Marsa Alam & Port Ghalib · Egypt · Reef · Channel & pass
Marsa Umm Gerifat South
A canyon at 6 to 18 m plus training platforms at 2, 3, 5 and 9 m
Area photo: David Sanford · CC BY-SA 3.0
Marsa Umm Gerifat South is the southern reef of Coraya Bay, north of Port Ghalib: a slowly sloping reef of successive plateaus that reaches 40 metres, with a canyon between 6 and 18 metres as its main feature and training platforms fixed at 2, 3, 5 and 9 metres. Entry is from a staircase at the jetty, by zodiac or speedboat, or straight off the beach.
Also known as Süd Grifat, Coraya Bay south reef.
Where it is and how deep
25.6038° N, 34.6109° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
Whichever way you get in, staircase, jetty, zodiac, speedboat or beach, the first stage is the same shallow shelf, and the training platforms at 2, 3, 5 and 9 metres sit on it in sequence. For a course dive the platforms are the whole plan; for a fun dive they are the staging posts on the way out to the reef proper.
The reef itself slopes away slowly in a series of plateaus, and the feature to head for is the canyon, which runs between 6 and 18 metres and gives the dive its shape: down the canyon on the way out, back over the plateaus on the return. The slope keeps going to 40 metres below that, but the canyon and the plateaus above it are the recreational dive, and the shallow shelf with its platforms is where you finish and stop before surfacing at the jetty or beach.
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.
Questions divers ask
Can beginners dive Marsa Umm Gerifat South?+
Yes. It has training platforms at 2, 3, 5 and 9 metres, a canyon between 6 and 18 metres and an easy staircase entry from the jetty or the beach, and the bay's orientation keeps strong currents out, so it works as a training site as well as an easy fun dive.
Sources
- Marsa Umm Gerifat South — Scubago
- Unser Hausriff – Coraya Divers — Coraya Divers
More dive sites in Marsa Alam & Port Ghalib
Reef
Shallow reef to 15-20 m with pinnacles off the southeast
Two resident dugongs graze the seagrass in a bay you wade into
Coral garden
Coral garden to 25 m, a quarter of an hour south of the marina
Best chances of oceanic whitetips run from October to December.
Reef
A horseshoe of reef enclosing a pool of coral gardens
Wall
Starts at a 27 m pinnacle by the drop-off, then drifts shallow
Reef
Canyons cut into a reef table at only 8-10 m
Two resident dugongs grazing a shallow seagrass meadow.
Similar dives elsewhere
A maze of coral columns down to sand at 20 m
An anemone city where hundreds of anemonefish guard their young
A protected colony of endangered grey nurse sharks
A drift-free reef with south-side blocks, 90 minutes offshore