Eel Garden - Dive site - Egypt

A guide to scuba diving at Eel Garden

Dive site: Eel Garden

Location: Egypt, North Sinai

Dive type: Reef dive, shore dive, naturalist dive

Skill level: Beginner

Visibility: The average visibility in the Eel Garden is 20m / 65ft.

Depth: The depths around the Eel Garden varies between 7 and 30 m / 23 and 100 ft.

Water temperature: The water around Eel Garden is hottest in September when it is around 27° C / 81° F and coldest in February when it is around 20° C /68° F.

Dive site information: Excellent dive site filled with corals and animal life. The Eel Garden can be entered via a small lagoon that descends from the reeftop to an exit point about 7 m / 23 ft down. The entry lagoon is hardly more than 1.5 m /5 ft wide at some points and can sometimes act as a funnel for wave surge or runout caused by falling tides. It can therefore be a quite demanding swim.

Outside the lagoon you will find a sandy slope leading off to the north. This slope is an amazing sight since it is covered in thousands of garden eels. You can also find a sloping reef wall in this area with scattered coral heads. South of the sand the reef will continue and display an abundance of nice coral growth.

Marine life: Around the Eel Garden you will find an excellent selection of different corals, including soft and stony ones. Coral species include antler coral, cabbage, plate, Acropora, Dendronephthya, Xeniids and elephant ear sponge. Anemones are also widespread in the Eel Garden area. The most striking feature of the animal life here is of course the Garden Eels, but you will also encounter bluespine unicorns, damsels, baslets, lionfish, lyretail cod, grouper and loads of sand gobies and small grey morays.