Elphinstone reef – the most tremendous diving in Egypt!

Have you ever heard about one of the best dive sites in the world called Shaab Abu Hamra, commonly known as Elphinstone reef? This reef is one of a kind in terms of size, topography and the marine life you can encounter!

The diving in Egypt is famous worldwide. In fact, the Red Sea offers amazing diving conditions throughout the year. It is the home of 1200 species of fish, 200 of corals, 175 species of nudibranch and 44 species of sharks. This makes it one of the top diving destinations of the planet!!! And if you are a wreck lover, then this is the place for you. There are more than 100 recorded wrecks in the whole Red Sea! You can read all about our royal adventures in Egypt here.

But if you had to pick one dive site in the Red Sea that has it all, then it would have to be Elphinstone. So let’s have an overview of this mind-blowing dive site.

 

What is the topography like?

Elphinstone reef is a 350-meter long and 20 to 40 meters wide standalone off-shore reef with drop-offs descending to over 100 meters on each side. The closest city is Marsa Alam, in the south east of Egypt. It has the shape of a cruise ship and is made of 3 distinct parts.

Before arriving on site, you can see a long line of water hitting the top reef from far. That first part is about 100m long and represents only a third of the dive site. It is 1 to 2 meters deep.

In the north, there is a is 140 meters long plateau with different depths between 20 and 50 meters.

On the other tip, the southern plateau lies at 25 to 45 meters depth. 

On the Eastern and Western parts of Elphinstone reef, the long and steep walls fall to the very deep and are completely covered by corals and thousands of small fish.

 

What marine life can you see at Elphinstone reef?

The walls and plateaus are full of blooming soft and hard corals. You will be blown away by so many gorgonians, whip corals, sponges and various bright-coloured dendronephthya everywhere.

With the great visibility and perfect weather, as it is common in the south of Egypt, the beauty of Elphinstone reef will strike you immediately and will be engraved in your memory forever!

Many tropical species inhabit the reef. You can find the endemic Red Sea anemonefish, thousands of anthias and redtooth triggerfish, schooling snappers and jacks. Hawksbill turtles, hunting giant trevallies, dogtooth tunas and great barracudas are also a common sight.

Depending on the time of the year you can bump into rare species. From October to December, oceanic white tip sharks (Carcharhinus longimanus) surrounded by pilot fish roam around the southern plateau at a shallow depth, which is a great sight when you end a dive and do your safety stop. 

Bottlenose dolphins, manta rays and hammerhead sharks can be spotted passing by in the blue off the northern plateau. 

Other species of sharks have been seen in Elphinstone reef too. You can encounter whale sharks, tiger sharks, silvertip, blacktip and grey reef sharks. Will you be lucky enough to see one of them?

 

What are the average diving conditions?

You will usually experience a strong current at Elphinstone reef, sometimes even a very strong one.

January is the coldest month with a water temperature around 20°C. The summer months (July, August and September) are the hottest, with 30°C.

You can dive all year round. However, if the wind is too beefy, trips to Elphinstone can be canceled. The high surf just makes the trip a nightmare…

The visibility there is spectacular with at least 20, going up to 40 meters! It is so awesome to be diving in an aquarium 😉

 

How does a dive at Elphinstone reef look like?

If you dive in the morning, it is highly recommended to dive on the Eastern wall to get more direct sunlight underwater. However, if you dive there in the afternoon, choose the Western wall to have a lot more natural light. 

Usually the current hits the reef at the Northern tip, so depending on its force, you can easily start North and drift to the Southern plateau and end the dive with the so sought after Longimanus.

You have to keep in mind, that it can get very crowded underwater. Liveaboards and all the dive centers in the area offer this amazing trip. It is not surprising, since people from all over the world want to dive with oceanic white tip sharks. A dive site like Elphinstone reef, where you can see the longimanus daily over the priod of a few months time is very rare. So don’t be disappointed if you are not alone during your dive.

 

Is diving at Elphinstone reef dangerous? 

Diving with oceanic white tip sharks, which everyone calls longimanus, in Egypt is probably the first attraction at Elphinstone reef. This species of sharks, however, is one of the very few that could be dangerous for divers. (with the great white shark and the bull shark in particular) The longimanus is a curious shark, which often swims very close to divers and surrounds them. The potential risk for divers is not underwater but once they are at the surface. 

