Best Red Sea Dive Sites for beginners

The first in my list is where I learned to dive, and one of the sites where a great dive is guaranteed - the corals are spectacular and the variety of fish is incredible. It is located just east of Na'ama Bay, so the corals are much healthier than in the bay where there is heavy pollution. I found there is an exceptional number of Sohal Tangs, as seen above, in this area for some reason, and they are certainly not shy! As a sidenote, if you are planning on doing a lot of snorkelling at the beach as well, I would highly recommend booking a hotel in Middle Garden, as the coral is much better than in Na'ama Bay, but it's still only 5 minutes in a taxi.

The coral reef is very shallow here, never extending much deeper than 15m, so is perfect for newly qualified divers, and more experienced ones looking for a nice easy dive.

Perhaps it was just luck, but twice on the boat to Tiran we have seen a pod of dolphins, which is why I'm including it in this list. The first time, there were probably 30 dolphins surrounding the boat, and was an amazing sight to witness. It takes around 1 hour to reach from Na'ama Bay by boat and there are plenty of different excursions to choose from, so you can make a day of it, and hopefully see something special like I did. As well as the dolphins, I have seen several huge Titan Triggerfish and some beautiful Picasso Triggerfish. I would recommend it as a great day out with a chance to see something out of the ordinary as long as you keep your eyes peeled.

This is the dive site at which I had one of my first qualified dives, and my maximum depth was just 12m on that dive, but I still remember it as an excellent dive because of the sheer vibrancy of the coral and fish. You are likely to see lionfish and stingrays at this dive site just south of Na'ama Bay, and is accessible by land, with many resorts situated along the coast of this area.

Tower is one of the most memorable dive sites I have visited, simply because of the vertical descent down the elevator shaft of coral wall at the beginning of the dive. It was a little daunting the first time, but made the dive a little unusual and that bit more special. Of course, like all the other dive sites I have mentioned, it hosts a spectacular range of soft and hard corals, with millions of shimmering fish both large and small to satisfy every diver, from the newly qualified to the hardened Divemasters. Here, there is also a chance of seeing Manta Rays if you are lucky, as seen in the video below.