and passengers the chance to board the lifeboats. It is now home to a thriving underwater life, including a famous resident frogfish, blue-spotted stingrays, angel and butterfly fish. The ship itself is covered in a large quantity of hard and soft corals. It is one of the largest wrecks in the Egyptian Red Sea, roughly the same size as the Thistlegorm.
• There is superb wall diving at Panorama, on the south-east of the plateau is a gorgonian and glassfish corner with the whole plateau covered in soft corals and on the south side is an anemone city.
• Hal Hal (Middle Reef) is a rarely chosen dive site due to its distance from the coast, which makes it a virgin spot. The north side is a drop off going down to 80 meters and is a perfect location to spot tunas, barracudas, turtles and sharks. The southern side has colorful coral gardens along with some caves and canyons.
• Abu Kafan is a 300-meter long, narrow reef offering a plateau at both north and south tips. We normally jump in the water on the north plateau and glide with the frequent strong current southwards along the impressive walls covered with soft and black coral, giant fans and gorgonians.
• The Brother Islands are the pinnacles of two undersea mountains rising from the depths of the abyss and are located about 60 miles offshore. Part of the Marine Park Islands National Park, these islands offer stunning wall diving, with the walls being covered in soft corals and forests of gorgonians, creating a kaleidoscope of ever-changing colours.
• They attract a diverse array of marine species and large pelagics. Large tuna, jacks and snappers cruise in the blue, accompanied by occasional hammerheads, silvertips, silky and oceanic white tip sharks and mantas. Even the rare thresher shark can be found here. Sightings of the grey reef shark are almost guaranteed on the North and South Plateaux of Small Brother.
• Abu Dabab is six reefs commonly known as "Fathers Steps" or "Fathers Stepping Stones" and as the name suggests a set of fairly shallow reefs ranging from depths of 25 meters to the seafloor. In between Abu Dabab II and III at approximately 15 meters is the wreckage of a small ship sunk after a fire in 2004. The reefs themselves offer colorful coral gardens and an underwater cave system to explore. Pods of dolphins have been known to frequent the area as well as blue spotted rays, Napoleons, giant puffers, box fish, sweetlips, batfish, nudibranchs and more.
• Elphinstone is approximately 30km from Port Ghalib; Elphinstone reef is 300 meters long with sheer walls richly covered in colorful pink and red soft corals and elegant red gorgonians descending to around 40 meters. Other areas of the reef have near vertical cliffs, overhangs, small caves and drop-offs of up to 100 meters. Elphinstone is known to experience some strong currents attracting many diverse species such as barracuda, angel fish, groupers, Napoleons, morays, reef sharks and great shoals of dogtooth tuna and jacks. Occasional sightings include dolphins, turtles, oceanic white tip and hammerheads sharks.