Zabargad West

On the west side of Zabargad, the Neptuna sank in 1981; she was a former minesweeper that became one of the first safari boats in the Red Sea. On 29 April 1981, serious seamanship errors while moving the boat to another anchorage caused her to hit the reef and sink quickly stern first. The wreck has been considered missing ever since, but isolated remains of the accident, such as a generator, suitcases, a radar and a diving cylinder, lie on the sandy bottom. Because the reef there only gets steeper gradually, the boat cannot have slid any deeper, and the Neptuna must lie somewhere nearby.

Next to the remains of the Neptuna, the west side of the island has a hard coral garden. The dive goes around the reef according to where the boats are moored, seeking shelter from the swell and the north wind. Around the island there are striking animals such as rays, moray eels, octopuses and squid. On the south side of the island, around 200 green turtles usually lay their eggs from May to October on a 3.5 km sandy beach. Egyptian sailors call Zabargad El Gubal, which means "the mountain".