Reef · Drift5.0(1)

Carless Reef

Hurghada, Red Sea, Egypt

Best for advanced divers
Wall / drop-off
Drift dive
Great for macro photography
Pinnacles

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Type

Reef · Drift

Max depth

25 m

Level

Advanced

Depth12-17m around the main reef leading to a sheer drop-off at 20-25m

LocationAbout an hour from central Hurghada.

ConditionsOpen water with no sheltered mooring, so the site needs settled weather. Current can be hard work, and it does not reliably run from the north whatever the briefing says.

Overview

Carless Reef rises steeply out of deep water as two large pinnacles ringed by a flat coral garden, with a gentle slope on one side that turns into a vertical wall dropping straight into open water. The reef stands clear of everything around it, and the current running onto it delivers the food that supports the density of life on top.

Dive plan

From the mooring the plateau is the straightforward option, with the coral garden and the pinnacles carrying most of the life. The alternative starts north of the pinnacles as a drift, runs the eastern wall and finishes over the coral garden by the smaller southern pinnacle.

What to see

Carless is known for its moray eels, which behave here unlike morays on the reefs around it: free-swimming in daylight and untroubled by a diver close enough to photograph them. The rest of the food chain is present in proportion, from nudibranchs on the coral garden to frigate and skipjack tuna over the wall. Boats that reach the site first in the morning stand the best chance of hammerheads.