Egypt - Red Sea · Riff

Marsa Mubarak

The dive site

Marsa Mubarak at a glance

Marsa Mubarak is just a 10-minute drive from the port of Ras Ghalib. This dive site is perfect for a check dive or a calm, relaxing dive. A fringing reef, shallow, lots of sand, little current—but anyone who thinks this dive site must be boring is very much mistaken!

There are many rare underwater creatures to discover here: scorpionfish, stonefish, and a manatee. This manatee—or rather, the search for it—has driven me to the brink of despair. The manatee is always in Marsa Mubarak, but it rarely shows itself to divers. During a check dive, I turned around to see if everyone was still there. And there were my three divers and the manatee, lined up one after the other. Another time, I was kneeling on the sandy bottom with a diver, practicing clearing my mask, when the manatee swam by and watched us for a while, looking quite puzzled and interested. It probably thought to itself: “What strange fish.” Unfortunately, these encounters depend heavily on the manatee’s mood. The chance of seeing a manatee is about 1 in 10.