St. Johns-Elba Reef

St. Johns-Elba Reef

Itinerary Highlights

  • Visiting the St. Johns reefs is a must. Big Habili and Small Habili with their fantastic drop offs overgrown with big gorgonians and colorful bright soft corals promise you to be a fantastic dive. You find a lot of marine life at the reef itself and as well in the blue you may see barracudas, different sharks, sometimes dolphins or manta passing by. Umm Erug seems to be the place of unusual coral blocks. Next to the main reef in a depth of 12 to 30 m you find many different block formations who remind you of everyday life`s figures. Schools of small reef fishes, camouflage artists and small critters you can explore. Around two hours’ drive to the north there is the area of St. Johns Cave. The name cave is program and Umm Hararim impresses of its unique cave and canyon system. The main reef surrounded by a beautiful hard coral garden is on its south-west side full of holes like a Swiss cheese. In shallow water you can dive through the open passages to see the light show of the sun and the nice soft corals growing inside.
  • Elba Reef is located at the Halaib Triangle on the Egyptian and Sudanese border with very nice plateaus on its North and South side. It is a triangle-shaped reef, the Plateau in the North is long and starts at around 20 m and ends at around 45 m depth. At the edge of the plateau plenty of huge coral fans can be found.
  • One of the main attractions, at the edge of a deep drop-off at the South plateau, is the large wreck of “SS Isola di Levanzo” that sank in the early 1900s. She is a rarely visited beautiful wreck which is surrounded by scattered sherry bottles all over the sea bottom. The propeller of the ship lies at 18 m and the entire upper or stern section can be penetrated.
  • Further inshore, the reef is relatively shallow but well grown with a variety of corals. All around the Reef Fish life is interesting as from reef species to sharks everything can be spotted.
  • The Daedalus reef is a huge reef formation that lies at about 180 km south of Brother Islands. The reef is surrounded by a sheer wall all around, featuring a plateau on its southern side that goes from 28 m beside the reef to 40 m on the edge of the drop off. If the weather is good, try to get as far north as possible and drift along one of the sides of the reef. Reef and hammerhead sharks are often spotted here. The marine life is here more abundant than anywhere else, with schools of surgeons, fusiliers, carangids.
  • The Reef of Elphinstone, a truly legendary reef, is one of the most beautiful reefs in the Red Sea, with its north and south plateau, and the walls covered with soft corals, black corals, wire corals and gorgonias. Hammerheads, oceanic white tip sharks and grey reef sharks can also be spotted here.

Dive sites in this itinerary

  • Daedalus Reef

    Daedalus Reef is surrounded by a steep wall and features a plateau on the south side, which drops from 30 m at the wall to 40 m at the edge. The plateau is covered in colorful vegetation right down to the shallow area; turtles like to hang out there, as well as plenty of schooling fish. A closer look is worthwhile to spot snails, scorpionfish, and stonefish. It's not uncommon for a thresher shark to stop by the plateau. At the northwest tip, there's a good chance of encountering hammerhead sharks, but reef sharks of all kinds can also be observed. Drifting along the west side, you'll come across Anemon City: a colony of anemones has settled about 10 m wide and at a depth of 5 m to 30 m, forming a giant flokati carpet in the current. The fish population is impressive: schools of fusiliers, surgeonfish, and jacks, more diverse and abundant than anywhere else.

  • Elphinstone

    This long finger like reef runs from north to south in the open Red Sea. Steep walls drop to the depths on the reef’s east and west sides, while the north and south ends of the reefs are marked by submerged plateau. Sharks often swim by the spot to feed on the abundant reef fish population.

  • St Johns

    This vast reef system lies furthest to the south on the Egyptian side, 10 miles from the Sudanese border. There are dozens of excellent dives. Its reefs rise up from a gigantic underwater plateau hidden in the inky blue water.

  • Elba Reef

    Elba Reef is located at the Halaib Triangle on the Egyptian and Sudanese border with very nice plateaus on its North and South side. It is a triangle- shaped reef. The Plateau in the North is long and starts at around 20 m and ends at around 45 m depth. At the edge of the plateau plenty of huge coral fans can be found. One of the main attractions, at the edge of a deep drop-off at the South plateau, is the large wreck of “SS Isola di Levanzo” that sank in the early 1900's. She is a rarely visited beautiful Wreck which is surrounded by scattered sherry bottles all over the sea bottom. The propeller of the ship lies at 18 m and the entire upper or stern section can be penetrated. Further inshore, the reef is relatively shallow but well grown with a variety of corals all around the reef. Fish life is interesting as from reef species to sharks everything can be spotted.

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