Paradise

Overview

Paradise lives up to its name with one of the prettiest coral gardens in the Sharm El Sheikh local area, tucked between Ras Um Sid and Amphoras and easy to spot from the surface by Cleopatra's Needle, the obelisk standing at the Waterfalls Hotel. It is a gentle, scenic site of sloping coral, oddly-shaped pinnacles and the chance of a summer manta overhead — a relaxed dive that still has a sense of occasion.

The Dive

A sloping coral-garden plateau runs from around 10m down to the drop-off near 22-25m, best dived as a gentle drift with the reef on your left shoulder. The slope is carpeted with hard corals such as Porites and Acropora and broken up by unusually shaped pinnacles packed with soft corals and gorgonian sea fans, with recesses, overhangs and small caves to peer into along the way. One large pinnacle around 16m is a known spot for frogfish, so it pays to slow down and search it. Current is usually mild, and the dive sits comfortably in the 12-25m band — no need to go deeper than the drop-off.

Marine Life

The coral garden is busy with reef fish, and the soft-coral pinnacles reward a careful eye — frogfish on the larger pinnacle near 16m, plus scorpionfish, pipefish and nudibranchs tucked into the overhangs. The real draw, though, is overhead: on summer afternoons mantas often pass through, cruising in the blue above the reef, so keep glancing up.

Good to Know

An easy, all-levels site, ideal for a leisurely scenic dive or for divers building confidence on a drift. Visibility here can be more variable than Sharm's offshore sites — often in the 5-15m range depending on conditions. Access is by short boat ride within the Sharm local sites; combine it with neighbouring Ras Um Sid or Amphoras for a full morning.