SeaLogEgypt · reef · intermediate
The north side of the largest reef in the Fury Shoals, whose sheltered lagoon is a daytime resting ground for spinner dolphins under a zoned management plan.
Sha'ab Sataya is the southernmost and largest reef of the Fury Shoals, lying roughly 30 km off the coast near Hamata — about 12 km out in the reckoning of one local guide, which gives a sense of how much the published distances vary. It wraps around a shallow lagoon of some 7 to 10 m that spinner dolphins use as a daytime resting area, which is why the reef is known as the Dolphin House of the deep south. This entry is the northern side of that reef.
The reef as a whole is quoted at a maximum of 40 m, with walls and drop-offs outside and sheltered shallow water within. Access is by boat only: roughly 2 h by day boat from Hamata port, or about 45 minutes by speedboat from Wadi Lahami. Typical encounters are with 20 to 30 spinner dolphins, sometimes bottlenose as well, and no operator can promise them.
Sataya is one of the two Egyptian reefs — with Samadai — managed under a HEPCA and Ministry of the Environment zoning plan rather than left open. Zones A1 and A2 are absolute protection areas closed to everything but authorised research, B1 and B2 are snorkelling-only with no boats or diving, zone C allows snorkelling, diving and small boats under 10 knots, zone D is the diving zone and zone F the boat anchorage. A visitor tax funds ranger supervision and enforcement. Guides quote daily caps of ten boats, 175 snorkellers and 100 divers, with snorkel boats admitted 10:00-14:00 and dive boats 09:00-15:00, though the sources we read describe those caps for the Dolphin House reefs collectively rather than for Sataya alone.
The occurrence record for this position backs the reputation: spinner dolphin is the second most recorded species here after blue-spotted ribbontail ray, alongside anemonefish, parrotfish, masked puffer, bigeye emperor, giant moray, coral grouper and Chromodoris nudibranchs.
Boat only, from Hamata. Around 2 h by day boat from Hamata port, or roughly 45 minutes by speedboat from Wadi Lahami; the reef is about 30 km offshore. It is also a standard stop on Fury Shoals liveaboards out of Hamata or Marsa Ghalib. There are no facilities at the reef.
Access to the site runs through a local operator.
Access is capped and timed. Guides quote a daily limit of ten boats carrying no more than 175 snorkellers and 100 divers, with snorkel boats admitted between 10:00 and 14:00 and dive boats between 09:00 and 15:00; those figures are published for the Dolphin House reefs collectively rather than for Sataya alone. Zones A1 and A2 are closed to everyone but authorised researchers, B1 and B2 are snorkelling only with no boats or diving, and small boats in zone C are limited to 10 knots.
Sataya is managed under a zoning plan implemented by HEPCA and the Egyptian Ministry of the Environment, with a visitor tax that funds ranger supervision and fines for breaches. Separately, HEPCA's code of conduct for interacting with wild dolphins was formalised into a decree enforced in the Red Sea Governorate: vessels must never drive at, herd or separate a pod and must keep 30 m clearance. Do not touch or feed dolphins and never chase them — let them approach. One 2026 guide quotes an EGP 105 ticket for the Dolphin House area. Standard Egyptian marine-park rules (no gloves, no touching, nothing taken) apply. Recorded 2026-08-07.
Peak spinner-dolphin numbers are reported May to July. Dolphins are resident year round but sightings are never guaranteed, and typical encounters are with 20 to 30 animals. Note that dolphins use the lagoon to rest during the day, which is exactly why the access windows and zoning exist — a pod that is disturbed does not rest.
Two different dives in one place. Inside, a sheltered lagoon at about 7-10 m where the dolphins rest and where snorkelling is the main activity. Outside, reef and wall to a maximum of around 40 m, dived as drift, reef and wall profiles. We found no published visibility or current figure for the north side specifically.
On current: No source we read publishes a current or visibility figure specific to the northern side of Sataya, so both fields are left empty. What is documented is the structure: a sheltered lagoon at about 7-10 m and outer walls to a maximum of around 40 m, with drift, reef and wall profiles all listed for the site.
Best months: May, Jun, Jul
Often, but never guaranteed. Sataya's lagoon is a daytime resting area for spinner dolphins and typical encounters are with 20 to 30 animals, with bottlenose also possible. Peak numbers are reported May to July. In our own occurrence data for this position, spinner dolphin is the second most frequently recorded species.
They are enforced, not advisory. Do not touch or feed the dolphins, never chase them, and let them approach you; guidance for the site also tells swimmers to wear a life jacket and swim gently with minimal splashing. HEPCA's code of conduct was formalised into a decree in the Red Sea Governorate requiring vessels to keep 30 m clearance and never drive at, herd or separate a pod.
Sataya is zoned. Zones A1 and A2 are absolute protection areas closed to everything except authorised research. Zones B1 and B2 are snorkelling only — no boats, no diving. Zone C allows snorkelling, diving and small boats under 10 knots, zone D is the diving zone and zone F is the boat anchorage. A visitor tax funds the rangers who enforce it.
