Rocky Island and Zabargad
Two remote islands near the Sudanese border — Zabargad an ancient peridot mine with a wreck, Rocky Island a small, current-swept reef with big animals.
- Depth
- 10–40m
- Access
- Liveaboard only, deep south itineraries
- Best season
- May to October, when the crossing is most likely to be possible
- Level
- Advanced
Zabargad is a proper island — a hill of olivine that supplied peridot to the ancient world, with a sheltered lagoon, a wreck and a surprising amount of shallow diving. Rocky Island, a short hop away, is the opposite: small, steep, swept by current, and the reason advanced divers book the deep south.
Both sit near Egypt’s southern maritime border and both appear only on longer liveaboard itineraries, usually with a weather caveat attached. Trips get rerouted here more often than anywhere else in Egypt.
When it works, it is the closest thing Egypt has to Sudanese diving — bigger animals, better coral, and almost nobody else in the water.
Conditions
- Exposed open water; itineraries here are weather-dependent and get changed
- Strong current at Rocky Island in particular
- Very remote — a long way from any chamber
What you are likely to see
- Grey reef, hammerhead and oceanic whitetip sharks at Rocky
- Manta rays occasionally
- Exceptional soft coral on Rocky’s walls
- The Neptuna wreck and a shallow seagrass lagoon at Zabargad
What to watch out for
- Rocky Island is small, exposed and current-swept, with nothing downstream. It is an advanced dive in the full sense of the phrase.
- Zabargad has a long history as a source of peridot. Taking stones or anything else from a protected island is illegal as well as wrong.
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.
Awlad Baraka
Dive CentreMarsa Alam
Official site ↗On the map
Blue Ocean Dive Center Marsa Alam
Dive CentreMarsa Alam
Colona Dive Center Marsa Alam
Dive CentreMarsa Alam
Official site ↗
Deep South Diving Center
Dive CentreMarsa Alam
Official site ↗On the map
Emperor Divers Marsa Alam
Dive CentreMarsa Alam
Official site ↗
Marsa Shagra - Diving Center
Dive CentreMarsa Alam
On the map
Also in this bay — Marsa Alam
Dive sites
- Elphinstone ReefAdvanced
The Red Sea’s most famous offshore reef: a narrow wall running north to south off Marsa Alam, known for oceanic whitetips and hammerheads — and for currents that make it an advanced dive.
- Abu DabbabBeginner
A shallow seagrass bay north of Marsa Alam, the coast’s most reliable place to see dugongs and green turtles — and one of its easiest shore dives.
- The Brothers IslandsAdvanced
Two isolated islands far offshore in the Marine Park, with sheer walls, two wrecks and the most consistent big-animal diving in Egypt.
- Daedalus ReefAdvanced
An isolated reef in open ocean with a lighthouse on it, sheer walls on every side, and the most reliable hammerhead diving in Egypt.
- St John’s ReefIntermediate
A scattered complex of reefs near Egypt’s southern border — caves, coral gardens and the best-preserved hard coral in the country.
Snorkelling
- Abu Dabbab BayShore entry
Long the most famous place in Egypt to try to snorkel with a dugong — sightings have grown less reliable in recent years — and near-certain green turtles, in a shallow sandy bay you walk into from the beach.
- Marsa MubarakShore or boat
A quieter alternative to Abu Dabbab a little north of Marsa Alam — same seagrass, same turtles, usually far fewer people.
The town guide for Marsa Alam