SeaLogEgypt · reef
A rope-guided canyon through the reef top at El Hamrawen, opening onto coral blocks 10 to 15 m high standing on a sand slope.
Abu Hamra is a shore dive on the coast north of El Quseir, at the old mining hamlet of El Hamrawen. The dive centre that runs it describes the entry as being on the reef itself: you drop into a small canyon in the reef top and follow a fixed rope through it until it lets you out on the seaward side. From there the dive is worked around large coral blocks, 10 to 15 m high, standing on a sand bottom that slopes away from the reef. Turtles and moray eels are the animals the operator names most often.
That rope-guided passage is the thing to plan for. It is a short overhead section at the start of the dive and again at the end, which makes the entry weather dependent and makes the exit something you want gas and light for rather than something to leave to the last 30 bar. The El Quseir coast in general is shore diving country: Regaldive describes up to 50 sites within easy reach of the centres, reached by jeep, truck, zodiac or occasionally day boat, over coral covered pinnacles on sandy slopes, and lists Abu Humra among them by name.
One name to be careful with. Elphinstone Reef, the offshore wall further south, is also called Sha'ab Abu Hamra, and search results mix the two constantly. The same dive centre page carries both: Elphinstone in its boat-dive list as a 400 m offshore reef with two plateaus, oceanic whitetips and a 50-dive minimum, and Abu Hamra in its shore-dive list as the Hamrawen canyon-and-blocks dive. This record is the shore dive at Hamrawen. If a description mentions plateaus, hammerheads or a 15 minute speedboat ride, it is describing Elphinstone and not this site.
No source I could open publishes a maximum depth here, only that the blocks stand 10 to 15 m high and that the sand keeps sloping away beyond them. That makes the depth diver-chosen rather than fixed, so set your own limit at the briefing rather than reading one off a directory.
Shore dive, but you need the dive centre to get there. It sits north of El Quseir at the hamlet of El Hamrawen, an old mining village, and Regaldive describes the El Quseir sites as reached by jeep, truck, zodiac or occasionally day boat from the centres. The entry itself is on the reef, into a small canyon in the reef top with a fixed rope through it.
Access to the site runs through a local operator.
No months claimed. Nothing I read gives a season for this site or the El Quseir shore sites. The practical constraint is a reef-top entry, which is a sea-state question on the day rather than a calendar one.
Visibility on the El Quseir coast runs to about 20 m on a calm day according to Wikivoyage, which is an area figure rather than a measurement at this site. Nothing I read publishes temperature or current for Abu Hamra. What is specific to the site is that the entry is over a reef top and through a canyon, so sea state on the day decides whether the dive happens at all.
On current: No source I opened gives a current figure for Abu Hamra itself. The operator description says nothing about drift and describes the site as worked around the blocks, which reads as a swim-back rather than a one-way dive. The listing this catalogue row was imported from does warn that there can be current in the passage through the reef, which matters more than open-water current would: current in a rope-guided canyon is a timing problem on the way out and again on the way back.
No source I could open publishes a maximum depth. What is described is coral blocks 10 to 15 m high standing on a sand bottom that keeps sloping away from the reef, so the depth is whatever you choose on the slope rather than a fixed number. Agree a limit at the briefing instead of taking a figure off a directory listing.
From the shore, through the reef. The dive centre describes the entrance as being on the reef itself, dropping into a small canyon in the reef top and following a fixed rope through it until it opens out on the seaward side. You come back the same way, so keep gas and a light for the return leg.
No, and this trips people up constantly. Elphinstone Reef is also called Sha'ab Abu Hamra, so searches for this name return the offshore wall with its plateaus and oceanic whitetips. This record is the shore dive at El Hamrawen north of El Quseir. If the description mentions plateaus, sharks or a speedboat crossing, it is Elphinstone.
The operator that runs the dive names turtles and moray eels as the frequent sightings, around large coral blocks standing on the sand slope. Regaldive's El Quseir list adds the usual coast species, including blue-spotted stingrays and nudibranchs, though that is an area list rather than a record of this reef specifically.
It is a shore dive at moderate depth, but the entry is a rope-guided canyon through the reef top, which is a short overhead section at both ends of the dive. That is not a first open water dive. A diver comfortable with a brief overhead and a reef-top entry will find it straightforward; a newly certified one should do it with a guide.
Not usefully. The route in is a canyon through the reef top with a rope, which a snorkeller cannot use, and the coral blocks that make the dive sit on the sand slope on the seaward side. You would be left on the reef top. The sheltered El Quseir bays are the better snorkelling option.
In practice yes. The site sits north of El Quseir at El Hamrawen and Regaldive describes the El Quseir shore sites as reached by jeep, truck, zodiac or occasionally day boat from the dive centres. You also want someone who knows the canyon and the rope line before you use them for the first time.
A shore dive on the El Quseir coast built around tunnels - one of them about 80 m long, ending through a hole at 7 m.
A shore dive that starts inside a sandy canyon and opens onto a maze of old coral heads, run only when the sea allows it.
The walk-in house reef of the Roots Red Sea camp: a sand bay you swim out of, a coral reef north and a low wall south.
A well-populated stretch of reef north of El Quseir that nobody has bothered to write up.
A resort house reef that is really a wall dive: 200 m of jetty out to a platform, then the reef edge falls away under your fins.
A capped, walk-in house reef in a protected bay: 5 m of reef top, then a wall.
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