If there’s one month Red Sea shark lovers should have circled in their diaries, it’s May.
Each year, as spring shifts towards summer, something special happens at Daedalus Reef in Egypt’s southern Red Sea. Scalloped hammerheads – usually lingering in deeper water – begin to rise into recreational diving depths and form in schools. For a short window, divers have the chance to witness one of the most thrilling shark encounters available in Egypt.
While hammerheads can be spotted occasionally throughout the warmer months, May and early June are different. This is when schooling behaviour becomes reliable.
While you’re not looking at vast shark aggregations, sizeable groups of hammerheads circling in formation are more than enough to impress even the most experienced of divers. Even better, these sharks are accustomed to having spectators and will often pass surprisingly close by.
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So why May?
The answer lies in the thermocline.
As water temperatures begin to rise, the thermocline – the layer in the ocean where temperature changes rapidly with depth – becomes shallower. Above it, the water is warmer; below it, significantly colder. For much of the year, hammerheads remain beneath this cooler boundary. But in late April through June, the shifting temperature layers bring them within comfortable diving range.
In short, May is when conditions align – and Daedalus delivers.
And that is we focus Emperor Asmaa’s sailings fully on the south during this time.
She concentrates on trips such as Simply the Best, Southern Solitude and Daedalus, Fury & Elphinstone to ensure our guests have the best chance of seeing this incredible, limited-time-only, Red Sea spectacle.
If you would like to find out more, follow any of the links above, talk to our team via the webchat or email us on [email protected].
Picture courtesy of Charo Gertrudix