Yes. Guides quote a daily cap of ten boats carrying no more than 175 snorkellers and 100 divers, with snorkel boats admitted 10:00-14:00 and dive boats 09:00-15:00. Those figures are published for the Dolphin House reefs (Samadai and Sataya) collectively rather than broken out for Sataya alone, so confirm the current numbers with your operator.
Boat only. It is around 30 km off the coast near Hamata: roughly 2 h by day boat from Hamata port, or about 45 minutes by speedboat from Wadi Lahami. It is also a standard stop on Fury Shoals liveaboards out of Hamata or Marsa Ghalib.
The sheltered lagoon runs about 7 to 10 m; outside it, the reef is quoted at a maximum of around 40 m with walls and drop-offs. Most of the dolphin activity, and all of the snorkelling, happens in the shallow water.
A well-populated southern Red Sea reef: blue-spotted ribbontail rays (the most recorded species here in our occurrence data), anemonefish, parrotfish, masked puffer, bigeye emperor, giant moray, coral grouper, banded coral shrimp and Chromodoris nudibranchs, with turtles, sharks, barracuda and groupers also reported. The outer reef is dived as drift and wall.
May to July for peak spinner-dolphin numbers. The animals are present year round, so any season can work, but the pods are largest in that window. Remember that the dolphins are resting during the hours boats are admitted — the access windows exist precisely because a disturbed pod does not rest.
| Species | How often | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Taeniura lymma | occasional | 15 |
| Stenella longirostris | occasional | 14 |
| Chromodoris quadricolor | occasional | 8 |
| Callyspongia crassa | occasional | 8 |
| Arothron diadematus | occasional | 6 |
| Amphiprion bicinctus | occasional | 6 |
| Monotaxis grandoculis | occasional | 6 |
| Scarus ferrugineus | occasional | 6 |
| Cephalopholis argus | occasional | 5 |
| Paracirrhites forsteri | occasional | 5 |
| Parapercis hexophtalma | occasional | 5 |
| Ctenochaetus striatus | occasional | 5 |
| Gymnothorax javanicus | occasional | 5 |
| Lutjanus ehrenbergii | rare | 4 |
| Heniochus intermedius | rare | 4 |
| Hyrtios erectus | rare | 4 |
| Stenopus hispidus | rare | 4 |
| Pterois miles | rare | 4 |
| Caesio striata | rare | 4 |
| Trapezia tigrina | rare | 3 |
| Ancylomenes longicarpus | rare | 3 |
| Caesio suevica | rare | 3 |
| Coris aygula | rare | 3 |
| Coris caudimacula | rare | 3 |
| Coris cuvieri | rare | 3 |
| Flavocaranx bajad | rare | 3 |
| Ostracion cyanurus | rare | 3 |
| Parupeneus cyclostomus | rare | 3 |
| Parupeneus macronemus | rare | 3 |
| Scarus niger | rare | 3 |
| Thalassoma rueppellii | rare | 3 |
| Tridacna maxima | rare | 3 |
| Chlorurus sordidus | rare | 3 |
| Hexabranchus sanguineus | rare | 3 |
| Bodianus diana | rare | 2 |
| Fromia ghardaqana | rare | 2 |
| Oxycheilinus digramma | rare | 2 |
| Pomacentrus sulfureus | rare | 2 |
| Parupeneus forsskali | rare | 2 |
| Abudefduf vaigiensis | rare | 2 |
| Pione mussae | rare | 2 |
| Pomacanthus imperator | rare | 2 |
| Pristiapogon kallopterus | rare | 2 |
| Pseudobalistes fuscus | rare | 2 |
| Pseudochromis fridmani | rare | 2 |
| Anampses meleagrides | rare | 2 |
| Rhinecanthus assasi | rare | 2 |
| Scarus psittacus | rare | 2 |
| Chaetodon austriacus | rare | 2 |
| Chaetodon semilarvatus | rare | 2 |
| Chelidonura livida | rare | 2 |
| Chromis pembae | rare | 2 |
| Myripristis murdjan | rare | 2 |
| Amblyglyphidodon indicus | rare | 2 |
| Sufflamen albicaudatum | rare | 2 |
| Dardanus tinctor | rare | 2 |
| Variola louti | rare | 2 |
| Chaetodon auriga | rare | 2 |
| Linckia multifora | rare | 2 |
| Siganus luridus | rare | 1 |
The mooring end of Sha'ab Sataya: liveaboards tie to the coral rocks under the south wall, so this is where the night dives and the pre-breakfast wall dives happen.
The western arm of the Sataya horseshoe: hard coral garden, then open sand studded with blocks worth searching slowly.
Malahi means playground, and the reef is exactly that: a maze of coral towers, sandy canyons and narrow swim-throughs in under 25 m.
A free-standing gota in the eastern Fury Shoals, ringed by sand at about 20 m, dived for the coral garden along its northern flank.
A 1.5 km sliver of reef standing alone 28 km off Hamata, walled all round, with a plateau at each end and nothing between them but blue.
A 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.
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