Safaga · Egypt · Reef
Sha'ab Sheer West
Bottom depths from 14 m to 30 m on the reef's western side
Area photo: Thomei08 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Sha'ab Sheer West is the western side of the Sha'ab Sheer reef, with bottom depths running from 14 m down to 30 m. It suits divers of any level because the profile can be kept shallow or taken to the sand, but the channel through the reef can run hard enough to be impassable, in which case the dive stays inside.
Where it is and how deep
26.6563° N, 34.0402° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
Bottom depths on this side of the reef run from 14 m to 30 m, and that spread is what makes the site work for a mixed group: the same drop gives a shallow reef dive and a deeper one, and the plan is set by the certification and the gas in the group rather than by the site. Divers heading deep take the 30 m ground first and step the profile up onto the shallower reef as the dive goes on.
The channel is the decision point. Current there can be strong enough that getting through is close to impossible, and when that is the case the dive is confined to the inside area rather than pushed across. That is not much of a loss — the inside is the sheltered ground and holds the shallow end of the depth range — but it does mean checking the channel before committing to a route that depends on crossing it.
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 most comfortable windows; in every month the wind decides whether the offshore reefs can be reached.
Know before you go
- Current in the channel can run strong enough to make it nearly impossible to swim through; when it does, dive the inside area rather than trying to force the crossing.
Sources
- Sha'ab Sheer West — Scubago
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