Marsa Abu Galawa

Marsa Abu Galawa is a reef site north of Hurghada on the Egyptian Red Sea, about one hour by boat from the port. The mooring is at the entrance of a lagoon, and the topography suits divers of all levels.

The lagoon is around 5 m deep with a seagrass bed and sandy bottom, where a few seahorses live, and there is not much else to see there. The dive starts at a coral block where stonefish can be found. Before the drop-off you pass nice table corals, and the closer you get to the edge the more life there is. The edge of the drop-off is at 16 m, with small pinnacles of hard coral hanging down the slope, and a little farther north there is an eel garden at about 14 m.

The route back follows the reef wall at about 9 m. Bass, moray eels, scorpionfish and small caves with glassfish live there, along with many kinds of hard coral, some with strong colours. Turtles and groupers also turn up, and schools of colourful fish are always present. You can dive it two ways: south along a smaller reef, past an old lobster cage, across the plateau to the ridge and back, or straight to the ridge of the plateau and back over the plateau with its garden eels.