Safaga · Egypt · Reef
Gamul Soraya
Main reef to 14 m, with the south side dropping to 20 m
Area photo: IDS.photos from Tiverton, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0
Gamul Soraya is a reef about 30 minutes off the coast from Safaga whose main body extends down to 14 m, with the south side dropping to 20 m. Current is slight, so it dives as an unhurried reef loop, but the reef is large and exposed enough that wind decides whether the boat goes at all.
Where it is and how deep
26.7961° N, 33.9916° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
It is about 30 minutes out from the coast, and the first question is the wind rather than the water: the reef is big enough to catch it, and on strong days the boat does not go. When it does, the dive is built around the main reef, which extends down to 14 m, so the working depth is shallow and the bottom time is generous on a single tank.
There is little current, which means the reef can be circled slowly and swum back to the boat rather than run as a one-way drift. Divers wanting a little more depth take the south side, which goes to 20 m, before the profile is brought back up onto the shallow reef top for the last part of the dive and the ascent. The reef is large, so one dive covers only part of it and the route is worth agreeing before the descent.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair |
Season follows Safaga: Apr–Jun and Sep–Nov are the calmest windows; midsummer is very hot and winter northerlies close the offshore reefs.
Know before you go
- The reef's size leaves it exposed to wind, and a chop at the surface makes the entry and the pickup harder than the diving itself; check the forecast before committing to the crossing.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Gamul Soraya?+
The main reef extends to about 14 metres and the south side goes to 20 metres, so the site can be dived shallow or taken a little deeper on the same visit.
Sources
- Gamul Soraya — Scubago
More dive sites in Safaga
Drift
A current-swept ridge where grey reef sharks hold out in the blue
Reef
A drift-free reef with south-side blocks, 90 minutes offshore
Reef
Shallow 16 m reef, 25 minutes out, divable when the wind is up
A mushroom-shaped reef with a labyrinth of caves along its south side
Reef
An anemone garden of 40-plus anemonefish above a 35 m plateau
A 115 m ferry lost in 1991, dived as a memorial without entry
Bottom depths from 14 m to 30 m on the reef's western side
Pinnacle
Coral pillars rising from sand at 12 m almost to the surface
Similar dives elsewhere
Reef
Abu Latt
Farasan Banks & Al Lith · Saudi Arabia
Columnar Porites framework standing 10 m off the bottom
A fenced reef you walk into, with a slope out to 35 m
.jpg){kind=link}
Shallow reef at 7 to 13 m with a drop-off past 60 m alongside
Black Sea bottlenose dolphins that are not trained to perform