---
title: Marsa Abu Galawa
type: Reef dive site
location: Hurghada, Red Sea, Egypt
coordinates: 27.312000274658203, 33.800899505615234
max_depth_m: 16
published: 2023-11-25T21:59:56.557Z
updated: 2026-09-06T15:01:51.653Z
tags: Marsa Abu Galawa, Reef, Red Sea, Dive site, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/diving/dive-sites/marsa-abu-galawa
---

# Marsa Abu Galawa

## Quick facts

- **Type:** Reef
- **Location:** Hurghada, Red Sea, Egypt
- **Coordinates:** 27.312000274658203, 33.800899505615234
- **Max depth:** 16 m
- **Depth notes:** 5m in the lagoon; drop-off edge at 16m
- **Level:** All levels

## Overview

Marsa Abu Galawa is one of six sites in the Abu Galawa complex north of Hurghada and the only one built around a lagoon. The mooring sits at the lagoon mouth, and the lagoon itself is about 5 m deep with a seagrass bed on the bottom holding a small population of seahorses. Outside it the reef runs out to a drop-off whose edge lies at 16 m.

## Location

About an hour's sail north of Hurghada.

## Conditions

The range of ground, from a 5 m lagoon to a drop-off at 16 m, keeps the site open to any level of diver.

## Dive plan

Two routes are in normal use. The first runs south along a smaller reef, past an old lobster cage and a coral garden, across the plateau and back to the boat along the ridge. The second heads straight for the ridge of the plateau and returns over the plateau itself, where the eel garden lies at about 14 m.

Either way the dive usually opens on a coral block occupied by several stonefish, then crosses table corals toward the drop-off, where small hard coral pinnacles step down the slope. The return belongs in the shallows, following the reef wall at around 9 m.

## What to see

Groupers, moray eels and scorpionfish hold the shallow wall, and small caves in it are packed with glassfish. Seahorses live in the lagoon seagrass. Garden eels stand out of the sand on the plateau and withdraw into it as divers approach, so the colony is only visible from a distance. Turtles pass through, and the hard corals on the shallow reef carry a wider range of color than is usual for the area.

---

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