ITINERARY HIGHLIGHTS

• Going ‘against the flow’ to see the best sites in the southern Red Sea at their quietest times.
• Elphinstone, Daedalus, and St John’s at their quietest with the rarely-dived sites of Rocky and Zabargad also included.
• This is a 21+ itinerary with all dives made offshore. By staying out of port on the last night, there’s potential for up to 22 dives on the trip – the most any of our itineraries offer.
• A diverse range of marine life, such as tuna, barracudas, jacks, groupers, Napoleon, bump head parrotfish, and sharks, including hammerheads and occasionally silky and oceanic white tips. Dolphins and turtles in the Fury Shoals, while manta, thresher sharks, and whale sharks can always surprise.

New for 2023, Emperor Divers is running an itinerary to give experienced divers the chance to go against the flow and dive into the best sites of the Red Sea on what should be their quietest days.

By approaching these iconic sites in the opposite direction to most standard itineraries, we hope to offer you the best opportunity to dive with the fewest number of people around you.

On arrival

Guests arriving at the required airport on the check-in day will be met by a representative, wearing a uniform and holding a sign representing the boat for your trip. The meeting point is at the main exit after you have collected your luggage.

Check-in

Check in at 6:00 PM on the arrival day, and we will leave the port as soon as all the clients are on board.

Southern Solitude is a dive-focused trip, heading out of Port Ghalib and immediately arriving in the Elphinstone area. This enables us to make a check dive nearby and then get straight to a site that is normally frequented on the final days of trips. With fewer boats around, it should give the chance to enjoy the 300-meter-long reef’s colorful pink and red soft coral sheer walls in relative peace.

We’ll then go to Daedalus, arriving before most others, to take in its deep walls and drop-offs, which offer some of the most spectacular diving to be found, before heading down to the exceptionally remote, and usually quiet, Rocky and Zabargad Islands, where even many Red Sea veterans cannot boast to have dived.

Over the next couple of days, we will move up through St John’s and Fury Shoals, where our guides will find the quietest spots in this vast collection of stunning reef systems, which offer some of the most picturesque and rewarding diving in the Red Sea. Fury Shoals also boasts an amazing selection of marine life, including super-friendly turtles and a resident pod of spinner dolphins.

This will bring us up to day six, when, while others cram into local onshore bays, we’ll do a full day and night diving program on some offshore reefs as we travel north.

This trip is one of our 21+ itineraries and should offer around 22 dives on proper safari sites by spending six full nights out of port, returning on the morning of day seven, just before departure time.

And, while there are few certainties in life, we’re pretty sure that by taking a different approach, we can give you the best chance of some Southern Solitude.

Check-out begins early morning on the day of disembarkation, with all guests departing by midday.

Sample itineraries and maps are for illustrative purposes only. The exact route and sites visited are subject to change based on local regulations, guest experience, weather, and logistics, and are at the Captain's discretion.