Hurghada Underwater: A Diver's Guide to the Red Sea
Hurghada Underwater: A Diver's Guide to the Red Sea
The Red Sea holds over 1,200 fish species and around 200 coral types, roughly 10% of which exist nowhere else on the planet. It's warm year-round, visibility regularly runs past 30 metres, and Hurghada sits on 40 km of coastline facing all of it.
It's also one of the cheapest places on earth to get certified. A four-day PADI Open Water course runs about $350-450 all in. The same qualification costs two to three times that in most of Europe or North America.
Here's how to dive Hurghada properly.
Why this water is different
The Red Sea is effectively a young ocean — a narrow, deep trench with almost no river input, which means no sediment, which means the visibility that draws people here. It's also enclosed enough that its marine life evolved in partial isolation, producing that unusually high endemism figure.
Water temperature ranges from 22°C in February to 29°C in August. A 3mm shorty is enough most of the year; a 5mm is comfortable in winter. Nobody here needs a drysuit.
And the wrecks are exceptional, because the Strait of Gubal north of Hurghada is a shipping bottleneck that has been catching vessels on the same reefs for 150 years.
Ten dives and experiences worth building a week around
1. The Giannis D, Abu Nuhas. A Greek cargo ship that hit Sha'ab Abu Nuhas in 1983 and broke into three sections. The stern sits at a disorienting angle that makes the engine room genuinely strange to swim through. The signature Hurghada wreck.
2. The Carnatic, Abu Nuhas. A P&O steamer that went down in 1869, now a lattice of ribs colonised by soft coral and glassfish. It's the older and prettier of the two, and being able to do both on one day trip is why Abu Nuhas is the region's wreck cemetery.
3. Careless Reef. Known for its resident moray colony — large, numerous and entirely unbothered. Two pinnacles, strong life, and a site that rewards a slow second dive.
4. Small Giftun drop-offs. The reliable choice when the wind is up, and no consolation prize: walls, hard coral gardens and reliable reef fish traffic.
5. A four-day PADI Open Water course. $350-450 including everything. Day one is theory and pool, day two moves the confined-water skills into the sea, and by day four you're doing proper dives. There is no cheaper reputable place to learn.
6. A two-tank day boat. $60-95 with equipment. Two dives, a surface interval with lunch on board, and back by mid-afternoon. This is the standard Hurghada dive day and it works.
7. The Giftun Islands snorkel day. For non-divers in the group, or a rest day between dive days. $35-60 including lunch and gear, plus a $5-10 national park fee collected separately in cash. Boats leave the Marina around 9AM, back by 4-5PM.
8. A house-reef shore dive. Most southern resorts from Sahl Hasheesh to Makadi Bay have jetty access straight onto coral. Cheap, unhurried, and the best place to practise buoyancy without a boat schedule — shore diving in the mould of Bonaire, without the flight to the Caribbean.
9. Night diving. Different animals entirely — Spanish dancers, hunting lionfish, coral polyps open and feeding. Ask your centre; not every operator runs them, and the ones that do usually need 24 hours' notice.
10. A liveaboard, if you have a week. Hurghada is a departure port for northern Red Sea routes taking in Abu Nuhas, the Thistlegorm and the Brothers depending on itinerary. It's a step up in cost and a considerable step up in diving.
Where to base yourself
The Marina area puts you next to the dive centres and the boats, and Marina Boulevard is where you'll book, eat and brief. Dinner here runs $12-25 a head against $40+ inside the beach resorts.
Sahl Hasheesh and Makadi Bay in the south are quieter, with better house reefs and jetty access. Transfers to the Marina take longer.
Sekalla, the middle strip, is the compromise — cheaper, busier, and closer to everything than the southern bays.
What it costs
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| PADI Open Water, 4 days | $350-450 |
| Two-tank day trip with kit | $60-95 |
| Giftun snorkel day (Marina booking) | $35-45 |
| Giftun snorkel day (hotel desk) | $70-90 |
| National park fee | $5-10, cash |
| Dive guide tip, per day | 50-100 EGP |
| Marina dinner | $12-25 |
The single biggest saving available: book off-property. Hotel tour desks mark trips up 50-100% over the same operator booked at the Marina. Walk down there on your first evening and sort the whole week — visas, taxi fares and the rest of the arrival logistics are covered in our Hurghada questions answered.
The rules that actually matter
Leave 18-24 hours between your last dive and your flight. Eighteen after a single dive, twenty-four after multiple days. The classic Hurghada mistake is a last-morning dive before an afternoon departure. Plan the final dive day around the flight, not the other way round.
Check your insurance covers scuba to your planned depth. Most standard travel policies do not. The nearest recompression chambers are in Hurghada and El Gouna.
Never stand on or touch coral. It kills the reef, and fire coral and stonefish stings are genuinely serious injuries, not inconveniences.
Verify the centre. PADI or SSI affiliated, an actual office, in-date equipment, recent reviews. The good operators here are very good; the cheap end of the market is not regulated the way you might assume.
Reef-safe sunscreen and a rash vest. The UV index tops 11 in summer, and a vest beats reapplying while you're in and out of the water all day. Both are on the short list of things worth packing from home.
Best time to dive
March-May and October-November are the pick: air 25-32°C, warm water, settled conditions.
Summer (July-August) gets the warmest water at 29°C but air temperatures regularly top 40°C, which makes the surface intervals harder than the dives.
Winter (December-February) is cooler at 20-25°C by day, windier, and the sea drops to about 22°C. Fewer boats, lower prices, and a 5mm suit sorts it. Wind cancellations are more common.
A seven-day dive week
Day 1 — Arrive, get to the Marina in the evening, book the week's diving and excursions off-property.
Day 2 — Giftun Islands snorkel day. Acclimatise, get in the water, no equipment pressure.
Day 3 — First two-tank day: Careless Reef or Small Giftun. Or day one of the Open Water course.
Day 4 — Rest day. El Dahar and the souk in the late afternoon once the heat drops, dinner at El Hebeny or Abu Khadega for koshari and grilled kofta at 100-250 EGP a head.
Day 5 — Abu Nuhas wreck day: the Giannis D and the Carnatic.
Day 6 — Second two-tank day or the last day of certification. Alternatively a night dive.
Day 7 — No diving. Snorkel the house reef, do the desert safari, or take the El Gouna half-day — 25 km north, Egypt's kitesurfing centre, with beach club day passes at $15-30.
That last day is not a wasted one. It's the 18-24 hour buffer doing its job, and it's the difference between a great week and a medical problem at 35,000 feet.
