SeaLog
Certification required
OW
Green Hole ED
Egypt · reef · intermediate
8–30 mintermediateOWshore entry
Green Hole ED
You go in through a hole in the reef top, out of a cave at 8 m, and straight onto two blocks that fall from there to 30.
Max depth8–30 m
Required levelintermediate
Entry typeshore
Visibilitynot sourced
The dive
Green Hole is a shore dive on the open coast about 2.5 km north of Gassous Bay, the small bay south of Safaga where the Coral Garden resort and its ORCA dive base sit. You do not walk to it. The base runs it as a bus trip of roughly ten minutes up the coast road, and the same bus serves its two other regular shore sites on this stretch: Lighthouse 3 km north of the base, and Gasus Soraya 3 km south. The "ED" in our catalogue name is an operator tag that came in with the import and is not part of the site name.
The entry is what the site is built around. A small cave sits at 8 m in the entry area, and you pass through it to arrive directly at the dive, where two large blocks stand up off the bottom immediately in front of the exit. Their tops are 8 m below the surface and their bases reach 30 m. The centre-submitted listing our record was imported from adds that the way in is a large hole in the reef roof followed by a canyon, with a rope rigged to help getting in and out. Around the blocks the base's own description runs from small gorgonians up to large table corals, with fields of sand eels out on the open sand.
What is documented for the animals is modest and worth reading as such. Barracuda and eagle rays are named as regular crossings, and the OBIS record for this pin is one survey listing reef standards: twoband anemonefish, sea goldies, chevron and blacktail butterflyfish, a giant moray, bluefin trevally, Picasso triggerfish. Nobody publishes a visibility figure, a season or a current strength for Green Hole, and no SeaLog diver has logged it yet, so those fields are empty here rather than filled from a directory. Two published positions for the name differ by about 5 km; we kept the one that matches the operator's own "2.5 km north of the base".
- A small cave at 8 m that you pass through to reach the dive itself
- Two blocks standing off the bottom, roofs at 8 m and bases at 30 m
- Small gorgonians through to large table corals, and sand-eel fields on the open sand
- Barracuda and eagle rays named by the base as regular crossings
- Ten minutes by the dive base bus from Gassous Bay, with no walk-in access
Please note before you go
- Entry and exit through a hole in the reef roof, rope-assisted, and harder in swell
- The blocks drop straight to 30 m from an 8 m roof, so depth accumulates quickly
- Unserviced roadside entry with no facilities and no immediate assistance
Access & rules
Mandatory requirementsGetting there
Reached by the ORCA base bus from the Coral Garden resort at Gassous Bay, about ten minutes up the coast road and roughly 2.5 km north of the base. There is nothing at the entry itself. The same base runs minibus excursions to dive sites all along the coast between Coral Garden and El Quseir, and Green Hole is the nearest of its three regular shore sites. One caveat on the pin: a community-submitted position for Green Hole sits about 5 km further north than ours. We kept the position that matches the operator's stated distance from its own base.
Operator
Access to the site runs through a local operator.
Season
We have not set best months. The base lists Green Hole as one of three standing shore sites and no source ties it to a season. What varies on this coast is the north wind, and that decides whether a reef-roof entry is comfortable on the morning rather than which month you book.
Conditions
Visibilitynot sourced
Currentnot sourced
Surgenot sourced
WaterSalt water
Depth range8–30 m
Environmentreef
Coralnot sourced
Crowdsquiet
A short bus ride from Gassous Bay, then a shore entry over the reef roof. Below the cave at 8 m the ground is the two blocks and the sand between and around them, down to 30 m. No source we could open publishes a typical visibility or water temperature for this site specifically, and we have no logged dives here, so we have not set one.
On current: No operator publishes a current strength for Green Hole, and there is no logged dive in SeaLog to check one against, so we have left the level unset. Two documented details bear on it. The way in runs through a hole in the reef roof with a rope rigged to help in and out, which is what centres do where the reef top is worked by swell. And the two blocks fall away immediately rather than gradually, so there is no shallow shelf to sit on if the water is moving.
Questions & answers
How deep is Green Hole?
Thirty metres at the deepest, and the profile is unusually stepped. You pass through a small cave at 8 m in the entry area, and immediately outside it two large blocks stand off the bottom with their roofs at 8 m and their bases at 30 m. That means the depth is there straight away rather than building along a slope, which is worth planning for.
How do you get to Green Hole?
By the dive base bus, not on foot. The ORCA base at the Coral Garden resort in Gassous Bay, south of Safaga, drives divers about ten minutes up the coast road to a point roughly 2.5 km north of the base. There is nothing at the entry, so everything comes in with the bus.
