Reef

South Abu Ramada

Hurghada, Red Sea, Egypt

South Abu Ramada is the reef south of the small islet and three large boulders standing detached from the southern end of Abu Ramada Island. The seabed between its pinnacles i…

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Type

Reef

Max depth

35 m

Level

All levels

DepthPinnacles at 25m; sloping wall to 35m

LocationBetween 60 and 90 minutes from Hurghada.

ConditionsAlmost always calm, the exception being a southerly wind, which is rare. Current is mild or absent at the east and west corners.

Overview

South Abu Ramada is the reef south of the small islet and three large boulders standing detached from the southern end of Abu Ramada Island. The seabed between its pinnacles is not sand but a bare, compacted concretion, which is why the site looks so empty between structures and so crowded on them.

Dive plan

The route runs west from the moorings at about 25 m. The deepest pinnacle sits at roughly that depth and is split through the middle by a gap shaped like an open clam shell, sheltering soldierfish, glasseyes, hatchetfish and sweetlips. Behind it a shallower shelf carries the rest of the pinnacles, and that is where the dive is spent before returning shallow along the main reef. East of the moorings a sloping wall falls to 35 m, and a long swim from there reaches a rounded grotto with several entrances, filled with soft coral and packed with sweepers, cardinalfish and soldierfish.

What to see

Morays swim free here rather than staying in their holes. Bannerfish, emperors, sweetlips and unicornfish school over the pinnacles, napoleon wrasse cross the bare ground between them, and squid hold in midwater in small groups.