Reef · Drift5.0(1)

Gota Abu Ramada

Hurghada, Red Sea, Egypt

Suitable for beginners
Best for advanced divers
Drift dive
Night dives possible
Pinnacles

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Type

Reef · Drift

Max depth

40 m

Level

Advanced

Depth0-15m main reef; 40m+ at the outer perimeter

LocationAbout 14.5 km southeast of Hurghada marina, roughly an hour by boat.

ConditionsSheltered, with little current on most days. The shallow profile keeps the whole reef inside recreational limits, which is why it takes training dives and night dives as readily as it takes first Red Sea dives. On windier days moving water turns it into a gentle drift.

Overview

Gota Abu Ramada is an oval patch reef standing alone on a flat sand bottom, and that isolation is the dive. There is no other hard structure within about 3 km, so everything needing shelter concentrates on the one place that offers it. Hurghada boats call it the Aquarium. The reef top runs from the surface to 15 m, with coral outcrops scattered across the sand around it and the outer perimeter dropping past 40 m.

Dive plan

Boats moor on the southern flank and the dive runs either east or west from there. East holds the better ground: three pinnacles standing 15 to 20 m off the main reef, a coral garden between them, large brain corals spilling down the slope and small grottoes cut into the base. The shallow, bright water over the sand is the reason photographers keep coming back, and the site can also be run as a drift.

What to see

Forty-four species have been photographed on this reef for the catalogue so far. The most frequent are elegant unicornfish, big blue octopus and giant clam, followed by blackside hawkfish, bluecheek butterflyfish and bluespotted ribbontail ray. Schooling fish carry the site: bannerfish, sweetlips, goatfish, glassfish and yellowfin goatfish in numbers. Crocodilefish sit on the sand between the outcrops, cornetfish hang vertically alongside the coral heads, and eagle rays and turtles appear over the outer perimeter. Titan triggerfish hold nests here through the summer.