Marsa Alam

Marsa Alam was a small mining and fishing town until an international airport opened in 2003, and the coast around it has developed far more slowly and thinly than the north, which is precisely why divers go. Reefs here are in better condition, the bays hold seagrass beds with dugong and turtles, and the offshore sites, Elphinstone, the Brothers, Daedalus and the southern reefs, are among the best in the Red Sea for pelagic fish and sharks. Resorts are strung along the coast at intervals with long empty stretches between them, and the settlements are small. The Eastern Desert rises behind, with Ababda Bedouin communities, old Roman quarry and mine sites, and Wadi El Gemal National Park covering a large stretch of coast and hinterland.

The landscape

• Seagrass bays with dugong - Abu Dabbab and neighbouring shallow bays.
• Offshore pelagic reefs - Elphinstone and the southern sites.
• Long empty coast - stretches with no development between resorts.
• Desert behind the shore - Wadi El Gemal and the Eastern Desert mountains.

When to go

October to May for comfort; summer is hot but brings the best chance of hammerheads on the offshore reefs. A week to make the flights and the diving worthwhile. Water is warmest late summer, coolest in February.

Things to know

It is remote and there is essentially nothing to do outside the water and the desert. Resorts are isolated and you eat where you sleep. Dugong watching is heavily pressured by boats and swimmers, and operators vary greatly in how responsibly they run it. Offshore trips are long and often rough.

Nearby

Abu Dabbab and Wadi El Gemal are close; El Quseir lies north up the coast.