 

The longimanus is known to attack people at that moment. The extremely experienced guides of Red Sea Diving Safari know perfectly well the behavior of this species of sharks. They will brief you accordingly and adapt the dive depending on the sharks comportment. For safety reasons, the guides will send divers one by one to the surface once the safety stop is finished. In that way you avoid waiting too long to get pulled into the boat.

Also be very careful if you experience a strong current. Follow your guide, stick on the reef and maintain a proper buoyancy.

 

Why is the reef called Elphinstone?

The origin of the name is quite abstract. After doing some research, talking to locals and dive operations in the area, two different theories come out. The name Elphinstone was common in the XVIII and XIX in Great Britain.

First theory, it was named after the British Adminaral Georges Keith Elphinstone. He served during the Napoleonic Wars and tried to recover Egypt from the French at the very beginning of the XIX century.

The second theory, and most probably the most accurate one, would come from Commander Moresby, who made the statismetric survey of this coastline in 1830 from which today modern chart originates. He named it after John Elphinstone, 12th Lord Elphinstone, soon to be the last governor of Bombay when it was ruled by the East India Company. The Red Sea was still an important part of the route to India long before the Suez Canal was opened.

 

How to get there from Marsa Alam?

Elphinstone reef is located 30km north from Marsa Alam and can be reached from dive centers located on the coastline. The nearest dive center from it is Marsa Shagra village, owned by the diving pioneer in the south of Egypt, Red Sea Diving Safari. They have also two other diving villages, one in Marsa Nakari and one in Wadi Lahami.

They take you there by Rigid-Inflatable Buoyancy (RIB) within 20 minutes. It is an unsinkable and powerful boat type Zodiac. It is more comfortable than a wooden or fiberglass boat especially when the sea conditions are rough.

If you choose not to stay on land, there are many liveaboards that stop at the world famous Elphinstone reef. It is after all probably the best dive site in Egypt.

 

Tips and best practices for the avid diver

If the current is strong and you dive from a Zodiac, you will do a negative backward entry in order to seek protection as soon as possible on the wall or the plateau. If you are on a liveaboard the giant stride negative entry will be privileged. This means that you will enter the water with no air left in your BCD. You will have to kick heading down and equalize frequently until reaching the reef. 

If you are not familiar with this type of entry, let the dive operation know as you check-in. You can then practise on an easy dive beforehand.

If you have trouble with ear equalization, this entry is not recommended at all for you. Keep in mind that serious ear injuries can result from an improper equalisation technique. 

 

To explore the maximum of Elphinstone reef in one dive, the best way is to use a Diver Propulsion Vehicle (DPV). Like this you can cover the whole site from tip to tip easily. The benefit of a DPV are:

– Reduce your efforts (the underwater scooter does the job for you, I’m not saying you are lazy ;)).

– Save air (you will be motionless, so no physical activity, meaning you will breathe less frequently).

– Be faster compared to a diver kick cycle (you will cover a greater distance in one dive).

Elphinstone reef is a massive dive site and you will need at least 3 or 4 dives to see it entirely. The DPV option is very interesting especially if you can dive it only once during your stay in Egypt! Red Sea Safari Diving offers this service, or you can even do your DVP course at Elphinstone reef.

 

Check prices and availability below

 

About the author

Nicolas Cesaroni has adopted scuba diving as his way of life since his first dive in 2010 in South-East Asia. A few months later he was a scuba Instructor, and a new life began. He decided to live his passion on a daily basis and explore as many tropical destinations as possible. He’s been diving and teaching scuba ever since in the best destinations in the world from Indonesia to Mexico by way of Thailand, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Seychelles, Egypt, Tanzania, South Africa, Greece, Germany, France, The Bahamas, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama.

He has become an avid underwater photographer over the years and his favourite critters are the tiny ones. You can find his stunning shots on his Instagram account @ocean.nico. In 2019, he took time out and co-founded the Dive into Life blog. The following year, having missed being underwater every day and living on remote islands, he was back in teaching status in the Maldives, where he is currently working.

When he is not underwater or editing pictures, Nico is a mixologist and he loves cooking.