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Reefs & Wrecks

Year round

Red Sea

UD Rating – 4 Star

M/Y Golden Dolphin III

Spacious and comfortable making it an ideal getaway.

The Golden Dolphin fleet offer a range of trips across the Red Sea. M/Y Golden Dolphin III sets sail for the sites around the Brothers, St Johns and more! The vessel is modern, comfortable and of a good size for divers.

M/Y Golden Dolphin III is a 37 metre boat and was the third liveaboard built for Golden Dolphin Safari World. She offers 7 night itineraries around the Red Sea departing from Hurghada or Port Ghaleb with a choice of 3 routes to choose from visiting various sites including the Brother Islands, St John’s, Rocky Island and the Island of Zabargad. The experienced captain, 8 friendly crew and 2 guides will lead you through the trip whilst helping with any questions or queries you may have regarding the boat or the itinerary.

M/Y Golden Dolphin III comfortably accommodates 20 guests in 8 twin cabins and 2 double cabins all spread over the upper and main deck. All cabins come with en-suite bathrooms, mini bar, storage, fresh bedding a mirror and an air conditioning unit with individual climate controls for your convenience. The food aboard is a variety of international, Italian and local cuisine with the occasional BBQ suiting the needs of most customers. Any dietary requirements must be stated at the time of booking so the chef can adhere to any guests needs.

She has an air conditioned salon furnished with tables, chairs, well stocked bar and a TV/DVD providing the perfect place for you to relax in. The adjoining dining area is air conditioned, has 4 large tables and comfortable seating for guests to gather and enjoy 3 meals throughout the day. The exposed sun deck located on the top deck is furnished with sun mattresses with the large shaded sun deck below providing tables, chairs and ample space for all guests. The large dive deck has hot water showers, charging station and a camera table with the dive platform a few steps down with 2 steel ladders into the water.

Double Cabin

10 double cabins with AC, minibar, private bathroom; 8 twin cabins (6 on the maindeck and 2 on the upper deck) and 2 cabins with king-size bed on the upper deck

  • Air Conditioning
  • Private Bathroom
  • Twin or Double Bed
  • Minibar

Route Options

M/Y Golden Dolphin offers a mixture of wall and wreck diving around the northern Red Sea for 7 night charters on the Brothers Islands itinerary. She departs from Hurghada or Port Ghalib and visits sites like the Aida II and the Salem Express all located in The Brothers area. The Red Sea has a high temperature and salt content due to its isolated location between Asia and Africa with a narrow passage to the Indian Ocean.

Top Dive Sites

The Brother Islands are one of the best diving spots in the world and are identified by two undersea mountain pinnacles rising from the depths of the abyss located 60 miles offshore from El Quseir. The Big Brother and the Little Brother Islands offer wall diving that is covered in soft corals and gorgonians attracting a diverse array of marine species. Tuna, barracudas, jacks and snappers cruise in the blue waters accompanied by the occasional white tip sharks, mantas and hammerheads.

The Aida II and the Numidia lie on the walls of the Big Brother and are perfect for divers who want to explore more wrecks than reefs. Both wrecks are covered in a rich growth of hard and soft corals attracting families of Napoleon wrasse and grey reef sharks.

The Salem Express is a 100 metre ferryboat sunk in December 1991 when it hit the reef during a stormy night and sunk rapidly without giving passengers and crew the opportunity to board the lifeboats. She is one of the largest wrecks in the Red Sea and roughly the same size as the Thistlegorm. The ferry boat is now covered in hard and soft coral that attracts thriving underwater life including frogfish, blue spotted rays, angel and butterfly fish.

Please Note:

You must be a PADI Open Water diver to be able to take part in this trip.

M/Y Golden Dolphin offers a mixture of reef and wall diving around the southern Red Sea for 7 night charters on the Deep South - St John’s itinerary. She departs from Hurghada or Port Ghalib and visits the main attraction of this itinerary St John’s Reef. The reef is near Rocky Island which is deep south in the Red Sea allowing for long overnight sailings. The Red Sea has a high temperature and salt content due to its isolated location between Asia and Africa with a narrow passage to the Indian Ocean.

Top Dive Sites

St John’s Reef system is located in the southern Red Sea and offers exciting drop offs and pelagic action. The wall of ones of the reefs is covered in giant gorgonias and another overgrown with a number of colorful soft corals. You will see a lot of fish cruising in the blue waters with the occasional sightings of hammerheads, grey sharks, white tip reef sharks and silvertips.

The tour descriptions (dive sites) are samples. Depending on the weather conditions and the quality of the divers other dive sites can be chosen.

