Hurghada & El Gouna · Egypt · Wall · Pinnacle
El Fanadir, South
A wall, a 20 m-wide plateau, then a drop-off past 70 m
Area photo: Tanya Dedyukhina · CC BY 3.0
The southern end of the Fanadir reefs, about an hour by boat south of El Gouna. The dive is built around a wall described as full of marine life, a plateau roughly 20 metres wide behind it, and then a drop-off beyond the plateau that falls away past 70 metres. Pinnacles standing on the plateau give the dive something to circle.
Where it is and how deep
27.2844° N, 33.8310° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The Fanadir reefs run as a boat dive an hour south of El Gouna, and the southern site is the wall end of the system. The face is the first half of the dive: pick a depth on the wall and hold it, letting the reef pass on one shoulder rather than working up and down it. The wall is also the macro half of the site, with moray eels, scorpionfish, lionfish, stonefish, nudibranchs and octopuses on it and a frogfish turning up now and then, so a slow pace pays here.
Behind the wall sits a plateau about 20 metres wide, with pinnacles on it to explore, and this is where the shallower part of the dive belongs. Past the plateau the reef drops off again to more than 70 metres, so the plateau edge is the boundary of the dive rather than a route down. Eagle rays are reported out in the blue on that side. Circle the pinnacles, keep the deep water on the open shoulder, and finish over the top of the reef.
Marine life and season
- Nudibranchs
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Frogfish
- Eagle rays
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Fair |
Season follows Hurghada & El Gouna: Diving runs all year; the seas settle from March to November and are calmest in summer, while February brings the coolest water.
Know before you go
- Beyond the plateau the reef falls past 70 metres with no visual floor. Keep the plateau on one side and set a hard depth limit before you drop in.
Questions divers ask
How deep is the dive at El Fanadir South?+
The only depth published for the southern site is the drop-off beyond the plateau, which falls past 70 metres. The wall and the 20-metre-wide plateau behind it are where the dive actually runs, but no figure is published for either, so set your own limit before you go in and treat the plateau edge as the floor.
Sources
- El Fanadir, South dive site — Scubago (SSI MyDiveGuide)
More dive sites in Hurghada & El Gouna
An anemone city where hundreds of anemonefish guard their young
A calm lagoon of pinnacles sheltered when the outer reef is pounded
A vertical eastern edge dropping to 30 metres off Small Giftun
Two soft-coral pinnacles wrapped in glassfish and silversides
One big pinnacle full of glassfish and moray eels
Pinnacle
Pinnacles full of glassfish and anthias, all above 10 m
Seahorses among the seagrass beds of a quiet lagoon
Wall
A small canyon at the foot of the drop-off, 40 m down
Similar dives elsewhere
Great hammerheads rise from the deep for a look, then drop away
Two plateaus on the Red Sea's only atoll, hammerheads at 45 m
Sheer wall, constant current and two ships draped down the same rock
.jpg){kind=link}
A lighthouse on a seamount that climbs from 450 metres of water