Also sold as St John’s, Fury Shoals, Rocky and Zabargad
The far south towards the Sudanese border — the healthiest hard coral in Egypt, caves and swim-throughs, and almost nobody else in the water.
What it asks of you
Intermediate to advanced depending on the route. Gentler than BDE, but the remoteness raises the stakes: you are further from a recompression chamber than anywhere else in Egypt.
The deep south is the part of Egypt’s Red Sea that tourism reached last, and its hard coral is in a condition that makes divers who know the north go quiet. St John’s and Fury Shoals are networks of reefs rather than single sites, with caves, swim-throughs and shallow gardens.
It is gentler diving than BDE and, for a lot of people, better diving. The animals are there — reef sharks, dolphins, the occasional oceanic whitetip — but nobody comes back from the deep south talking mainly about animals.
The longer itineraries push on to Rocky Island and Zabargad near the Sudanese border, which is where the trip becomes genuinely remote and genuinely weather-dependent.
It is a long way from everything, including help. Sites get swapped for weather more than the brochure suggests, the transfer from Marsa Alam airport to the southern ports is itself substantial, and if you have come specifically for Rocky Island there is a real chance you will not reach it.