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Sinai Peninsula

   Egypt  Red Sea
At the tip of the Sinai Peninsular is Sharm El Sheik, a town surrounded by only one natural resource - its reefs. These were some of the most beautiful reefs on the planet.
Nowadays, the shore and dayboat diving is not what it used to be! If you haven’t been there in a few years you will be disappointed.
Ras Muhamed was ruined in the early 1990’s when rapid growth in diver numbers (fuelled by the then new airport) resulted in an uncontrolled explosion of building.
Sharm is now a strip mall of hotels. Every day, twice a day, dive boats moor every 100 yards along the coastline. Consequently the reef is now kicked to bits.
Erosion has caused sand to end up strangling the reefs - along with every bit of rubbish that blows around Sharm (which eventually ends up on the reef too).
Conventional wisdom is go liveaboard but standards are patchy as no foreign crewed boats are allowed. There’s still some decent offshore dives but also, if you’re sneaky and know where to go you can still find unspoiled reef.
You’ll find pristine stretches of wall where dive boats are not allowed. There’s nothing stopping you from entering from the shore.
It takes a bit of effort to wade over the fore reef but then you drop into a sheer wall with spectacular coral, Wow! That’s how we used to do it before the place was ruined. We slept under Landrovers on Safari from Eilat (Israel) cooked on the beach and dived from the shore. Truth is, you don’t need a boat.


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Two wrecks

   Gibraltar  Mediterranean Sea
There's not many dives you can do that give you two wrecks for the price of one!
We did this as an intro dive. We all wanted a shallow wreck.
This dive can be done from the shore but we did it as a boat. We headed south along the sea wall and basically where it finished we went in! You could easily find it from shore using the same rules.
There's a telegraphic cable you can conveniently follow to find the wrecks.
I was pleasantly surprised by the profuse marine life. Loads of small stuff but with plenty of fish too. The species here are hybrid Med/Atlantic.
The wrecks are both upright and small enough to explore in their entirety in one dive.
Nothing tricky or dangerous on this dive. Ideal to try out your gear before exploring one of Gib's other larger wrecks.

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Ahrax Point

   Malta  Mediterranean Sea
Make sure that you use a marker buoy or you are likely to get hit on the head by boats going from Malta to Gozo. The site is accessed through a narrow inlet where a snorkel of approx 10 mins will give you the option of either turning left where a reef is located, or right for a large cave. Either option will give good subjects for photography.

See Also website

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Amed, Bali

   Indonesia  Indian Ocean
You can either do a shore dive to this site or take a day boat for diving on the wall(a 5 minute swim from shore will get you to the reef). It is a good site for instruction as there is a flat bottom lagoon. There are Napoleon Wrasse and Dogtooth Tuna as well as schools. Lots of colourful coral and macro subjects.



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Cape Saunders

   New Zealand  Pacific
You can reach the site via a track which can get muddy when it rains so a 4 wheel drive would be a good idea. Park at the locked gate with the koha box on the post, and follow the fenceline down the hill in an Easterly direction. Be wary of the route down the cliffs as some concentration is required! Make sure that your shore party are strong and fit and can help you get in and out of the water (confidence is needed here)!
The Cape is very exposed to the south, and therefore should not be attempted with any sort of southerly swell. If you can see signs of breaking water at the island then don't attempt it. In good conditions this is a fantastic dive for the experienced diver. The cliffs plunge straight into the sea and there are reefs to explore with lots of cracks, crevices and caves. There is a seal colony close by that can also make for good photographic subjects.


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