---
title: El Erug
type: Reef dive site
location: Hurghada, Red Sea, Egypt
coordinates: 27.167499542236328, 33.95119857788086
max_depth_m: 12
published: 2023-11-25T21:59:56.557Z
updated: 2026-09-06T15:01:46.686Z
tags: El Erug, Reef, Red Sea, Dive site, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/diving/dive-sites/el-aruk
---

# El Erug

## Quick facts

- **Type:** Reef
- **Location:** Hurghada, Red Sea, Egypt
- **Coordinates:** 27.167499542236328, 33.95119857788086
- **Max depth:** 12 m
- **Depth notes:** 12-14m
- **Level:** Open Water+

## Good to know

- Suitable for beginners
- Night dives possible
- Pinnacles

## Overview

El Erug is not one reef but a field of coral pinnacles scattered across sand north of Gota Abu Ramada, and the number of them is what shapes the dive. Three separate clusters hold around twenty-five ergs between them, all built to the same pattern and all looking alike from 12 m, which is why boats treat the area as a single site while divers routinely lose track of which cluster they are on.

## Location

About 60 minutes from central Hurghada.

## Conditions

South of the Giftun Islands and well sheltered, with a sandy bottom at 12 to 14 m that suits training dives and first open-water dives.

## Dive plan

The ergs divide into Erug Diana in the southwest, Erug Giftun in the middle and Erug Gigi in the northeast. Erug Giftun is a group of seven pinnacles. Erug Diana holds seven as well, its central structure split in two. Erug Gigi runs eleven pinnacles in a roughly straight line.

Navigation is the real difficulty. With that many near-identical ergs standing on featureless sand, a diver without a compass has to fall back on the set of the current or the angle of the sun. The simpler answer is to pick two or three neighboring ergs and stay inside that box, and nothing is lost by doing so, since every cluster offers much the same thing. The tops of the ergs hold the best color, which makes the safety stop one of the better parts of the dive.

## What to see

Four species of moray live here: yellowmouth, giant, snowflake and peppered. Napoleon wrasse pass through, bluespotted ribbontail rays settle on the sand between the ergs, and crocodilefish and scorpionfish hold position on the bottom where the sand meets coral, waiting rather than hunting.

## Species recorded here (8)

- Bearded Scorpionfish (*Scorpaenopsis barbata*)
- Bluespotted Ribbontail Ray (*Taeniura lymma*)
- Crocodilefish (*Papilloculiceps longiceps*)
- Geometric Moray (*Gymnothorax griseus*)
- Giant Moray (*Gymnothorax javanicus*)
- Napoleon Wrasse (*Cheilinus undulatus*)
- Tasseled Scorpionfish (*Scorpaenopsis oxycephala*)
- Yellowmouth Moray (*Gymnothorax nudivomer*)

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/diving/dive-sites/el-aruk)*
*Updated: September 6, 2026*