Pinnacle
down to 30 m
Fiddle Garden
A sandy slope to an 18 m drop-off with glassfish pinnacles at 10-16 m and amphora fragments in about 6 m of water.
- Open Water
- Barracuda
Sharm El Sheikh & Ras Mohammed
Diving in Egypt
26 documented dive sites, 8 of them for Open Water divers. Known for hammerhead sharks, whitetip reef sharks and turtles.
- Best months
- Sep–Nov
- Water
- 20–28 °C
- Levels
- Open Water, Advanced, Experienced
- Diving from
- Dive resorts, Day boats, Liveaboards
- Nearest airport
- SSH
When to go
Pick a month: the diving season, from published sources, and the typical weather.
Pick a month
- Best
- Good
- Possible
- Closed
- Not documented yet
Sharm El Sheikh & Ras Mohammed in October
Best season- Air
- 34 °C
- 24 °C at night
- Rain
- < 10 mm
- very little rain all year
- Wind
- 9 km/h
- on average
Typical weather, not a forecast: averages for 2021–2025 (air, rain, wind), data from Open-Meteo (ERA5 / Copernicus, Météo-France). Covers an area of roughly 10 to 25 km around the destination.
Dived year-round. Circle Divers (Sharm operator) calls autumn (Sep–Nov) the best all-round season; winter is still good but cooler (22–24 °C) with fewer sharks; summer is hammerhead season at Jackson Reef.
Dive sites in Sharm El Sheikh & Ras Mohammed
From the easiest to the most demanding. Levels with a dashed outline are estimates we are still verifying.
Open Water friendly
usual dive down to 18 m8 sitesPinnacle
down to 20 m
Temple
Coral pinnacles in a flat 10–18 m bay; the main pinnacle has a crack from the 1995 earthquake and swim-throughs.
- Open Water
- Stingrays
Drift
down to 30 m
Far Garden
Beginner-rated reef wall north of Naama Bay where whale sharks, mantas and even the odd hammerhead have been seen.
- Open Water
- Whale sharks
Reef
down to 30 m
Middle Garden
A shallow hard-coral wall plateauing at about 10 m beside a sandy road where stingrays rest, usually dived from a fixed mooring.
- Open Water
- Stingrays
Reef
down to 30 m
Ras Bob
A coral-encrusted wall to about 16 m hiding swim-throughs, a glassfish-filled table coral and a vast eel garden on the sand below.
- Open Water
- Octopus
Ras Katy
Sharm pinnacles where red tooth triggers and Red Sea bannerfish gather over the reef.
- Open Water
- Pinnacle
Pinnacle
down to 25 m
The Alternatives
- Open Water
For Advanced divers
usual dive down to 30 m15 sites
Jackfish Alley
Ras Mohammed drift with sunlit swim-throughs at 5 and 15 m, then an alley of jackfish and whitetip reef sharks.
- Advanced
- Cavern
- Whitetip reef sharks
SS Thistlegorm
WWII supply ship bombed on 6 October 1941; holds still carry Bedford trucks and Norton and BSA motorcycles.
- Advanced
- Wreck
- Turtles
Macro
down to 28 m
Sharks Bay
Shore-entry training site: a coral plateau from 5 m to a ~20 m drop-off with glassfish pinnacles, Napoleon wrasse and eagle rays.
- Advanced
- Eagle rays
Drift
down to 35 m
Gordon Reef
Tiran reef where the Louilla ran aground in 1981, with barracuda, tuna and jackfish in its southern 'Shark Pool'.
- Advanced
- Eagle rays
Drift
down to 25 m
Near Garden
- Advanced
- Manta rays
Drift
down to 30 m
Ras Um Sid
Sharm wall dropping to 30 m with a forest of fan corals; eagle rays, and in summer mantas and whale sharks.
- Advanced
- Whale sharks
Wreck
down to 35 m
Shark & Yolanda Reef
Ras Mohammed's twin reefs: snappers form a tornado-like wall and summer brings schools of jacks, tuna and batfish.
- Advanced
- Grey reef sharks
SS Dunraven
Upturned steamer launched in 1872 that sank in 1876, lying from 15 m at the bow to 29 m at the stern.
