Question 1

Where exactly is Gasus Soraya?

Accepted Answer

It is a small bay on the coast a couple of kilometres south of Gassous Bay, on the stretch between Safaga and El Quseir. The ORCA Dive Club at Coral Garden Resort, which sits at the north end of the 600 m Gassous Bay beach about 22 km south of Safaga, reaches it on its daily minibus trips to the quieter dive sites along this coast.

Question 2

What is the dive actually like?

Accepted Answer

Short and shallow. The dive centre describes the way in leading first over a sandy bottom, then various ergs and a well grown steep reef that gives plenty of hiding places for stonefish and scorpionfish. It puts the depth at under 30 m. That is the whole published description; nobody else writes about the site.

Question 3

How deep does it go?

Accepted Answer

The dive centre lists the site at under 30 m. No source gives a shallow figure or a profile, and no source gives visibility or temperature for this bay specifically, so we have not recorded them. Get the actual depth plan from the base before you go in.

Question 4

Can I dive it without going through a dive centre?

Accepted Answer

In practice no. It is reached by the ORCA base's minibus rather than from a hotel beach, and ORCA states that a diving permit has to be applied for in advance with a copy of your passport, without which diving cannot be guaranteed and pre-booked packages are not refunded. The base also requires PADI Open Water, CMAS one star or equivalent and a compulsory check dive.

Question 5

What will I see?

Accepted Answer

OBIS records near this pin are the shallow-bay set: twoband anemonefish, blue-spotted stingray, masked and stripebelly puffer, blue-green chromis, Indo-Pacific sergeant, banded pipefish, bearded scorpionfish, royal and zebra angelfish, bigfin reef squid and fire coral. The dive centre's own pitch for the site is the camouflaged fish, stonefish and scorpionfish, tucked into the ergs and the steep reef.

Question 6

What does it cost on top of the dive?

Accepted Answer

ORCA lists a permit fee of 8 euro per diving day and a 10 percent entertainment tax paid on site. Night dives carry a further 5 euro coastguard permit and need the matching certification. The 5 euro per day environmental fee applies only to boat days out of Safaga onto reefs inside the national park, so it does not apply to a coastal shore dive like this one.

Question 7

Is it worth a trip if I am not staying at Coral Garden?

Accepted Answer

Probably not on its own. No other Safaga operator lists it: the standard Safaga site guides run to Tobia Kebir and Soraya, Gamul Kebir and Soraya, Shaab Sheer, Abu Kafan, Panorama and the Salem Express, none of which mentions Gasus Soraya. It is a quiet extra for guests of the one base that dives it rather than a site on the regional circuit.

Species	How often	Records
Arothron hispidus	rare	3
Taeniura lymma	rare	2
Pomacentrus sulfureus	rare	2
Amphiprion bicinctus	rare	2
Arothron diadematus	rare	2
Millepora dichotoma	rare	1
Pygoplites diacanthus	rare	1
Rastrelliger kanagurta	rare	1
Sepioteuthis lessoniana	rare	1
Amblyglyphidodon indicus	rare	1
Anampses twistii	rare	1
Chaetodon austriacus	rare	1
Chaetodon melannotus	rare	1
Cheilio inermis	rare	1
Ctenogobiops crocineus	rare	1
Dascyllus abudafur	rare	1
Labroides dimidiatus	rare	1
Monotaxis grandoculis	rare	1
Oxycheilinus mentalis	rare	1
Paracirrhites forsteri	rare	1
Parupeneus cyclostomus	rare	1
Plicomugil labiosus	rare	1
Pycnochromis dimidiatus	rare	1
Scorpaenopsis barbata	rare	1
Thalassoma rueppellii	rare	1
Amblyglyphidodon flavilatus	rare	1
Abudefduf vaigiensis	rare	1
Hologymnosus annulatus	rare	1
Chromis viridis	rare	1
Corythoichthys flavofasciatus	rare	1
Fistularia commersonii	rare	1
Genicanthus caudovittatus	rare	1

Gasus Soraya

Gasus Soraya

The dive

Please note before you go

Access & rules

Certification required

Getting there

Operator

Restrictions

Rules and permits

Season

Conditions

Questions & answers

Life recorded at Gasus Soraya

Nearby sites in Safaga

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