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Abu Galawa Kebir Wreck
Egypt · wreck · beginner
5–30 mbeginnerOWboat entry
Abu Galawa Kebir Wreck
A 1935 Chinese harbour tug lying against the reef in 5 to 18 m, so overgrown that on one side you cannot tell the hull from the coral.
Max depth5–30 m
Required levelbeginner
Entry typeboat
Visibility20 m
The dive
Abu Galawa Kebir is one of the large reefs of the Fury Shoals, off Hamata in Egypt's deep south. Kebir means the big one, and it is the larger of the two Abu Galawa reefs: a reef complex with a shallow lagoon, side reefs, walls, pinnacles and channels, with a coral garden on the west side and a sandy bottom running out to a drop-off. What brings boats here is the wreck lying against it.
The ship is the Tien Hsing, a steam harbour tug built in Shanghai in 1935, about 34 to 36 m long with a beam of just over 7 m. She went down here on 26 October 1943 and now lies canted over against the reef, bow shallow and stern deep. Sources put the hull between roughly 5 and 18 m: one operator gives the stern at 17 m with the tip of the bow breaking the surface at low tide, a liveaboard operator gives the body of the wreck at 12 to 13 m, and a third gives bow 5 m, stern 18 m. All of them agree it is a shallow dive.
The reason it is worth the trip is the growth. Decades in warm, shallow, well-lit water have left the tug completely encrusted in hard and soft coral, and on the sheltered side the covering is so dense that it is hard to pick the hull out from the reef behind it. The exposed side reads more clearly as a ship. This is a wreck you swim around and over rather than into.
Do not confuse it with the neighbouring Abu Galawa Soraya, also called Abu Galawa Small, about 4 km away: that reef has a different and much smaller wreck, an American sailing yacht that went down in 1980, plus a wall. Both are in the same day's diving from a Fury Shoals boat, which is exactly how they get mixed up.
- The Tien Hsing, a 1935 Shanghai-built harbour tug that sank on 26 October 1943
- One of the most heavily coral-covered wrecks in the Red Sea; the sheltered side is hard to distinguish from the reef
- The whole wreck sits between about 5 and 18 m, so bottom time is not the limit
- A large reef around it: lagoon, side reefs, walls, pinnacles, channels and a coral garden on the west side
- Night diving is run on the reef by liveaboards
- Humphead wrasse, whitetip reef shark, batfish and Spanish dancer are all recorded here
Please note before you go
- The wreck lies canted against the reef with collapsed and coral-covered structure; there is no safe penetration route and hull openings are overgrown
- The bow is in very shallow water and the site is worked by liveaboards and speedboats, so boat traffic overhead is a real consideration on the shallow end
- The hull is entirely encrusted in living coral, including stinging hydrocorals, so contact hurts both ways
- Long-spined Diadema urchins are recorded on the reef
- Remote site: nearest port is Hamata, itself about two hours by road from Marsa Alam, with no facilities on the reef
Access & rules
Mandatory requirementsGetting there
Boat only. Day speedboats run from Hamata, which is roughly two hours by road south of Marsa Alam, and from Berenice; the site is also a standard stop on Fury Shoals and Fury-and-St-John's liveaboard itineraries out of Port Ghalib and Hamata. There is nothing on the reef itself.
Operator
Access to the site runs through a local operator.
Season
No source we read gives month-by-month conditions for this reef, so we do not list best months. The Fury Shoals are worked year round by liveaboards out of Port Ghalib and Hamata and by day speedboats from Hamata and Berenice; the practical limiter on a day trip is wind on the crossing rather than a season.
Conditions
Visibility20 m
Currentlight
Surgenot sourced
WaterSalt water
Depth range5–30 m
Environmentwreck
Coralnot sourced
Crowdsmoderate
A sheltered reef complex with low current and reported visibility of 20 to 30 m. The wreck lies in warm, well-lit shallow water against the reef, which is why it is so heavily grown over. Day and night dives are both run here from liveaboards.
On current: Operators describe the current here as low or limited and rate the site as easy and suitable for all levels, which is unusual for the Fury Shoals and is a function of diving inside a sheltered reef complex rather than on an exposed offshore wall. Sources disagree on how the wreck sits: the stern is given variously at 17 m and 18 m, the main body at 12 to 13 m, and the bow at 5 m or awash at low tide. We publish 5 to 18 m for the wreck itself and 30 m as the reef's maximum, which is the sand and drop-off outside. Visibility is reported at 20 to 30 m with 20 m as the average, so 20 m is the figure we carry.
Questions & answers
What is the wreck at Abu Galawa Kebir?
The Tien Hsing, a steam harbour tug built in Shanghai in 1935, about 34 to 36 m long with a beam of just over 7 m. She went down here on 26 October 1943 and lies canted over against the reef. Decades of shallow, sunlit water have left her completely encrusted in hard and soft coral, to the point that on the sheltered side the hull is difficult to tell apart from the reef behind it.
How deep is the Abu Galawa Kebir wreck?
