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Abu Sawatyr
Egypt · reef · beginner
5–30 mbeginnerOWshore entry
Abu Sawatyr
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.
Max depth5–30 m
Required levelbeginner
Entry typeshore
Visibility20 m
The dive
Abu Sawatyr (also written Abu Sauatir or Abu Sawatir) is the bay in front of the Roots Red Sea camp at kilometre 14 of the Safaga road, about 14 km north of El Quseir town. It is the house reef of the Pharaoh Dive Club, which runs the diving from the camp's private beach, so in practice this is a shore dive that starts in the sand rather than a boat site. Entry is a walk-in from the beach onto a gently sloping sandbank; a guide rope is laid from roughly 6 m back to the shore so you can find your way in and out.
The bay itself is sand, and the sand keeps going: the slope runs out past 30 m. The interest is on the two flanks. North of the entry the fringing coral reef is the more developed side, and to the south there is a low wall of about 10 m. Divers who spend a week here typically split it that way, doing the reef as a north route and a south route rather than as one loop, and the shallow sand in the middle doubles as the club's training area.
What you see is house-reef fauna rather than pelagics: red anemones with resident twoband anemonefish, blue-spotted ribbontail rays under the overhangs, giant moray, day octopus, squid, crocodilefish and stonefish on the sand, puffers, and green and hawksbill turtles. Divers have also reported eagle rays passing over the slope. Night diving is allowed on the reef and is one of the reasons people book the camp; the sand at night brings out Spanish dancers, octopus and cuttlefish.
The one thing worth knowing before you get in is the water movement. The bay's shape funnels water off the reef and out to sea on a dropping tide, so a swim back over the shallows that was easy in the morning is not necessarily easy in the afternoon. The club briefs it, and the rope exists for that reason.
- Walk-in shore entry over sand; no boat needed
- Unlimited unguided diving 08:30 to 17:00 for divers with 25+ logged dives and an equal buddy
- Red anemones full of twoband anemonefish, a known photography stop
- Night diving on the reef: Spanish dancers, octopus, cuttlefish
- Green and hawksbill turtles reported regularly
- Low 10 m wall to the south, fringing coral reef to the north
Please note before you go
- Water funnels off the reef out to sea on a dropping tide, making the return swim over the shallows harder than the outbound one
- Stonefish and crocodilefish sit camouflaged on the sand at the entry and along the slope
- The sand slope keeps going past 30 m, so it is easy to end up deeper than planned with no reef reference
- Unguided diving is permitted, which means no guide is watching your gas or your exit
Access & rules
Mandatory requirementsGetting there
The reef is the beach frontage of the Roots Red Sea camp at KM14 on the Safaga road, roughly 14 km north of El Quseir and about 80 km south of Safaga. Access is through the camp and the Pharaoh Dive Club, which fills tanks and runs the beach; you walk from the dive centre to the private beach and enter over the sand. A rope runs from about 6 m depth back to shore. Nearest airport traffic is via Hurghada or Marsa Alam.
Operator
Access to the site runs through a local operator.
Restrictions
Unguided house-reef diving is allowed between 08:30 and 17:00 for divers holding at least 25 logged dives with a buddy of equivalent qualification; divers with fewer than 25 dives need a buddy qualified as Dive Leader or above. Night dives on the house reef require 24 hours' notice with the centre.
Season
The camp is sold as a February to December destination, which is another way of saying the house reef works most of the year and January is the cold end of it. Because this is a sheltered shore dive rather than an offshore reef, wind matters less here than at boat sites in the same region, so the season is wider than the local liveaboard calendar would suggest. No source gives a month-by-month water temperature for the bay, so we do not list peak months.
Conditions
Visibility20 m
Currentlight
Surgelight
WaterSalt water
Depth range5–30 m
Environmentreef
Coralhealthy
Crowdsquiet
A calm, sheltered bay with the reef within easy swimming distance of the beach. Visibility in the El Quseir area is reported at around 20 m on a calm day. Air temperatures run over 30 C in July and August and around 20 C in January. Surface conditions in the bay are usually flat enough for a walk-in; the variable is the tide rather than the swell.
