St John's Reefs · Egypt · Reef · Cave & cavern · Wall
Gota Kebir
Tunnels and fissures cut into an 840 m reef block
Photo: Derek Keats · CC BY 2.0
Gota Kebir is the largest reef in St John's, 840 metres long and 400 wide, and no single dive covers it. Boats work the sloping sides by time of day, the northern plateaus at 15 and 30-plus metres hold sharks, and the fissures and tunnels in the southeast corner are the cavern system most divers mean when they say St John's caves.
Also known as Gota Kebira.
Where it is and how deep
23.4146° N, 35.9305° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
At 840 metres long and 400 wide, Gota Kebira is the largest of the St John's reefs, and it takes several dives to see properly. The eastern and western flanks are deep sloping reefs of predominantly brown soft coral, and boats split them by time of day: the east side in the morning, the west in the afternoon. The walls themselves drop to more than 100 metres, so the dive is run along the reef at a set depth rather than down it.
The northern section carries two plateaus, one at 15 metres and one at 30-plus, and this is the end of the reef where the sharks are. Whitetip reef sharks and bluespotted stingrays use the shallower shelf, and both the northern and southern plateaus are the places to look for hammerheads, threshers, oceanic whitetips and grey reef sharks. Jacks and barracuda school over the south plateau, mantas turn up occasionally, and green turtles feed and rest on the reef.
In the southeast corner the wall is broken by deep fissures you can swim into and tunnels you can dive through. This is the cavern system most divers mean when they talk about St John's caves — sandy-floored chambers with coral-framed openings, cut into a reef top riddled with cracks. The light coming down through those openings is the reef's trademark, and the reason the site gets photographed as much as it gets dived.
Marine life and season
- Reef sharks
- Hammerheads
- Thresher sharks
- Oceanic whitetips
- Manta rays
- Sea turtles
- Stingrays
- Trevally & jacks
- Barracuda
| 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 St John's Reefs: Mar–Jun and Sep–Nov are the settled windows; midsummer is very hot and winter northerlies make the long crossing uncomfortable.
Know before you go
- The tunnels and fissures are daylight-zone swim-throughs, but they are narrow enough that buoyancy errors damage coral and cloud the water for everyone behind you.
- The plateau edges drop past 100 m into open water, so fix a depth limit for the deeper shelf before you leave the shallow one.
Photos from Gota Kebir
Derek Keats · CC BY 2.0
Derek Keats · CC BY 2.0
Derek Keats · CC BY 2.0
Dive videos
Dive at St. John's Gota Kebir (Big Gotta), 01Jun25, 4K · Kerstin's Dive Tales on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is Gota Kebir?+
The dive works two northern plateaus, one at 15 metres and one at 30-plus, while the walls beyond them drop to more than 100 metres. Most profiles stay between 15 and 30 metres along the sloping sides of the reef.
Where are the caves at Gota Kebir?+
In the southeast corner, where the wall is broken by deep fissures and tunnels, and along the shallow reef top riddled with cracks. They are sandy-floored chambers with coral-framed openings, not true cave, and are dived with a guide.
Sources
- St. John's Diving, Southern Red Sea - Egypt — Dive The World
- ST. Johns - Red Sea World Travel — Red Sea World Travel
- St. John's - Best Red Sea Liveaboard Diving In Southern Egypt — No Troubles Just Bubbles
- Gota Soraya Reef dive site page — Egypt Liveaboard
- Umm El Khararim (St. John's Caves) Marsa Alam — Sambo Divers
Photo credits
- Pink and orange soft coral tree rising from the reef at Gota Kebir by Derek Keats, CC BY 2.0, via Openverse
- Two-banded anemonefish over an anemone with other reef fish nearby by Derek Keats, CC BY 2.0, via Openverse
- Masked puffer fish being cleaned by small cleaner fish over the reef by Derek Keats, CC BY 2.0, via Openverse
- Divers swimming along a steep coral-covered reef wall by Derek Keats, CC BY 2.0, via Openverse
In The Logbook
- Malapascua thresher sharks: Monad or Kimud?Big animals · 11 min read
- Where to dive with oceanic whitetip sharksBig animals · 11 min read
More dive sites in St John's Reefs
A maze of coral columns down to sand at 20 m
Short caverns at 7 m under an overnight mooring
Wall
Overhangs on the southern wall and a cavern you enter at 10 m
Grey reefs and hammerheads off an exposed pinnacle
Pinnacle
A ledge at 20–35 m circling a current-swept habili
Cave & cavern
Sunlight falling through cracks in the cavern roof at 6-10 m
Similar dives elsewhere
Swim-throughs and pinnacles from 10 metres, diveable year-round.
A resting pod of 60 to 80 spinner dolphins in the lagoon.
A vertical eastern edge dropping to 30 metres off Small Giftun
A mushroom-shaped reef with a labyrinth of caves along its south side