Question 1

How deep is the Flamenco Beach Resort house reef?

Accepted Answer

The reef face drops close to vertically from the jetty platform for about 15 m to a terrace, and the outer wall keeps going: one operator's site page describes it as seeming to fall endlessly to around 55 m and a published trip report puts the outer wall at 50 to 100 m. For divers the number that matters is the prescribed house-reef limit of 30 m.

Question 2

How do you get into the water at Flamenco Beach Resort?

Accepted Answer

You walk out along the resort jetty, roughly 200 m of it, to a snorkelling and diving platform at the end, and enter and exit by ladder. The jetty exists so that nobody has to cross the reef flat, and the ladders are rigged with safety lines so the exit still works when there is sea running. The dive centre carries tanks and weights out to the platform.

Question 3

Is the Flamenco house reef suitable for beginners?

Accepted Answer

Not really, and the operator is explicit about it: entry-level courses are deliberately not run on this reef, both because the wall starts immediately off the platform and to keep training out of the corals. There is no shallow bottom under you, the current runs constantly if lightly, and there is one fixed exit. A comfortable open-water diver will enjoy it; a first-timer should be trained elsewhere.

Question 4

Can you snorkel at Flamenco Beach Resort?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it is one of the better wall snorkels on this coast because the reef face drops away straight off the platform, so you are looking down a wall rather than across a flat. There are also coral gardens at roughly 5 to 10 m. The catch is that you cannot stand anywhere and you enter and exit at the ladders, so it suits confident swimmers; the resort runs a shuttle to a calmer natural bay for everyone else.

Question 5

Is there current at the Flamenco house reef?

Accepted Answer

Yes, a light one, and the sources agree it is more or less permanent rather than tidal. Both the trip report and the operator page tie the better-than-average chance of larger animals to that constant flow along the wall. Nobody calls it strong or dives it as a drift, but with a single fixed exit it is worth swimming out into the current and returning with it.

Question 6

What will you see on the Flamenco house reef?

Accepted Answer

Turtles are routine, and the same trip report records eagle rays, manta rays and a whale shark, while the operator page adds barracuda, occasional reef sharks and passing dolphins. Along the wall the north stretch holds glassfish, anemonefish, scorpionfish and moray eels and the south stretch butterflyfish, angelfish and stonefish. The OBIS record around this pin also carries blue-spotted ribbontail ray, tentacled flathead, giant moray, royal angelfish, batfish and plenty of fire coral.

Question 7

Can you night dive the Flamenco house reef?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The published trip report describes night dives from the same jetty platform, with basket stars and crinoids out on the wall and a marked change in what the reef is doing after dark, plus night snorkelling from the same entry. A fixed, laddered, lit entry point is exactly what makes a house reef workable at night.

Question 8

Can non-guests dive the Flamenco house reef?

Accepted Answer

No source I could read states a policy either way. What is clear is that access goes through the resort and its own dive centre, and at least one UK tour operator books its Flamenco guests' diving and unguided house-reef packages through a different centre about ten minutes' drive away, which suggests the arrangement varies by operator and season. Contact the resort's dive centre before assuming you can turn up and dive it.

Species	How often	Records
Coenobita scaevola	occasional	17
Zebrasoma desjardinii	occasional	16
Taeniura lymma	occasional	11
Pterois miles	occasional	10
Bodianus anthioides	occasional	9
Chlorurus sordidus	occasional	8
Acanthurus sohal	occasional	8
Priacanthus hamrur	occasional	8
Arothron diadematus	occasional	8
Chaetodon austriacus	occasional	8
Gymnothorax javanicus	occasional	7
Chaetodon auriga	occasional	7
Amblyglyphidodon indicus	occasional	7
Naso elegans	occasional	7
Parapercis hexophtalma	occasional	7
Chaetodon fasciatus	occasional	7
Thalassoma rueppellii	occasional	7
Amblyglyphidodon flavilatus	occasional	6
Heniochus intermedius	occasional	6
Abudefduf vaigiensis	occasional	6
Pygoplites diacanthus	occasional	6
Pomacentrus sulfureus	occasional	6
Tridacna maxima	occasional	5
Halichoeres hortulanus	occasional	5
Papilloculiceps longiceps	occasional	5
Zebrasoma xanthurum	occasional	5
Naso unicornis	rare	4
Ctenochaetus striatus	rare	4
Pseudanthias squamipinnis	rare	4
Arothron hispidus	rare	3
Amphiprion bicinctus	rare	3
Ophiocoma scolopendrina	rare	3
Diodon hystrix	rare	3
Oxycheilinus digramma	rare	3
Echinometra mathaei	rare	3
Rastrelliger kanagurta	rare	3
Cheilinus quinquecinctus	rare	3
Parupeneus forsskali	rare	3
Platax orbicularis	rare	3
Cephalopholis argus	rare	3
Hemimycale arabica	rare	3
Rhinecanthus assasi	rare	3
Scarus niger	rare	3
Scolopsis ghanam	rare	3
Millepora dichotoma	rare	3
Caesio suevica	rare	3
Sufflamen albicaudatum	rare	3
Variola louti	rare	3
Mulloidichthys vanicolensis	rare	3
Callyspongia crassa	rare	2
Grapsus tenuicrustatus	rare	2
Crella (Grayella) cyathophora	rare	2
Dascyllus trimaculatus	rare	2
Linckia multifora	rare	2
Grammistes sexlineatus	rare	2
Siganus luridus	rare	2
Stylissa carteri	rare	2
Asaphis violascens	rare	2
Clibanarius signatus	rare	2
Echeneis naucrates	rare	2

Flamenco Beach Resort

Flamenco Beach Resort

The dive

Please note before you go

Access & rules

Certification required

Getting there

Operator

Restrictions

Season

Conditions

Questions & answers

Life recorded at Flamenco Beach Resort

Nearby sites in El Quseir

Been here? Log it.