Elphinstone Reef

Where is Elphinstone Reef?

Elphinstone, Sha'ab Abu Hamra to Egyptians, is an isolated reef that breaks the surface 12 kilometers offshore, north of Marsa Alam. From the boat it is just a 300 meter line of foam; underwater it is a mountain whose sides drop sheer into several hundred meters. No lagoon, no shelter: the open-sea current hits the reef head-on, and it explains everything, the lush soft corals as well as the predators. The site is named after a 19th-century British governor of Bombay, like several Red Sea reefs charted by the British navy.

How do you dive the north and south plateaus at Elphinstone?

The typical dive starts at the north plateau: you roll off the zodiac off the point, descend fast onto the tongue of reef that runs from 2 to 37 meters, then wait at the edge of the plateau, facing the blue, where hammerheads and tuna pass. You then drift along the east or west wall, with the current, between 15 and 30 meters, through soft corals and anthias, before ascending in open water. The south plateau, from 18 to 35 meters, is deeper and more exposed; it ends in an arch between 55 and 60 meters that only tech divers visit. Between the two dives, boats drift offshore: none can drop anchor on the reef.

When can you see oceanic whitetips at Elphinstone?

The oceanic whitetip, Carcharhinus longimanus, is an open-ocean shark, known by its long, rounded, white-tipped pectoral fins and its slow, curious swim, which often brings it right under the boats' hulls. At Elphinstone it is around mostly from October to December, and until April, with an escort of pilot fish. It is a powerful, fearless animal, listed as vulnerable worldwide: watch it as a group, under the boat, without swimming toward it or feeding it, and get out of the water if one becomes insistent. Most encounters happen during the safety stop, near the surface, not at depth.

Should you dive Elphinstone on a day trip or a liveaboard?

Elphinstone is the only major offshore reef in Egypt that you can dive on a day trip: coastal dive centers, from Marsa Shagra to Port Ghalib, run there by speedboat for two dives whenever the sea allows. Almost all liveaboards from Port Ghalib include it, usually at the end of the route after the Brothers and Daedalus, with the advantage of reaching the reef at dawn, before the day boats. Either way, Advanced certification and comfort with drift diving are required.