An isolated reef in open ocean with a lighthouse on it, sheer walls on every side, and the most reliable hammerhead diving in Egypt.
Depth
10–40m on the walls; the plateaus are deep
Access
Liveaboard only — roughly 90km offshore, with no day-boat access
Best season
May to September for hammerheads; the reef is dived across a longer season but the crossing is rough outside it
Level
Advanced
Daedalus sits alone in open water roughly 90km off the Egyptian coast, marked by a lighthouse that has been there since the nineteenth century. There is nothing else for a long way in any direction, which is exactly why the pelagics are here.
The diving is walls: sheer, current-swept, dropping into blue. The north plateau is where boats put divers in for hammerheads, usually early and usually deep. The north-west wall carries a spread of anemones and clownfish dense enough that divers who saw no sharks still talk about it.
It is on almost every Brothers–Daedalus–Elphinstone itinerary, and it is the one people book the trip for.
Conditions
True open ocean — swell and strong current are the normal condition, not the exception
Wall dives with no shallow refuge; you drift and the zodiac collects you
Marine Park permits required; conditions decide whether the boat can moor at all
What you are likely to see
Scalloped hammerheads, most reliably at the north plateau in summer
Thresher sharks and oceanic whitetips
Grey reef sharks in numbers
An anemone city on the north-west wall that is worth the trip on its own
What to watch out for
Hammerheads are deep and early. Chasing them below your plan is the single most common way divers get into trouble here, and the sharks do not come shallower because you want them to.
Currents run hard around the plateaus and there is nothing downstream but ocean. Carry an SMB and know how to deploy it before you need it.
The crossing is long and exposed. If you are prone to seasickness, this itinerary is a serious commitment.
This is planning information, not a dive briefing or a substitute for one. Conditions change; your guide on the day is the authority. Diving emergency numbers and the coast’s recompression chambers are on our emergency contacts page.
Dive centres in Marsa Alam
Listed by the desk, in alphabetical order. Nobody pays to be here.