Is Green Hole suitable for beginners?
No operator publishes a certification level for it, and the base takes guided divers of all levels to its shore sites. What we would flag is the entry rather than the depth: you go in through a hole in the reef roof and a canyon with a rope rigged to help, and the blocks outside drop from 8 m to 30 m with no shelf in between. Dive it with the base's guide rather than as your first reef-roof entry.
What will I see at Green Hole?
The base's own description runs from small gorgonians up to large table corals, with fields of sand eels out on the open sand, and names barracuda and eagle rays as regular crossings. The OBIS record for this pin is a single survey of reef standards: twoband anemonefish, sea goldies, chevron and blacktail butterflyfish, a giant moray, bluefin trevally and Picasso triggerfish. We have not listed anything beyond what those two sources support.
Can you snorkel at Green Hole?
It is a poor choice. Everything worth seeing begins at the 8 m cave and runs down to 30 m, and you would have to get through a rope-assisted entry over the reef roof to reach it. The Coral Garden house reef in Gassous Bay is open from the beach for snorkellers and is the better use of the time.
Is there current at Green Hole?
Nobody publishes a figure, and we have no logged dives here, so we have deliberately left the current level blank. Two details hint at the answer: the centre rigs a rope to help divers in and out over the reef roof, which is normal where swell works the top of the reef, and the blocks drop away immediately with nothing shallow to shelter behind. Ask the base on the morning.
What does the ED in the site name mean?
It is an operator tag carried in by the catalogue import rather than part of the place name. Several pins along this stretch of the Safaga to El Quseir coast arrived with the same suffix, and some of them duplicate an entry that already exists without it. The site itself is just Green Hole.
When is the best time to dive Green Hole?
We have left the best months empty because no source gives this site a season. The base keeps it on the shore-dive list year round, and what actually decides the day is the north wind, since it is a reef-roof entry on an unsheltered piece of coast. Treat it as a calm-morning dive rather than a seasonal one.
Life recorded at Green Hole ED
23 species within 1.61 km · OBISGymnothorax javanicusrare · 1 records
Nerita sanguinolentarare · 1 records
Caranx melampygusrare · 1 records
Chaetodon austriacusrare · 1 records
Chaetodon trifascialisrare · 1 records
Cheilio inermisrare · 1 records
All 23 species recorded in this area
| Species | How often | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Nerita sanguinolenta | rare | 1 |
| Caranx melampygus | rare | 1 |
| Chaetodon austriacus | rare | 1 |
| Chaetodon trifascialis | rare | 1 |
| Cheilio inermis | rare | 1 |
| Chlorurus genazonatus | rare | 1 |
| Chromis viridis | rare | 1 |
| Dascyllus abudafur | rare | 1 |
| Dascyllus marginatus | rare | 1 |
| Gymnothorax javanicus | rare | 1 |
| Halichoeres hortulanus | rare | 1 |
| Naso elegans | rare | 1 |
| Ophiocoma scolopendrina | rare | 1 |
| Parapriacanthus guentheri | rare | 1 |
| Parupeneus cyclostomus | rare | 1 |
| Parupeneus macronemus | rare | 1 |
| Pomacentrus sulfureus | rare | 1 |
| Pseudanthias squamipinnis | rare | 1 |
| Thalassoma rueppellii | rare | 1 |
| Amphiprion bicinctus | rare | 1 |
| Chaetodon auriga | rare | 1 |
| Ctenochaetus striatus | rare | 1 |
| Rhinecanthus assasi | rare | 1 |
Nearby sites in Safaga
Explore all sitesCoral Garden / Gassous Bay3.2 km
SafagaA house-reef bay 22 km south of Safaga: 30 steps from the dive base to the water, no current, no boat traffic.
Gasus Soraya5.3 km
SafagaA small bay a couple of kilometres south of Gassous Bay, dived by minibus from the Coral Garden base: sand, scattered ergs and a steep reef.
Sha’ab Sheer Soraya5.6 km
SafagaThe small round hard-coral reef detached to the south of Sha'ab Sheer, dived as the shallow second half of a Salem Express day.
Shaab Hamdallah6.0 km
SafagaA group of tall coral towers standing off the south tip of the Sha'ab Sheer plateau, dived only on days flat enough to leave a boat with no shelter at all.
Salem Express, wreck6.0 km
SafagaA 1991 ferry disaster on Hyndman Reef. Hundreds of people are still inside her, and that is the whole of what this dive is.
Cannon Reef6.2 km
SafagaA kilometre-long outer reef in the Safaga group, run as a training site, with fish-heavy coral blocks off its southern tail. Very little is written about it.
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