Eilat

Israel

Eilat is Israel's only coastal diving region, on the Gulf of Aqaba, centered on a protected fringing coral reef regarded as the northernmost shallow-water coral reef in the world.

The region stretches along the coast from the city of Eilat south to the Egyptian border, with most dive sites accessible directly from shore. Its core is a multi-part marine reserve system: the Coral Beach Nature Reserve (1964), the Eilat South Sea Nature Reserve (2002), and the Coral Sea Nature Reserve (2009). Isolation within the Gulf of Aqaba has allowed numerous endemic species to develop. About 250,000 dives are performed annually along Eilat's roughly 11 km coastline.