Sharm El Sheikh, South Sinai, Egypt

Near Garden

Near Garden is the southernmost of three coral gardens, closest to Sharm El Maya port. The reef is the shallowest of the three, with a sloping plateau of hard corals from the surface to a sandy bottom at 18–22 metres. Calm conditions year-round make it ideal for snorkellers and beginner divers and for night diving on the bay. Reef inhabitants include anthias, butterflyfish, lionfish, masked pufferfish, blue-spotted stingrays in the sand, and a colony of garden eels at the deep edge. Octopuses are common at dusk and Spanish dancers, basket stars and decorated crabs emerge after dark. Visibility 20 metres typical, dropping in summer with plankton blooms.