Abu Galawa Small

The dive

This is the small Abu Galawa reef in the Fury Shoals, off Hamata in the far south of the Egyptian Red Sea. It is catalogued in several places under several names that all mean the same thing: Abu Galawa Small, Abu Galawa Soraya, Abu Galawa Soghayar — soraya and soghayar are simply 'small' — and this pin and the Abu Galawa Soraya pin sit on exactly the same coordinates. They are one reef. It is not Abu Galawa Kebir, the large reef 3.9 km to the south-east, which carries the Chinese tugboat Tien Hsing; a couple of operator pages attach that tug to this reef by mistake, so if a briefing mentions a 34 m steam tug you are being told about the other site.

The reef is a ring, described variously as doughnut- or crescent-shaped, with a coral garden of pinnacles inside it that carry both hard and soft coral. The most-praised feature is a channel cutting through the structure that you dive between coral walls, with coral blocks to work at the far end. The outer northern side is a steeper vertical wall face; the inner side is sheltered. Depths depend on which part you dive: the reef is generally worked around 18 to 20 m, coral cover runs down to about 24 m, and one operator gives the whole site as 5 to 30 m.

The wreck is a small American sailing yacht that went down here in 1980. Sources disagree on the numbers — 15 m long at 17 m depth, or 17 m long at 18 m, or as shallow as 15 m — but they agree on the condition: it is still largely intact after more than four decades, heavily encrusted with hard and soft coral, and its cabin fills with glassfish that light up when you put a torch on them. Moray eels and crocodilefish live around it.

On the reef, this is a critter dive on the inside and a bigger-fish dive on the outside. Nudibranchs, shrimps, scorpionfish and octopus in the coral garden; trumpetfish, anthias, fusiliers, blue-spotted ribbontail rays and free-swimming giant morays across the reef; turtles and whitetip reef sharks once you leave the shelter of the ring. OBIS records for the pin add emperor and zebra angelfish, black-and-white and bluestripe snapper, batfish, Guenther's sweeper, peacock cod, striped pyjama nudibranch and giant clam. It is also rated as a strong night dive.

One caution about current. The centres that grade this site for all levels describe it as having limited current but warn specifically about what happens when you leave the shelter of the reef, and a liveaboard operator says outright that strong current is normal for this area. Plan the exit from the ring, not just the entry.

• Ring-shaped reef with a coral garden of pinnacles inside it
• A channel through the reef, dived between coral walls, with coral blocks at the exit
• A small American sailing yacht sunk in 1980, still intact, coral-encrusted, its cabin packed with glassfish
• Steeper vertical wall on the outer northern side with whitetip reef sharks and free-swimming giant morays
• Rated as one of the better night dives on the Fury Shoals

Conditions

Sheltered water inside the ring reef and in the channel, exposed on the outer northern wall. Visibility is reported at 20 to 30 m and averaging toward the top of that. Most of the diving happens between about 5 and 24 m. Marsa Alam water sits at about 22.8 degrees in February at its coldest and around 30 degrees in August on ten-year monthly averages, and one dive guide quotes 24 to 30 degrees at this site.

On current: The sources disagree and the cautious reading has been taken here. Two dive guides call the current limited and grade the site for all levels, but both add a specific warning about current when you leave the shelter of the reef; a liveaboard operator describing the same site says strong current is normal for this stretch of the Fury Shoals. Inside the ring and in the channel it is sheltered; outside the northern wall it is not, and that is where the sharks and turtles are, so it is the part of the dive people swim to. The wreck's depth is the other disagreement: 15, 17 and 18 m all appear in print, so brief it as mid-teens and check on the day.