- Advanced
- Wreck
- Moray eels
Drift
down to 30 m
Amphoras
A drift over coral pinnacles to the anchor and amphora remains of a 17th-century Turkish cargo ship.
- Advanced
- Turtles
Drift
down to 30 m
Anemone City
Plateau of hundreds of sea anemones with clownfish, sloping 5–25 m before a drift into the blue toward Shark Reef.
- Advanced
- Clownfish
Drift
down to 30 m
Paradise
A sloping coral garden from 10 m to a 25 m drop-off with Porites, Acropora and pinnacles packed with soft corals and sea fans.
- Advanced
- Manta rays
Drift
down to 30 m
Ras Nasrani
- Advanced
- Turtles
Drift
down to 40 m
Shark Observatory
- Advanced
- Turtles
Drift
down to 30 m
Ras Ghozlani
- Advanced
- Eagle rays
Drift
down to 30 m
Ras Za'atar
- Advanced
For experienced divers
usual dive down to 40 m3 sitesDrift
down to 45 m
Jackson Reef
Wall drift in the Straits of Tiran where scalloped hammerheads are especially common from July to September.
- Experienced
- Grey reef sharks
Drift
down to 40 m
Thomas Reef
Gorgonian-covered Tiran wall whose ledge often hosts resting whitetip reef sharks and leopard sharks.
- Experienced
- Leopard (zebra) sharks
Marine life
When the big encounters happen, month by month.
| Species | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hammerhead sharksSource: dive-the-world.com | ||||||||||||
| Whale sharksSource: divernet.com | ||||||||||||
| Manta raysSource: divernet.com | ||||||||||||
| Thresher sharksSource: circledivers.com |
- Peak season
- Seen
Hammerhead sharks: Jun–Sep. Whale sharks: May–Sep. Manta rays: May–Sep. Thresher sharks: Sep–Nov
Also reported here, season not documented yet:
- Barracuda
- Trevally
- Batfish
- Snappers
- Whitetip reef sharks
- Turtles
- Eagle rays
- Tuna
- Anthias
- Napoleon wrasse
- Corals
- Grey reef sharks
- Leopard (zebra) sharks
- Dolphins
Where is Sharm El Sheikh & Ras Mohammed?
- Nearest airport
- SSH
- How people dive here
- Dive resorts, Day boats, Liveaboards
Sharm El Sheikh & Ras Mohammed: frequently asked questions
- When is the best time to dive Sharm El Sheikh & Ras Mohammed?
- The best months to dive Sharm El Sheikh & Ras Mohammed are Sep–Nov. Dived year-round. Circle Divers (Sharm operator) calls autumn (Sep–Nov) the best all-round season; winter is still good but cooler (22–24 °C) with fewer sharks; summer is hammerhead season at Jackson Reef.
- Is Sharm El Sheikh & Ras Mohammed good for beginner divers?
- Yes, partly: 8 of the 26 dive sites we document are suited to Open Water divers, including Fiddle Garden, Temple and Far Garden. The others need more experience or a higher certification.
- What is the water temperature in Sharm El Sheikh & Ras Mohammed?
- The water is usually between 20 °C and 28 °C over the year.
- What marine life can you see in Sharm El Sheikh & Ras Mohammed?
- Divers regularly see hammerhead sharks (Jun–Sep), barracuda, trevally, batfish, snappers and whitetip reef sharks.
- How do you dive Sharm El Sheikh & Ras Mohammed?
- The nearest airport is SSH. Ways to dive here: dive resorts, day boats and liveaboards.
About this page
Seasons and marine life come from the sources below. Site levels and depths marked as estimated come from our original catalogue and are being checked one by one. Conditions change: always confirm with a local dive centre.
Your next dive is somewhere out there.
Find my next dive tripPhoto credits
- Hawksbill turtle on the reef at Ras Mohammed National Park, Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Jackfish Alley dive site, Ras Mohammed, Roland Unger, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- SS Thistlegorm dive site, Northern Red Sea Wrecks, Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Dunraven Wreck dive site, Sharm El Sheikh / Gulf of Suez, W.Strickling, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Giant moray in the coral at Ras Katy, Sharm El Sheikh, Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Sunlight and bubbles in deep blue water, Sarah Lee, Unsplash License, on Unsplash
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