Abu Hashish Lagoon

Egypt · reef · beginner

3–12 mbeginnerboat entry

Abu Hashish Lagoon

The sheltered inside of the Abu Hashish reef: a sand-floored lagoon in 3 to 12 m where Makadi Bay runs its check dives.

reefsandboat

Max depth3–12 m

Required levelbeginner

Entry typeboat

Visibilitynot sourced

The dive

Abu Hashish is a reef lying off the Makadi Bay coast, a few kilometres north of the hotel strip and reached by speedboat in roughly 15 to 30 minutes. This pin is the lagoon: the sheltered water on the inside of the reef, entered through a gap in the reef wall. Scuba World Divers, the Makadi operator that uses it as its check-dive site, gives a depth range of 3 to 12 m and grades it for beginners, and describes mooring the boat inside the lagoon where the water is almost always still. The name reads as "father of grass", for the seagrass patches on the floor that make the site a nursery for juvenile fish.

The dive itself is deliberately unambitious: an expanse of sand, the patches of seagrass across it, and the fringing reef wall that forms the lagoon's border. The same operator lists it as its primary site for check dives, for the first open-water dives of a course and for refresher sessions, which tells you both what the site is good at and who else will be in the water. The ergs are a different dive on the same reef, not this one. The same operator lists Abu Hashish South at 30 m and Abu Hashish Runaway at 10 to 30 m-plus as separate sites, an erg field and a wall worked as a drift or as a zig-zag between the pinnacles, and our own catalogue carries them as a separate pin 80 m from this one. Which of the two you get depends on the boat, the group and the wind rather than on the coordinates.

What is on the sand is the reason to bother: blue-spotted ribbontail rays rest here in numbers, and the occurrence records around this pin are led by exactly that species. The operator also names gobies, crocodilefish and pipefish, and much of the fish life is juvenile because of the seagrass. Records nearby add Red Sea surgeonfish, spangled emperor, twobar seabream, yellowfin goatfish, milkfish over the shallows, giant moray and day octopus. Depth figures do not agree across sources. The page dedicated to the lagoon gives 3 to 12 m; a Makadi tour operator's description of the wider Abu Hashish reef gives a 15 m maximum with the outer wall at about 50 m; and a second Makadi centre, Extra Fun Divers, lists a site it also calls Abu Hashish Lagoon at 30 m with hard corals and gorgonians, twenty minutes out by boat. A fourth, the Hurghada operator DiveRED, lists Abu Hashish Lagoon at 12 m and Abu Hashish South at 35 m as separate sites, which matches the split we have used. Three of the four agree on a shallow lagoon, so that is what we have carried; different centres evidently work different ground under the same name, so ask yours what the profile is before you plan gas around it.

Blue-spotted ribbontail rays resting on the sand — the most-recorded species around this pin
Seagrass nursery: a lot of the fish here are juveniles
The boat moors inside the lagoon, so entry is off the ladder into still water
Shallow: the lagoon's own operator gives 3 to 12 m, which buys long dives and a wide margin
The fringing reef wall that closes the lagoon, worked as the second half of the dive

Please note before you go

Boats moor inside the lagoon itself, so plan the ascent and any surface swim around them
Blue-spotted ribbontail rays sit half-buried on the sand here in numbers and carry a venomous tail spine — look before you kneel or plant a hand
Fine sand and seagrass silt out fast under poor buoyancy, which matters more than usual because this is where training groups are

Access & rules

Mandatory requirements

Getting there

Boat only. Speedboat from Makadi Bay, roughly 15 to 30 minutes depending on the centre, and the boat moors inside the lagoon rather than outside it, so you enter into still water. There is no shore access to this pin.

Operator

Access to the site runs through a local operator.

Restrictions

None published for the lagoon itself. Red Sea day boats tie to the mooring buoy system rather than anchoring, and the number of buoys on a reef is what limits how many boats sit on it at once.

