Advice for diving Elphinstone Reef in United States

The Elphinstone Reef is an isolated reef in the open sea: 10km offshore in the east of Abu Dabab (between Marsa Alam and El Quseir), in the Red Sea of Egypt. As great as the shark stories around Elphinstone are told, as difficult is diving there.

The Reef is 300m long and 30m wide with several plateaus. On the side, the wall goes steep down to 200m. Sometimes, one faces very strong current along the reef, sometimes the current is a little bit less.

Current and location makes the reef highly predestined for big life encounters. The Oceanic White Tip Shark (also called Longimanus), Hammerheads, Thresher sharks, Dolphins, big Napoleons and more can be met there. You need to have luck to meet the big stuff, but you can increase the chance to see it a lot by following a few recommendations:

Be there early in the morning. You're asking how to find a boat that drives that early to Elphinstone? The best to go there is with a liveaboard and set the anchor at 5 o'clock just in the first row of the top plateau. You will be followed by twenty more boats and by filling the reef with divers the chance to meet the sharks decreases dramatically.

The point of interest lies at 40m depths or even deeper and in a distance of 100-150m from the entry, independent of diving the north or the south plateau of the reef. You risk consuming your bottom time before arriving at the forefronts. If the current allows you, dive in shallow depth to be just above the forefronts and descend there and enjoy much more time at 40m.

The best travel time to spot the Longimanus is from October to December.

Besides being well known for these encounters, Elphinstone has very nice corals and a rich small and medium sized life, too. Travallies, Tunas and Barracudas can be seen as well as many of the colorful reef fishes, the red sea has to offer. On the top plateau you can finish your dive in shallow water doing your safety stop.

As mentioned above, diving at Elphinstone is quite difficult and therefore restricted to experienced divers only. The requirements are: At least 50 logged dives and an Advanced Open Water, a 2-Star or a similar certification.

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