On current: Sheltered bay with no real drift; the reef is normally dived out and back rather than as a drift. The documented exception is tidal: divers report that the shape of the bay funnels water off the reef and out to sea on a dropping tide, and that this needs care on the swim back. Sources do not put a figure on it. The 20 m visibility is an El Quseir area figure for a calm day (Wikivoyage), not a measurement taken at this reef, so treat it as an order of magnitude.
Questions & answers
How deep is Abu Sawatyr?
The bay is a sand slope that runs down past 30 m, so the depth is whatever you choose rather than a fixed bottom. Most of the diving happens between about 5 and 20 m, where the fringing reef to the north and the roughly 10 m wall to the south sit. Because the sand keeps descending with no reef edge to stop you, it is easy to drift deeper than planned; watch your computer on the way out.
Is Abu Sawatyr a shore dive or a boat dive?
It is a shore dive. You walk in from the private beach of the Roots Red Sea camp at KM14 on the Safaga road, about 14 km north of El Quseir, and swim out over a gently sloping sandbank to the reef. A guide rope is laid from around 6 m back to shore to help you find the exit. No boat is involved.
Can I dive Abu Sawatyr without a guide?
Yes, if you qualify. The Pharaoh Dive Club opens the house reef for unguided diving from 08:30 to 17:00 to divers with at least 25 logged dives paired with a buddy of equivalent qualification. Divers with fewer than 25 dives need a buddy qualified as Dive Leader or above. Unlimited unguided house-reef diving is normally included in the camp's dive package.
Is Abu Sawatyr good for beginners?
Yes. It is a walk-in entry onto sand with a shallow area the centre uses for training, no boat entry to manage and no significant drift in normal conditions, which makes it a straightforward Open Water site. The caveats are the depth of the sand slope, which keeps going past 30 m, and the tidal outflow described below. A beginner should dive it with a guide or an experienced buddy rather than unguided.
Is there current at Abu Sawatyr?
Not in the sense of a drift dive; the bay is sheltered and normally dived out and back. The documented problem is tidal: divers report that the shape of the bay funnels water off the reef and out to sea on a dropping tide, which makes the return swim over the shallows harder than the way out. The dive centre briefs the tide state, and the shore rope exists partly for this. No source quantifies the flow in knots.
Can you snorkel at Abu Sawatyr?
Yes, and it is one of the better Red Sea sites for it because there is no boat to book. The entry is a walk-in over sand into a shallow, sheltered bay with fringing coral on both sides, and the camp is sold to snorkellers as well as divers. The same tidal caution applies: avoid the shallow reef top when the tide is dropping.
What will I see at Abu Sawatyr?
House-reef life rather than pelagics. Divers regularly report green and hawksbill turtles, red anemones full of twoband anemonefish, blue-spotted ribbontail rays, giant moray, day octopus and squid, and crocodilefish and stonefish sitting camouflaged on the sand. Eagle rays have been seen crossing the slope. Night dives on the reef turn up Spanish dancers, octopus and cuttlefish.
Can you night dive Abu Sawatyr?
Yes. Night diving is run on the house reef and is one of the reasons divers book the camp for a week rather than a few days. The centre asks for 24 hours' notice and does not require a minimum group size. Expect Spanish dancers, octopus and cuttlefish over the sand.