Rules and permits

Egypt's Red Sea reefs are moored, not anchored. HEPCA has installed over 1,000 mooring buoys along the coast specifically to stop tourist and fishing boats dropping anchor on coral. That is the boat's responsibility rather than the diver's, but it is why you tie up rather than anchor in the lagoon.

Season

Nothing we read gives a seasonal preference for this site, and the lagoon's shelter is the point: it stays dived when wind shuts the exposed reefs down. We have left the months blank rather than repeat a generic Red Sea season here.

Conditions

Visibilitynot sourced

Currentlight

Surgeflat

WaterSalt water

Depth range3–12 m

Environmentreef

Coralnot sourced

Crowdsbusy

Still water inside the reef, a sand floor with seagrass patches, and a short speedboat ride out from Makadi Bay. The lagoon is sheltered from the sea and the wind by the reef itself, which is why it is the fallback when the outer sites are blown out. No source we read gives a visibility figure for this site, so we have left it blank.

On current: Scuba World Divers, which uses the lagoon as its check-dive site, says the water inside it is almost always perfectly still, and that is the whole point of diving here. It does not extend to the rest of the reef: a Makadi operator's description of Abu Hashish has drift dives run north to south along the outside when the current is up. On depth, three operators put the lagoon at 12 m or shallower (3 to 12 m, a 12 m listing, and about 10 to 15 m for the wider site) and one, Extra Fun Divers, lists a 30 m dive under the same name. We have carried the three that agree, but if your centre is running the 30 m version you are not on the same ground — ask before you plan gas.

Questions & answers

How deep is Abu Hashish Lagoon?

Shallow: 3 to 12 m according to the operator that uses it as its check-dive site, and a second operator lists it at 12 m as well. A Makadi tour operator describing the wider reef gives about 10 to 15 m with the outer wall dropping to 50 m. One centre, Extra Fun Divers, lists a 30 m dive under the same name, which is the outlier — if that is your boat, confirm the profile, because it is a different dive.

How do you get to Abu Hashish Lagoon?

By boat only. Makadi Bay centres run it by speedboat in roughly 15 to 30 minutes, and the boat moors inside the lagoon rather than outside the reef, so you drop into still water off the ladder. There is no shore entry to this pin.

Is Abu Hashish Lagoon the same as Abu Hashish Sud Ergs?

No, though it is the same reef. The lagoon is the sheltered inside, reached through a gap in the reef wall, and is dived at 3 to 12 m. The ergs are the pinnacle field and wall on the other side of the same reef, listed separately by the same operator as Abu Hashish South at 30 m and Abu Hashish Runaway at 10 to 30 m-plus, and worked as a drift or as a zig-zag between the ergs. The two pins sit 80 m apart in our catalogue but they are different dives.

Is Abu Hashish Lagoon good for beginners?

It is close to the definition of a beginner site. The operator that runs it grades it for beginners and uses it as its primary location for check dives, the first open-water dives of a course, and refresher sessions, because the boat moors in water that is almost always still and the bottom is sand at 3 to 12 m. The trade-off is that you will share it with training groups.

Can you snorkel at Abu Hashish Lagoon?

Yes. The lagoon starts at about 3 m and the boat sits in still water inside it, and a Makadi operator's description of the reef says the shallow sections are well suited to snorkelling. The rays on the sand and the seagrass patches are visible from the surface, which makes it workable for a mixed group of divers and snorkellers.

What will I see at Abu Hashish Lagoon?

Sand-flat life rather than reef spectacle. Blue-spotted ribbontail rays are the most-recorded species around this pin and the operator singles out looking for them as the point of the dive, alongside gobies, crocodilefish and pipefish. The seagrass works as a nursery so much of the fish life is juvenile, and records nearby add Red Sea surgeonfish, spangled emperor, twobar seabream, yellowfin goatfish, milkfish, giant moray and day octopus.

Is there current at Abu Hashish Lagoon?

Very little inside the lagoon: the operator that dives it says the water there is almost always perfectly still, which is why it is used for training. The reef's outside is a different matter, and the same reef is dived as a north-to-south drift when the current is up. If your boat moors outside rather than inside, you are on the ergs, not the lagoon.