Rocky Island is a mystical site that represents a diver’s dream. The indented reef that circles the entire perimeter of the island drops deeply to an astonished depth and the constant currents that flow all along the year favor the growth of different kinds of colorful marine life in a continuous struggle for a place on the reef. The walls are absolutely covered with the most beautiful soft corals, as well as gorgonias, fans, sponges and black coral trees. Because of its exponated situation everything seems to concentrate on the surroundings of this small island. Reef sharks, especially grey and silvertips, you can watch in the blue and may be manta rays, turtles and dolphins. The Island of Zabargad is a superb dive spot. Here you can dive along walls, hover over drop offs or dive slowly in the shallow area, watching the big amount of reef fishes or inhabitants and admire the beautiful coral garden. Fury Shoals is in southern Egyptian part of the Red Sea and a Mecca for dolphins. Here are tons of beautiful reefs with thousands of colorful fishes. The biological diversity on corals, both hard and soft, is astonishing. Diving varies from easy to quite challenging depending where one dives such as Sha’ab Maksour with drop off and drift dives, Sha’ab Claudio with caves and his local Napoleon that greets our guests most of the time. Sha’ab Sharm offers a good observation point for viewing passing sharks.

Vessel Details

Year Built 2008
Length 40 metres
Beam 8 metres
Water 2 desalination systems, 4500 l
Engines 2 x Cummins K19, each 750 HP
Generators 2 x 100 kW (230 V) Perkins
Compressors 2 x L & W 280 EC; 1x Mattei LP ERC 507l
Connectivity VHF, DSC (Area I and II), Satellite EPIRB, Satellite phone, WIFI
Emergency Equipment Oxygen system and Medic First Aid Kit available aboard
Entertainment TV/Video/DVD/CD media player, games and a library of books
Salon & Dining Area Spacious air conditioned dining area and salon
Air Compressors 2 x L&W 280 EC and 1 x membrane divemix 507
Tanks 12l aluminum-tanks DIN/INT; 15l tanks on request
Zodiac 2 zodiacs with outboard engine
Safety Life jackets and 2 life rafts, oxygen and first aid, fire extinguishers in every cabin and in salons, fire fighting and alarm system, smoke detectors
Dive Deck Spacious dive deck with hot water showers, charging station & camera table
Full Equipment Rental EUR120
Wetsuits EUR30
BCD EUR30
Regulator EUR30
Torch EUR30
Dive Computer EUR30
Snorkel EUR6
Mask EUR12
Fins EUR12
Boots EUR12
Equipment Rental The equipment rental prices listed above are per person per week and will need to pre booked and paid for at the time of booking

Available Experiences

ITINERARIES AVAILABLE IN THIS DESTINATION

Marcelina

Wednesday, 10 April 2019

Sunrise Marina Resort & Emperor Divers in Marsa Alam

The overall holiday was excellent value for money. Emperor Divers provided an outstanding dive experience on day boat trips to provide some of the most relax dives I have ever encountered at reasonable depths.

Sunrise Marina Resort & Emperor Divers in Marsa Alam

What Our Customers Have To Say

Reviews from our Clients, Journalists, Photo Pro's and our own Experts

Our reviews and blogs are an additional guide to evaluate of the holiday is exactley what you are looking for or not. Some love an Eco-Resort, some love air-con and a flat screen TV, we aim to ensure you get what you are looking for, at great value for money.

Gota Shab El Erg

Hurghada , Red Sea

Nearby is a little known site but well worth a visit. The whole area teems with life, unicorns, scorpion fish, groupers, morays, emperor angel fish, blue spotted rays and underneath the table corals look out for white tips resting in the sand. In the sandy channel between the main reef and the gota you will find cone shells, and flatfish.

  • Min Dives: 4
  • Dive Type: Boat Dive
  • Diver Level: Open Water Diver
  • Max Depth:

Shaab Claude

Marsa Alam, Red Sea

Famous for its large labyrinths of swim throughs. Huge porite corals and a resident napoleon. Often white tip reef sharks and a very nice anemone and clownfish settlement on a small pinnacle a little off the reef to the south.

  • Min Dives: 4
  • Dive Type: Boat Dive
  • Diver Level: Open Water Diver
  • Max Depth:

St Johns Reef

Marsa Alam, Red Sea

This incredibly beautiful reef lies Approx. 40km North of the Sudanese border and 20km south of Zabargad . The reef covers a huge area and many dives would be needed to explore the numerous coral heads and islands that make up this extensive area.

  • Min Dives: 4
  • Dive Type: Boat Dive
  • Diver Level: Open Water Diver
  • Max Depth:
Dates Duration Route Room Type Price