Reef

Tobia arbaa

Hurghada, Red Sea, Egypt

Tobia Arbaa means four, and there are seven, which is why the site is also called the Seven Pinnacles. The ergs are unusually tall and narrow for this coast, standing on sand…

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Type

Reef

Max depth

12 m

Level

All levels

Depth12m

LocationJust inside the headland of Ras Abu Soma, northeast of Safaga.

ConditionsIn the lee of the headland, so effectively free of waves and current.

Overview

Tobia Arbaa means four, and there are seven, which is why the site is also called the Seven Pinnacles. The ergs are unusually tall and narrow for this coast, standing on sand at 12 m in a tight group like a stand of sawn-off tree trunks, and their overhangs rather than their tops are what hold the life.

Dive plan

Navigation is not a concern here: each erg stands within sight of the next, and the group can be worked in any order. The overhangs and the bases repay slow diving far more than the tops do.

What to see

Anthias and basslets cover the soft coral under the overhangs. Lionfish are present in numbers, along with pufferfish, napoleon wrasse and barracuda, and a large potato cod turns up occasionally. Spiny devilfish lie on the open sand between the ergs, crossing it on modified fin rays rather than swimming.