Life recorded at Abu Hashish Lagoon

60 species within 1.5 km · OBIS

Taeniura lymmaoccasional · 7 records Gymnothorax javanicusrare · 2 records

Acanthurus sohaloccasional · 6 records

Lethrinus nebulosusrare · 4 records

Acanthopagrus bifasciatusrare · 4 records

Amphiprion bicinctusrare · 4 records

All 60 species recorded in this area

Species	How often	Records
Taeniura lymma	occasional	7
Acanthurus sohal	occasional	6
Lethrinus nebulosus	rare	4
Acanthopagrus bifasciatus	rare	4
Amphiprion bicinctus	rare	4
Mulloidichthys vanicolensis	rare	4
Chlorurus sordidus	rare	4
Zebrasoma desjardinii	rare	4
Amblyglyphidodon indicus	rare	3
Heniochus intermedius	rare	3
Monotaxis grandoculis	rare	3
Phyllidia varicosa	rare	3
Pterois miles	rare	3
Cheilinus lunulatus	rare	3
Epibulus insidiator	rare	3
Scarus niger	rare	3
Abudefduf sexfasciatus	rare	3
Fistularia commersonii	rare	3
Naso unicornis	rare	3
Pygoplites diacanthus	rare	3
Caesio striata	rare	2
Arothron hispidus	rare	2
Cheilinus quinquecinctus	rare	2
Cheilio inermis	rare	2
Chlorurus gibbus	rare	2
Istiblennius rivulatus	rare	2
Gymnothorax javanicus	rare	2
Naso elegans	rare	2
Ophiocoma scolopendrina	rare	2
Oxycheilinus digramma	rare	2
Parupeneus forsskali	rare	2
Priacanthus hamrur	rare	2
Pseudobalistes fuscus	rare	2
Rhinecanthus assasi	rare	2
Paracirrhites forsteri	rare	2
Acanthopleura vaillantii	rare	2
Aluterus scriptus	rare	2
Arothron diadematus	rare	2
Caesio lunaris	rare	2
Chaetodon fasciatus	rare	2
Chaetodon semilarvatus	rare	2
Chanos chanos	rare	2
Callyspongia crassa	rare	1
Pomacentrus sulfureus	rare	1
Porpita porpita	rare	1
Bathygobius cyclopterus	rare	1
Nerita sanguinolenta	rare	1
Rastrelliger kanagurta	rare	1
Clibanarius signatus	rare	1
Echinometra mathaei	rare	1
Engina mendicaria	rare	1
Thalassoma purpureum	rare	1
Grapsus tenuicrustatus	rare	1
Thysanoteuthis rhombus	rare	1
Lambis lambis	rare	1
Tridacna maxima	rare	1
Octopus cyanea	rare	1
Tripneustes gratilla	rare	1
Fromia ghardaqana	rare	1
Abudefduf vaigiensis	rare	1

Nearby sites in Makadi Bay

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Abu Hashish Sud Ergs0.1 km

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The erg field on the south side of Abu Hashish: two big coral blocks with a scatter of smaller ones around them, worked down to about 30 m.

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A long jetty in Makadi Bay that drops you straight onto the reef edge at 5 to 6 m, then a gently sloping wall you follow north or south.

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A quiet point dive on the headland north of Makadi Bay: coral blocks over sand and seagrass, dived for the small things rather than for depth.

Royal Azur Makadi Bay2.2 km

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The hotel house-reef entry at the Royal Azur end of Makadi Bay: sandy walk-in, a short swim, then a fringing wall to about 15 m.

Grand Makadi house reef2.2 km

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The northern end of the Makadi Bay fringing reef, entered off the resort jetty because the reef flat here is too shallow to wade across.

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The house reef in front of the Fort Arabesque at the north end of Makadi Bay: walk-in over a 40 m sand flat, coral garden at 13-20 m, then a wall that keeps going to 80 m.

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