Luxuriant coral gardens and sheer offshore canyons make for a dense population of reef fauna and the reefs themselves play home to a wide range of life from huge Napoleon Wrasse to tiny sparkling anthias. It is also common to see sea turtles and dolphins just off the coast.

The corals themselves include exquisite table Acropora, Stylophora, massive Porites and Goniopora, fire coral, low-lying cabbage coral, spiky Elkhorn coral, graceful gorgonians and pulsing Xeniid soft corals.

Access to the various dive sites is almost exclusively from the shore, due to the winds making it hard for the boats to anchor on the delicate coral. All the best sites are just off the shore, so this doesn't pose a problem. Take extra care when you are entering or leaving the water so as not to damage the fragile reef. The Sinai is an arid desert and the northern coast receives almost no rain and has extremely hot, dry summers. The water is warm and typically less rough during the summer months, although the area still offers sheltered diving during the winter.

The Red Sea was created over 40 million years ago when shifting tectonic plates split the Arabian Peninsula from what we know as North Africa. Relatively isolated and surrounded by desert, it has developed its own endemic Indo-Pacific marine life and contains the northernmost fully-developed reef system on the planet, with more than 1000 different fish and over 200 coral species. The range and breadth of dive sites is breathtaking; from beautiful technicolour coral gardens to deep vertical walls and intact wrecks from back through the ages.