Elphinstone North

The dive

Elphinstone is a submerged ridge about 300 m long and 20-40 m wide lying roughly 10 km off the coast near Marsa Alam, with steep walls dropping on both sides into several hundred metres of open water. This entry is the northern plateau: a fin-shaped shelf, around 80 m long, that extends off the tip of the reef before the walls fall away. Published depths for the shelf vary with where you stand on it, from about 18-25 m at the shallow end down to 40 m or more where it steps off.

The dive is normally a drift. The reef sits at an angle to the prevailing flow, so current runs almost permanently over both plateaus, typically north to south at two knots or more, variable and capable of reversing. Boats drop divers up-current and pick them up in blue water. Access is by day boat from the Marsa Alam coast or by liveaboard out of Port Ghalib.

The plateau is covered in soft coral with gorgonian formations on the walls below, and it is the reef's main pelagic station: grey reef sharks, giant trevally, barracuda and tuna on the shelf, hammerhead schools reported in the early morning and in summer at depth, and oceanic whitetips present year round with an October-to-December peak. Note that the OBIS occurrence data behind this page covers the coastal bbox around the reef and returns ordinary reef fish rather than these pelagics; the shark and pelagic reporting comes from dive guides, not from the occurrence record.

The Sarcophagus arch is at the southern tip, not here, and sits at roughly 52-70 m. It is outside recreational limits, and the 'sarcophagus' is a square block of rock, not an artefact.

• Fin-shaped northern plateau, roughly 80 m long, dropping into open ocean
• Near-permanent current; run as a drift with a blue-water pickup
• Oceanic whitetips year round, peaking October to December
• Soft coral on the shelf, gorgonians on the walls below

Conditions

Almost always a drift. The ridge sits at an angle to the prevailing flow, so current runs over both plateaus more or less permanently, typically north to south at two knots or more, variable and capable of reversing, with down-currents reported along the east and west walls. Visibility is quoted at 20-35 m by one guide and averaging 20 m by another; the lower figure is what we record. Water runs about 22 C in March and 29 C in August. Surface conditions are open-ocean and often rough.

On current: Sources agree the current is near-constant over the northern plateau and runs mostly north to south at two knots or more, but it is variable and can reverse. Depth figures for the plateau disagree (18-25 m in some guides, 20-40 m in others, stepping to about 42 m); we record the conservative 18-40 m band. Visibility is quoted as 20-35 m by one guide and averaging 20 m by another; the lower figure is recorded. Water temperature is reported around 22 C in March and 29 C in August.

Best months: Oct, Nov, Dec

Dives & underwater footage