Life recorded at Abu Sawatyr
60 species within 1.5 km · OBISTaeniura lymmaoccasional · 32 recordsGymnothorax javanicusoccasional · 16 recordsBalistoides viridescensoccasional · 8 records
Amphiprion bicinctusoccasional · 36 records
Arothron hispidusoccasional · 20 records
Pterois milesoccasional · 20 records
All 60 species recorded in this area
| Species | How often | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Amphiprion bicinctus | occasional | 36 |
| Taeniura lymma | occasional | 32 |
| Arothron hispidus | occasional | 20 |
| Pterois miles | occasional | 20 |
| Heniochus intermedius | occasional | 19 |
| Paracirrhites forsteri | occasional | 18 |
| Zebrasoma desjardinii | occasional | 18 |
| Priacanthus hamrur | occasional | 17 |
| Epibulus insidiator | occasional | 17 |
| Halichoeres hortulanus | occasional | 17 |
| Pseudanthias squamipinnis | occasional | 16 |
| Gymnothorax javanicus | occasional | 16 |
| Bodianus anthioides | occasional | 14 |
| Scorpaenopsis oxycephalus | occasional | 14 |
| Chlorurus sordidus | occasional | 13 |
| Parupeneus forsskali | occasional | 12 |
| Chaetodon paucifasciatus | occasional | 12 |
| Amblyglyphidodon flavilatus | occasional | 12 |
| Chaetodon semilarvatus | occasional | 12 |
| Naso elegans | occasional | 12 |
| Naso unicornis | occasional | 11 |
| Octopus cyanea | occasional | 11 |
| Fistularia commersonii | occasional | 11 |
| Arothron diadematus | occasional | 11 |
| Chaetodon auriga | occasional | 11 |
| Pygoplites diacanthus | occasional | 11 |
| Dascyllus abudafur | occasional | 10 |
| Cheilinus quinquecinctus | occasional | 10 |
| Parapercis hexophtalma | occasional | 10 |
| Cheilinus lunulatus | occasional | 10 |
| Chaetodon austriacus | occasional | 10 |
| Rhinecanthus assasi | occasional | 10 |
| Tridacna maxima | occasional | 10 |
| Coris aygula | occasional | 10 |
| Scolopsis ghanam | occasional | 9 |
| Cyclichthys spilostylus | occasional | 9 |
| Amblyglyphidodon indicus | occasional | 9 |
| Coenobita scaevola | occasional | 9 |
| Pomacentrus sulfureus | occasional | 8 |
| Chaetodon fasciatus | occasional | 8 |
| Balistoides viridescens | occasional | 8 |
| Papilloculiceps longiceps | occasional | 8 |
| Cephalopholis miniata | occasional | 8 |
| Pycnochromis dimidiatus | occasional | 7 |
| Myripristis murdjan | occasional | 7 |
| Thalassoma rueppellii | occasional | 7 |
| Ctenochaetus striatus | occasional | 7 |
| Halichoeres scapularis | occasional | 7 |
| Ostracion cyanurus | occasional | 6 |
| Pomacanthus imperator | occasional | 6 |
| Scarus ferrugineus | occasional | 6 |
| Zebrasoma xanthurum | occasional | 6 |
| Monotaxis grandoculis | occasional | 6 |
| Callyspongia crassa | occasional | 6 |
| Arothron stellatus | occasional | 6 |
| Anampses meleagrides | occasional | 6 |
| Ophiocoma scolopendrina | occasional | 5 |
| Neoniphon sammara | occasional | 5 |
| Inimicus filamentosus | occasional | 5 |
| Hyrtios erectus | occasional | 5 |
Nearby sites in El Quseir
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El QuseirA well-populated stretch of reef north of El Quseir that nobody has bothered to write up.
Flamenco Beach Resort5.2 km
El QuseirA 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.
El Quadim Nord5.9 km
El QuseirA capped, walk-in house reef in a protected bay: 5 m of reef top, then a wall.
El Quadim6.0 km
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El Quadim South6.1 km
El QuseirThe southern end of the El Quadim Bay house reef at El Quseir, one of three catalogue pins on the same sheltered wadi-mouth bay.
Oma Sukan8.0 km
El QuseirA zodiac drift ten minutes north of El Quseir harbour: down a wall to 18 m, then south into a field of pinnacles.
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