Marsa Alam & Port Ghalib · Egypt · Wall · Reef
Shaab Nakari
Offshore wall about 5 km out, sand at 15-25 m
Area photo: David Sanford · CC BY-SA 3.0
Shaab Nakari is an offshore reef roughly 5 km off the Marsa Alam coast, dived mainly on its northwest side where the reef face drops away as a wall. On the west side the reef meets a sandy bottom at 15 to 25 m, which sets the working depth for most of the dive and gives an easy line to follow back along the reef.
Where it is and how deep
24.9436° N, 34.9844° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The dive is normally made on the northwest side, where the reef face is steepest and reads as a wall from the moment you leave the surface. Drop in close to the reef, get your buoyancy settled before the top of the wall falls away beneath you, and then run the face at a depth you choose rather than one the terrain forces on you. Away from that northwest face the rest of Shaab Nakari is typical Red Sea coral reef with the usual residents, so the wall is what the dive gets planned around.
Around on the west side the reef bottoms out on sand at 15 to 25 m. That sand line is the simplest way to structure the second half: follow it with the reef on one shoulder, use it as a depth reference, and work steadily shallower along the coral as your gas allows. Because the site sits about 5 km offshore with nothing around it, plan the ascent and safety stop against the reef face itself, keep the group tight and stay in sight of the coral.
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
- Shaab Nakari — Scubago
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
Two soft-coral pinnacles wrapped in glassfish and silversides
Scalloped hammerheads off the back of the reef in late summer
Cousteau's diving-saucer hangar still on the sand at 13 m
A small canyon at the foot of the drop-off, 40 m down