Shallow, and the whole thing is within recreational range. Sources vary slightly on how it sits: one operator gives the stern at 17 m with the bow tip breaking the surface at low tide, a liveaboard gives the body of the wreck at 12 to 13 m, and another gives bow 5 m and stern 18 m. Take 5 to 18 m as the working range. The reef itself goes to about 30 m out on the sand.
Is Abu Galawa Kebir the same as Abu Galawa Soraya?
No, and this is the most common mix-up in the Fury Shoals. Abu Galawa Kebir, the big one, has the Tien Hsing tugboat. Abu Galawa Soraya, also called Abu Galawa Small, is a separate reef about 4 km away with a wall and a much smaller wreck, an American sailing yacht that sank in 1980 and sits at around 15 to 17 m. Boats often dive both in the same trip.
Can beginners dive Abu Galawa Kebir?
Yes. Operators rate the site easy with low current and describe it as suitable for all levels, and the entire wreck sits between about 5 and 18 m, so an Open Water diver has the depth for all of it. It is a swim-around wreck rather than a penetration wreck, which is another reason it works for less experienced divers. The one thing to respect is boat traffic over the shallow bow.
Can you snorkel the Abu Galawa Kebir wreck?
Yes, at least the shallow half. Operators list the site as suitable for snorkellers, and the bow lies in around 5 m of water or breaks the surface at low tide, so the forward part of the hull and its coral cover is visible from a mask and snorkel. You still need a boat to reach the reef, and you need the crew to show you where the boats are moving before you go in.
How do I get to Abu Galawa Kebir?
By boat only. Day speedboats run out of Hamata, which is about two hours by road south of Marsa Alam, and out of Berenice further south. The reef is also a standard stop on Fury Shoals liveaboard itineraries leaving Port Ghalib and Hamata, and liveaboards are what make the night dives here possible. Nothing on the reef itself is above water.
What will I see at Abu Galawa Kebir?
The wreck's own coral cover is the main event, but the surrounding reef records humphead (napoleon) wrasse, whitetip reef shark, batfish, sea goldies, black-and-white snapper, coronation trout and squaretail coralgrouper, emperor and royal angelfish, twoband anemonefish and blue-spotted ribbontail rays. Spanish dancers are recorded here, which is a night-dive animal. Turtles and lionfish are also reported at the site.
Can you go inside the Tien Hsing?
Treat it as a no. The tug lies over at an angle with collapsed structure, and the coral growth that makes the wreck worth diving has also closed and disguised its openings. It is dived as an exterior swim, around the hull and over the deck. Poking into a small, heavily overgrown 1930s hull at an angle is how divers get stuck or destroy decades of coral, and no source describes a penetration route.
Life recorded at Abu Galawa Kebir Wreck
26 species within 1.93 km · OBISTaeniura lymmarare · 2 recordsTriaenodon obesusrare · 1 recordsCheilinus undulatusrare · 1 recordsHexabranchus sanguineusrare · 1 records
Aluterus scriptusrare · 1 records
Diadema setosumrare · 1 records
All 26 species recorded in this area
| Species | How often | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Taeniura lymma | rare | 2 |
| Aluterus scriptus | rare | 1 |
| Diadema setosum | rare | 1 |
| Amphiprion bicinctus | rare | 1 |
| Epinephelus tauvina | rare | 1 |
| Malacanthus latovittatus | rare | 1 |
| Plectropomus areolatus | rare | 1 |
| Pseudanthias squamipinnis | rare | 1 |
| Pygoplites diacanthus | rare | 1 |
| Sargocentron spiniferum | rare | 1 |
| Triaenodon obesus | rare | 1 |
| Variola louti | rare | 1 |
| Phyllidia multifaria | rare | 1 |
| Acanthurus sohal | rare | 1 |
| Cheilinus undulatus | rare | 1 |
| Hexabranchus sanguineus | rare | 1 |
| Macolor niger | rare | 1 |
| Mulloidichthys vanicolensis | rare | 1 |
| Paracirrhites forsteri | rare | 1 |
| Platax orbicularis | rare | 1 |
| Pomacanthus imperator | rare | 1 |
| Pycnochromis dimidiatus | rare | 1 |
| Thalassoma rueppellii | rare | 1 |
| Tursiops aduncus | rare | 1 |
| Pomacentrus sulfureus | rare | 1 |
| Chaetodon fasciatus | rare | 1 |
Nearby sites in Hamata
Explore all sitesShaab Bango2.4 km
HamataThe north reef of a two-reef stop off Hamata: coral garden and blocks between about 5 and 25 m, and the first site the boats drop when the wind is down.
Shaab Camelia2.6 km
HamataAbu Galawa Small3.9 km
HamataA ring reef in the Fury Shoals with a coral garden inside it, a channel you swim through between coral walls, and a small American sailing yacht sunk in 1980 that the reef has taken over.
Habili Ganna3.9 km
HamataA submerged Fury Shoals reef built around four large coral blocks, six hundred metres south of Sha'ab Claudio.
Sha’ab Claudio4.1 km
HamataA small reef at the south end of the Fury Shoals built around a shallow cave system that stays lit because most of it is open to the sky.
Shaab Mohamed5.8 km
HamataA small Fury Shoals reef whose northern end is a field of coral pinnacles rising to the surface, usually dived as a zodiac drift.
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