SeaLog
Getting there
Recorded as a shore dive roughly 43 km north of Marsa Alam. No source describes the entry itself, the walk-in, or whether access runs through a resort or dive centre, so none of that is stated here.
Abu Dabour
Egypt · reef · intermediate
0–60 mintermediateshore entry
MEDIA5 items
Abu Dabour
A shore dive on the far north end of the Marsa Alam coast with a short canyon and a floor that keeps going to 60 m.
Max depth0–60 m
Required levelintermediate
Entry typeshore
Visibilitynot sourced
The dive
Abu Dabour is a shore-accessible site about 43 km north of Marsa Alam, catalogued by SSI with a maximum depth of 60 m and a difficulty rating of 2 out of 5. Its named feature is a short canyon, a few metres long, with corals and reef life on the walls on both the northern and southern sides.
It is one of the thinner-documented sites in this stretch of coast. Beyond the SSI record we could not find an operator page publishing conditions for it, so visibility, current, entry logistics and any access arrangement are left unrecorded here rather than guessed. The one figure that matters is the 60 m maximum: this is a shore dive with a bottom well past recreational limits, which is a different planning problem from the shallow bays either side of it.
Our OBIS record covers 60 taxa but with very low counts - the highest is six occurrences - which reflects light survey effort at this position rather than a poor reef. The list is standard northern Red Sea: masked pufferfish, speckled sandperch, sea goldies, bluespine unicornfish, sohal surgeonfish, sling-jaw wrasse, giant moray, blue-spotted ribbontail ray, yellow-edged lyretail.
- Shore access about 43 km north of Marsa Alam
- A short canyon with coral on the north and south walls
- Bottom continues to 60 m, well past recreational limits
- Lightly documented: no operator publishes conditions for it
Please note before you go
- Maximum depth of 60 m on a shore dive - the bottom is well past recreational limits and there is no natural stop
- The canyon is a confined feature; a few metres of it is short, but it is still a place to lose a buddy and stir silt
- No published current, visibility or surface-condition data for this site, so the briefing has to come from a local centre
Access & rules
Season
No seasonal data is published for this site, so no best-season claim is made.
Conditions
Visibilitynot sourced
Currentnot sourced
Surgenot sourced
WaterSalt water
Depth range0–60 m
Environmentreef
Coralrecovering
Crowdsnot sourced
Not documented. No operator page we could find publishes current, visibility, surge or surface conditions for Abu Dabour, and we are not prepared to infer them from neighbouring bays. What is recorded is the shape of the dive: shore access, a short canyon, coral walls to the north and south, and a maximum depth of 60 m.
On current: No source publishes current or visibility figures for Abu Dabour, so neither is recorded. The only quantified values we could source are the 60 m maximum depth and a difficulty rating of 2 out of 5, both from the SSI catalogue record. Treat everything else as unknown until you have a briefing from a centre that dives it.
Dives & underwater footage
Questions & answers
How deep is Abu Dabour?
The catalogued maximum is 60 m, which is well beyond recreational limits. The reef structure itself, including the short canyon the site is named for, sits shallower, but nothing on this dive stops you at 40 m, so set a hard maximum before entry.
Where is Abu Dabour and how do you get in?
It is recorded as a shore dive about 43 km north of Marsa Alam. No source describes the entry itself or whether access runs through a resort or dive centre, so we do not state either - ask a local centre before planning around it.
What is there to see at Abu Dabour?
The named feature is a short canyon, a few metres long, with coral and reef life on the northern and southern walls. Our OBIS record lists 60 taxa of ordinary northern Red Sea fauna - masked pufferfish, sea goldies, unicornfish, giant moray, blue-spotted ribbontail ray - but at very low occurrence counts.
Is Abu Dabour good for beginners?
The catalogue rates it 2 out of 5 for difficulty, which suggests the reef is undemanding, but a 60 m bottom on a shore dive is not a beginner setting and no operator publishes current or visibility figures for it. We record no minimum certification because none is sourced.
What are the conditions like at Abu Dabour?
Unknown. We could not find any source publishing visibility, current, surge or surface conditions for this site, so those fields are deliberately left empty rather than inferred from neighbouring bays.
Can you snorkel at Abu Dabour?
No source describes it as a snorkelling site or publishes a shallow-water profile for it, so we make no recommendation. The documented shallow bays on this coast - Marsa Abu Dabab, Tondoba, Gabal el Rosas - are far better choices for snorkelling.
