The Red Sea takes its name from the periodic algal blooms that occur here painting the sea with a reddish hue, and not the red-tinted Egyptian mountain ranges that surround it. It’s a diver’s paradise, with the warmest of warm seas, very little wave action and unsurpassed visibility.
The Red Sea is considered to be one of the 7 Wonders of the underwater world, harboring more than 1,000 species of invertebrates and over 200 species of soft and hard coral. This forms the basis of a marine eco-system which includes 1,100 species of fish, of which just under 20% are endemic to the Red Sea, i.e. these fish species can only be found here. The high level of endemism here is one of the main factors that makes Egypt scuba diving so interesting.