The Boneyard: diving El Quseir's carved sea canyons

A short boat ride from Roots takes you to the Boneyard, one of the more distinctive dive sites along this stretch of the El Quseir coast. Rather than an open reef, it's a network of narrow canyons and caverns carved into the seabed — the kind of terrain that rewards a slow, careful swim rather than a fast fin-kick past.

Because of the overhead environment in places, Pharaoh Dive Club requires a Cavern Diver certification for this one, and it's typically logged as an advanced dive. At around 20 metres, it's not the deepest site on the books, but the passageways demand good buoyancy control and a calm head.

It's a good example of why the same stretch of coast can feel completely different from one dive to the next — the house reef right outside the resort is a world away from squeezing through a stone canyon twenty minutes later.