Life recorded at Abu Dabour
60 species within 1.5 km · OBISGymnothorax javanicusrare · 4 recordsBalistoides viridescensrare · 3 recordsTaeniura lymmarare · 3 records
Arothron diadematusoccasional · 6 records
Parapercis hexophtalmaoccasional · 5 records
Pseudanthias squamipinnisrare · 4 records
All 60 species recorded in this area
| Species | How often | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Arothron diadematus | occasional | 6 |
| Parapercis hexophtalma | occasional | 5 |
| Pseudanthias squamipinnis | rare | 4 |
| Gymnothorax javanicus | rare | 4 |
| Acanthurus sohal | rare | 4 |
| Epibulus insidiator | rare | 4 |
| Naso unicornis | rare | 4 |
| Cyclichthys spilostylus | rare | 3 |
| Balistoides viridescens | rare | 3 |
| Halichoeres hortulanus | rare | 3 |
| Arothron stellatus | rare | 3 |
| Chaetodon fasciatus | rare | 3 |
| Chaetodon semilarvatus | rare | 3 |
| Chlorurus sordidus | rare | 3 |
| Coenobita scaevola | rare | 3 |
| Monotaxis grandoculis | rare | 3 |
| Naso elegans | rare | 3 |
| Parupeneus macronemus | rare | 3 |
| Rhinecanthus assasi | rare | 3 |
| Thalassoma rueppellii | rare | 3 |
| Variola louti | rare | 3 |
| Zebrasoma desjardinii | rare | 3 |
| Taeniura lymma | rare | 3 |
| Parupeneus forsskali | rare | 2 |
| Plectroglyphidodon leucozonus | rare | 2 |
| Cephalopholis argus | rare | 2 |
| Pterois miles | rare | 2 |
| Pygoplites diacanthus | rare | 2 |
| Abudefduf vaigiensis | rare | 2 |
| Alticus magnusi | rare | 2 |
| Caranx melampygus | rare | 2 |
| Coris aygula | rare | 2 |
| Acanthopleura vaillantii | rare | 2 |
| Scarus psittacus | rare | 2 |
| Sphyraena barracuda | rare | 2 |
| Grapsus tenuicrustatus | rare | 2 |
| Macolor niger | rare | 2 |
| Mulloidichthys flavolineatus | rare | 2 |
| Fistularia commersonii | rare | 2 |
| Corythoichthys flavofasciatus | rare | 2 |
| Bothus pantherinus | rare | 2 |
| Caesio lunaris | rare | 2 |
| Cheilinus lunulatus | rare | 2 |
| Cheilio inermis | rare | 2 |
| Chlorurus gibbus | rare | 2 |
| Chrysiptera unimaculata | rare | 2 |
| Coris cuvieri | rare | 2 |
| Halichoeres scapularis | rare | 2 |
| Hologymnosus annulatus | rare | 2 |
| Ostracion cubicum | rare | 2 |
| Ostracion cyanurus | rare | 2 |
| Paracirrhites forsteri | rare | 2 |
| Pseudodax moluccanus | rare | 2 |
| Aluterus scriptus | rare | 1 |
| Neoniphon sammara | rare | 1 |
| Abudefduf sexfasciatus | rare | 1 |
| Callyspongia crassa | rare | 1 |
| Diodon hystrix | rare | 1 |
| Tylosurus crocodilus | rare | 1 |
| Stenella longirostris | rare | 1 |
Nearby sites in Port Ghalib
Explore all sitesMarsa Mourain2.3 km
Port GhalibA wide sandy bay with a narrow mouth, two coral flanks and a seagrass patch in the middle where green turtles feed.
Halg El Shouni3.2 km
Port GhalibA narrow inlet you enter through a pool in the back reef, then a channel and a tunnel, onto walls that run north and south outside.
Marsa Shoni Bay4.8 km
Port GhalibA sandy bay you walk into, with a reef arm to the north and one to the south and a coral ridge out at about 20 m.
Marsa Abu Dabab5.1 km
Marsa AlamThe seagrass bay with the green turtles, the rare dugong and an entry ticket - shore diving 34 km north of Marsa Alam.
Abu Dabab South5.4 km
Marsa AlamThe southern house reef of the Abu Dabab seagrass bay - the same bay as our Marsa Abu Dabab and Abu Dabab Garden records, under a third name.
Abu Dabab Garden5.7 km
Marsa AlamThe coral garden inside the dugong bay: shore entry, blocks from 2 m down, and a seagrass meadow you are not allowed to kneel on.
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