The primary reason for traveling to the Hurghada/Makadi area of Egypt was to experience some of the best diving in the world in the Red Sea, and I was not disappointed. I did four dives while I was there and wish I had time to do more. As I was a little rusty (I have my rescue diver but I just use my basic as I don't dive as much as I used to), I did a couple local dives with a local diving company, IDIVE Diving Center, located at the Fort Arabesque in Makadi, just a 10 minute walk from my hotel.
The first dive was a shore dive right in front of the diving center called "House Reef" and the second dive was a boat dive approximately 10 minutes offshore called "Gota Abu Makadi". Gota Abu Makadi is a sheltered dive site on a plateau that slopes from 6 to about 30 meters. On Gota Abu Makadi you'll find a beautiful hardcoral garden with many large and low coral formations and plenty of schools of fish. East from the main reef you'll find a big pinnacle that almost touches the surface. I was surprised to see how much coral and sea life I saw right off the shore! A huge blue spotted stingray swimming underneath me, a crocodile fish hidden in the sand, lots of lion fish, a huge moray eel and tons of tropical fish were the highlights on these first two dives.
The third and fourth dives were during an all day boat dive with Blue Paradise Diving Center from Hurghada to the Giftun Island National Park. I have to say that the Blue Paradise crew are the most organized, safety oriented and knowledgeable crew that I've ever experienced and would highly recommend them to anyone.
The two dive sites we did were the "Giftun Island National Park" and the "Gota Abu Ramada East" also known as the "Aquarium". Small Giftun Island has been a marine reserve since 1986 and the boats must anchor in certain spots outside the reserve area. The wall drops away to about 100m so pick your depth and gradually work your way back up as you drift along in the current. There are some picturesque coral formations sticking out from the main wall to explore, often decorated with soft corals. The Aquarium has great visibility, 25 metres and over. The east side has a wonderful sloping coral garden, surrounded by a couple of very fine pinnacles standing on a 12 metre deep sandy bottom.
On these two dives, I saw 2 huge moral eels in the same hole! Wow, that was cool! I also saw blue spotted stingrays, crocodile fish, napoleon fish, lion fish, flute fish, and lots of little tropical fish. The coral pinnacles were amazing and they had so much life around them. The diving here was absolutely amazing! Everywhere you looked, you would see some type of marine life with so many varieties of coloured coral.
Check out my GoPro Video compilation of the four diving sites to see all the wonderful coral and marine life.