Middle Garden

Overview

Middle Garden is one of the "Gardens" — a string of sheltered bays running north of Naama Bay in Sharm El Sheikh that are the city's gentlest, most reliable dives. Tucked between Far Garden and the smaller bays, it is a relaxed reef-and-sand dive, well protected from the weather, that has introduced countless divers to the Red Sea. This is a site for easy bottom time and small surprises rather than dramatic walls, and a perennial favourite for training and first holiday dives.

The Dive

The reef here is gentle by Sharm standards. A shallow fringing reef drops in steps and slopes, with a sandy bank that descends to around 25m before easing into the blue. Sandy "roads" cut between the coral structures, giving the site its garden feel and making navigation simple — follow a road out, work the reef edge, and follow another back. Small coral heads dot the sand and shelter bottom-dwellers, while the main reef runs the length of the bay and slopes gradually rather than dropping away.

Because it is so sheltered and shallow, Middle Garden is ideal for Open Water training, Discover Scuba sessions, refresher dives and easy second dives of the day. The current is generally mild, the topography forgiving, and the dive low-stress from start to finish. It is also a quietly rewarding site for macro photography and for the occasional bigger encounter passing along the reef — the kind of dive where the pleasure is in taking your time.

Marine Life

The sand and coral heads are good hunting for bottom-dwellers — blue-spotted stingrays, crocodilefish and the usual macro residents — while the reef holds moray eels, goatfish, bannerfish, butterflyfish, triggerfish and schooling milkfish. The Gardens sit on a coastline that the bigger animals occasionally pass along, so turtles, eagle rays and, rarely, mantas or a passing whale shark turn up to reward the patient.

Good to Know

Dived year-round and prized for its shelter when wind shuts down the more exposed sites; visibility typically runs 10–30m. Middle Garden is reached by day boat from Sharm El Sheikh, and the sheltered Gardens bays can also be worked from the shore by some operators. The gentle depth, mild current and easy navigation make it firmly all-levels — a textbook training and warm-up site, and a calm, fish-filled cruise for everyone else.