The Ultimate 7-Day Advanced Diver’s Itinerary for Hurghada
You’ve earned your Advanced Open Water certification. You’ve mastered buoyancy, you’ve tasted the thrill of the deep, and your logbook is no longer for just logging—it’s for planning. You don’t just want to go diving; you want to experience diving. You’re ready for the silent stories of historic shipwrecks, the exhilarating rush of a drift dive, and the unique challenges and rewards that lie beyond the 18-meter mark.
For you, the advanced diver, the diving in Hurghada is an absolute paradise.
While our coastline is rightly famous as the perfect, gentle classroom for new divers, it is also a world-class playground for the experienced. Our central location on the Red Sea coast puts an astonishing variety of deep walls, legendary wrecks, and challenging drifts within our reach.
At Scubadore Hurghada, we specialize in crafting exceptional experiences for divers of all levels. For our advanced guests, this means curating a week of diving that will challenge, inspire, and thrill you. Our small-group, expert-led philosophy means we can safely and comfortably take you to the sites that most divers only dream of.
Here is a glimpse of what your ultimate 7-day advanced itinerary with us could look like.
Day 1: Arrival & The Advanced “Check-Out” at Small Giftun
Welcome to Hurghada! Your first day is all about getting reacquainted with the Red Sea and finding your fins in a spectacular setting. We’ll head out to the iconic Giftun Island National Park for our first dive at Small Giftun.
This isn’t your average “check-out” dive. Small Giftun is a diver’s playground, featuring a shallow plateau that dramatically drops off into a stunning vertical wall. We’ll start with a gentle exploration of the coral gardens before drifting along the wall, checking our buoyancy, and enjoying the magnificent gorgonian sea fans. It’s the perfect, relaxing, and beautiful dive to dial in your weighting and prepare for the week ahead.
Day 2: Flying the Wall at Abu Ramada South
Now that we’re all comfortable, it’s time to embrace one of the Red Sea’s most exhilarating experiences: a true drift dive. We’ll head to Abu Ramada South, a site famous for its exposed wall and potential for currents.
This is a classic “one-way” ticket. We’ll descend as a small, tight group and let the sea do the work, soaring effortlessly along a vertical cliff-face adorned with a forest of giant, ancient sea fans. This is a dive for looking out into the blue—the currents that feed the corals also attract larger pelagic life, so we’ll keep our eyes peeled for tuna, trevallies, and maybe even a passing eagle ray.
Day 3: A Journey into Modern History at El Mina Wreck
Today is all about history. We’ll visit one of Hurghada’s most famous local sites: the El Mina wreck. This 70-meter Egyptian minesweeper was sunk by Israeli jets in 1973 and now lies on its port side in 30 meters of water, right in the Hurghada harbour.
As an advanced diver, this is a wreck you can truly explore. We’ll cruise along the deck, examining its anti-aircraft guns still pointing skyward, and peer into the blast hole that sealed its fate. The bridge is famously filled with a pulsating cloud of glassfish, and the entire structure is a magnet for lionfish, scorpionfish, and giant moray eels. It’s a poignant, thrilling, and fascinating dive into modern history.
Day 4: The Full-Day Expedition to the SS Thistlegorm
This is the one you’ve been waiting for. Today is a full-day expedition to what many consider the greatest shipwreck dive in the world: the SS Thistlegorm. This 126-meter British WWII vessel was sunk in 1941 while carrying a full cargo of war supplies for the Allied troops in North Africa.
A dive here is like entering a time capsule. On our two dives, we will explore the outside of this colossal wreck, seeing the anti-aircraft guns and the massive blast damage. Then, we will penetrate the cargo holds, where you will swim through history itself. Your torch will illuminate rows of BSA motorcycles, Bedford trucks, armored vehicles, cases of rifles, and even a pair of steam locomotives. This is a bucket-list dive, and we’re dedicated to doing it right.
Day 5: The Essential Surface Interval Day
After two deep wreck-diving days, safety and responsible planning are paramount. Today, we rest. PADI standards (and good sense) require a full day off from diving to allow your body to off-gas nitrogen. But a “dry day” in Hurghada is anything but boring.
This is your chance to see our other world: the desert. We can help you arrange a thrilling quad biking safari into the mountains to have tea with the Bedouins. Or, for the truly ambitious, this is your day to take the overland journey to Luxor and stand in the shadow of the colossal temples of Karnak and the Valley of the KIngs. Or, you can simply do what you’re on holiday for: relax by the pool, explore the local souks, and recharge for the final two days of epic diving.
Day 6: The Wreck Graveyard of Abu Nuhas
Rested and ready, we embark on another full-day adventure, this time to the legendary “ship graveyard” of Abu Nuhas. This treacherous reef, lying dangerously close to the main shipping lanes, has claimed more ships than any other reef in the Red Sea. It’s a paradise for advanced wreck divers.
We’ll spend the day exploring this incredible site, typically diving at least two of its famous wrecks. You might explore the Ghiannis D, a modern cargo ship that has collapsed into a fascinating maze of metal, or the Carnatic, a 19th-century steam and sail vessel whose skeletal ribs are now encrusted in a spectacular display of hard and soft corals. It’s a full, thrilling day of exploration.
Day 7: The Grand Finale at Carless Reef
For your final day, we’re not winding down; we’re heading to one of the most legendary and challenging offshore reefs in Hurghada: Carless Reef. This is a site that beginners simply cannot visit, making it a perfect grand finale for an advanced-level week.
Carless Reef is a submerged plateau in the open sea, featuring two large, magnificent coral pinnacles rising from the deep. Because it’s an exposed, offshore reef, it can be subject to strong and unpredictable currents. This is what makes it an advanced dive, and it’s also what makes it so spectacularly full of life.
The nutrient-rich currents that sweep the reef support a breathtaking ecosystem. This site is famous for its resident population of enormous Giant Moray Eels, which are often seen free-swimming between the pinnacles. The entire reef is a vibrant metropolis of schooling fish, and the currents make it a prime hunting ground for Tuna, Jacks, and Trevallies. Due to its exposed nature, it’s also a site that offers a higher-than-average chance for “big ticket” sightings.
This dive is a true test of the buoyancy, drift, and advanced planning skills you’ve honed all week. It’s an exhilarating, wild, and beautiful dive—the perfect, high-note ending to an epic advanced diver’s itinerary in the Red Sea.
This Itinerary is a Promise of Adventure
An advanced itinerary this varied and exciting requires more than just a dive boat; it requires expert planning, deep local knowledge, and a commitment to safety and quality. These sites are not for everyone, and they are not for large, crowded groups.
Our small-group, mentorship-focused approach ensures that every dive is conducted safely, with personal attention from a guide who is an expert on that specific site. If you’re an advanced diver ready to see the very best that Hurghada has to offer, this is the adventure you’ve been waiting for.
