Why choose this route?
This trip features the reefs of Daedalus, Elphinstone and St John’s, combined with the Zabargad and Rocky Islands. This one tops the bill of our liveaboard menu.
Sea beds drop to 15-20 meters, depending on the site, where dozens of slender coral towers can be observed. You will see great corals, shaped like giant umbrellas and cupolas. It’s where many tropical groupers roam. At night octopus, crinoids, crustaceans and nudibranchs ‘wander’ through innumerable coral grottoes and corridors. With a little bit of luck, it is possible to spot pelagic species such as blacktail sharks, eagle rays, manta rays, barracuda and tuna fish. Watch out for Sohal surgeonfish, butterflyfish, triggerfish, moray eel, manta rays and gigantic humpback wrasse.
Daedalus Reef
Daedalus, also known as Abu Kizan, is a preserved marine park. It’s isolated and remote and respected for its strong currents. Therefore, diving the Daedalus is a challenge. You certainly won’t be disappointed by the fantastic display of fire corals, brain corals, leafy corals, raspberry corals and spiny row corals. One can descend to depths of 30 meters.
Daedalus attracts pelagic passages from barracuda, dogtooth tuna, jacks, sea turtles, black tip reef sharks, oceanic white tip sharks, hammerheads and grey tip reef sharks.
Daedalus is the residence of the clownfish, living in symbiosis with anemones. It is also a stomping ground for twin spot snappers, blue cheeked butterflyfish, schools of surgeonfish, fusiliers, bigeye trevallies, moray eels, manta rays and the majestic napoleon wrasse.
Aquatic Panorama
- Spiny row corals
- Leafy corals
- Raspberry corals
- Sohel surgeonfish
- Blue cheeked butterflyfish
- Twinspot snappers
- Fusiliers
- Spanish dancers
- Sharks
Zabargad Island
Zabargad takes its name from the mineral olivine gem, once mined on the island. It’s location is southeast of Port Berenice. Wall drops here to 15 to 20 meters. The seabed is equipped with coral towers and pinnacles. The floral landscape is formed by innumerable species of corals, such as the staghorn coral, the honeycomb, the flowerpot and tapestries of sienna brown tubular sponges.
Zabargad Island’s claim to fame is its labyrinthine panorama of coral canyons,, grottoes and corridors. They have been created by interlinking pinnacles and pillars, forming punctured rooftops. Those punctures ‘filter’ sun rays, penetrating through crevices and cracks, turning Zabargad into a poetic affair.
Aquatic Panorama
- Tubular sponges
- Staghorn corals
- Coral grottoes
- Pinnacles
- Grouper
- Royal angelfish
- Orbicular burrfish
- Sabre squirrelfish
- Octopus
- Hawksbill turtle
Rocky Island
Rocky Island is a small island, twenty minutes cruising from Zabargad and a pelagic haven, featuring a great variety of sharks, such as tigers, white tips, silvertips and hammerheads, manta rays, countless groupers, jacks and barracudas.
Its walls are tumbling down to more than 100 meters. They show tapestries of sea fans, gorgonians, mountain corals, black coral trees and staghorn corals. It’s sheer fascinating seeing the waving gorgonians, subject to the current’s rhythm,.
Rocky Island is exposed to the sea and the elements, attracting a fabulous range of silver tips, and hammerhead sharks. It gave rise to the sobriquet ‘shark theatre’.
Unlimited visibility adds to the fish tank feel and fascinating marine life, featuring Red Sea bannerfish, the clearfin lionfish, the zebra angelfish, blackspotted sweetlips, the rusty parrotfish and the devil scorpionfish.
Aquatic Panorama
- Staghorn corals
- Mountain corals
- Gorgonians
- Tubular sponges
- Ruste parrotfish
- Bi-colour wrase
- Zebra angelfish
- Hammerhead sharks
- Spanish dancers