Soma Bay (Red Sea) DIVE SOMA BAY
Scuba diving in Soma Bay is performed either from shore, via the jetty on the fringing reef, or with comfortable diving boats doing daily or half-day trips. There is a wide variety of dive sites to choose from, both for novice and experienced divers. The area in general is blessed with refreshing breezes from the north both in winter and summer. These breezes often turn though into strong winds which may limit access to certain dive sites.
Here are only some of the most famous dive sites in Soma Bay:
- Abu Qifan: legendary for hammerhead sightings in late spring and manta rays in wintertime. This 300-meter long and narrow reef offers a plateau in both north and south tips.
- Panorama Reef: one of the largest reefs in Safaga, featuring numerous grottos and overhangs, where gorgonians and soft corals thrive with the frequent nurturing currents. Due to the size of the barrier, there are at least three different dives to be done here: the south plateau and the east and the west drop offs.
- Abu Soma: Abu Soma, a peninsula surrounded by a fringing reef, rich with top quality dive sites. The reef slopes gently to a plateau at around 25 meters and drops off with caves and overhangs rich with schooling reef fish, giant moray eels and healthy hard corals.
Soma Bay Diving Services
In Soma Bay there are several reliable and professional diving centres, with services ranging from scuba diving beginner certification courses to professional courses and technical diving, and providing guided dives to the area's outstanding reefs, introductory dives and diving packages, with one, two or more dives per day, for those who are certified.
For the non-licensed diving enthusiasts, the centres offer free of charge pool intro’s, where visitors can experience the thrill of scuba diving on a one-to-one basis with a diving instructor in the hotel’s swimming pool. The Soma Bay diving centres also offer experience programmes, where the visitor can try actual dives in the sea straight away, under the strict supervision of a diving professional.
Soma Bay, with its wealth of shallow coral gardens, is an ideal location of the Red Sea Riviera in Egypt to learn to dive, and most diving centres offer the full range of beginners’ courses. Even kids from 8 years on can enroll in children-dedicated scuba diving activities, such as the popular bubble-maker course, where kids learn to be familiar with water and scuba diving and have fun swimming around in a confined water area.
