6 min read
The Red Sea off Hurghada is one of the richest reef systems on the planet, and it is alive. You are not looking at a tired reef with a few fish, you are diving walls and gardens packed with colour.
Here is what you can realistically expect, split into what you will almost always see and what makes a great day.
What can you see diving in Hurghada?
On a normal day diving in Hurghada you will see green and hawksbill turtles, moray eels, lionfish, pufferfish and huge clouds of colourful reef fish over hard and soft coral. Reef sharks, dolphins, eagle rays and octopus are common lucky sightings, and the famous SS Thistlegorm wreck is a boat trip away.
What you will see on almost every dive
Turtles are the headline act, mostly green and hawksbill turtles grazing on the reef, often close enough to watch for minutes. You will also see moray eels tucked in the coral, lionfish hanging under ledges, pufferfish, groupers, and clouds of orange anthias and yellow butterflyfish over the reef.
Look closer and the reef fills in: clownfish in their anemones, cleaner shrimp, parrotfish crunching coral, and blue-spotted rays resting on the sand.
The lucky-day sightings
Some encounters you cannot promise but see often. Dolphins are around all year, and on a good day a pod plays around the boat or the reef. Reef sharks, mostly harmless whitetips, patrol the deeper reefs. Eagle rays glide past walls, and octopus and cuttlefish appear for anyone with a sharp eye.
These are the moments divers come back for. Your guide knows which sites give the best odds each season.
The corals themselves
It is easy to focus on fish and miss that Hurghada has some of the best hard and soft coral in the world. Table corals, brain corals, fire coral and forests of soft coral in pink, purple and orange cover the reefs. Around 200 fish species and dozens of coral species live here.
Healthy coral is why the fish are here, and why the reefs look so full of colour under your torch or in the sun.
Wrecks with their own marine life
The wrecks around Hurghada are reefs in their own right. The SS Thistlegorm, Abu Nuhas and the Salem Express are covered in coral and patrolled by batfish, barracuda, giant trevally and glassfish. Diving a wreck here is two experiences at once, history and marine life.
You need a bit of experience for the deeper wrecks, but the reef tops around them are easy and just as full of life.
What you will not see
To be honest, this is not a big-shark or manta destination like some places. Hammerheads and whale sharks are rare and mostly offshore or further south. What Hurghada does better than almost anywhere is easy, colourful, fish-packed reef diving with reliable turtles.
If you want reefs alive with colour and a good chance of turtles, dolphins and reef sharks, this is the place.
Meet the reef for yourself
Explore our marine life guide, or just book a dive and let a local guide show you the turtles and the reef sharks.
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