Marsa Alam & Port Ghalib · Egypt · Reef
Marsa Shagra House Reef
Walk-in bay entry onto north and south reefs
Area photo: David Sanford · CC BY-SA 3.0
Marsa Shagra is a bay with an easy sand-bottom entrance that opens onto a choice of north or south reef dives. Depth starts at 1 m inside the bay and drops past 40 m outside it, so the same entry serves a first open-water dive and a much deeper one, and the profile is decided entirely by which way you turn.
Where it is and how deep
25.2452° N, 34.7966° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
Entry is a walk into the bay over sand, which is what lets the same beach serve entry-level and experienced divers on the same morning. There is no boat schedule to fit and no giant stride to organise: you wade in, drop onto a bottom that begins at about 1 m, and swim out across the bay until the sand gives way to reef. That shallow start is forgiving enough for a first dive and shallow enough to make a long, slow return leg easy to plan.
From the bay the dive splits, and you choose the south or the north reef before you get in the water rather than underwater. Either way the reef runs along the edge of the bay and the ground falls off outside it, dropping past 40 m if you follow it far enough. That is the one thing to be deliberate about here: the site itself will not stop you, so set a turn depth on the surface, work the shallower reef on the way back, and finish inside the bay where the water is calm and the exit is a walk out.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime |
Season follows Marsa Alam & Port Ghalib: Diving runs all year; early autumn has the warmest sea without the August crowds.
Sources
- Marsa Shagra House Reef — Scubago
More dive sites in Marsa Alam & Port Ghalib
Reef
A horseshoe of reef enclosing a pool of coral gardens
Two resident dugongs graze the seagrass in a bay you wade into
Reef
Small reef six minutes out, coral tops at 2-3 m
Wall
Starts at a 27 m pinnacle by the drop-off, then drifts shallow
Wall
Drift along a pinnacle-studded wall from the hotel jetty
Best chances of oceanic whitetips run from October to December.
Reef
Coral-covered blocks to 30 m, half an hour south of Port Ghalib
Two resident dugongs grazing a shallow seagrass meadow.
Similar dives elsewhere
Two coral-covered plateaus with walls dropping to 100 m
A 5 m platform off the beach, and diving down to 40 m
An anemone city at 12 m, on a reef that runs down to 40 m
Seahorses among the seagrass beds of a quiet lagoon