House reef Paradise Beach Safaga

The dive

This is the house reef of Paradise Divers, the base at the northern end of the beach of the Sol Y Mar Paradise Beach resort, about 6 km up the coast road from Safaga town. You walk in from the beach a few steps from the base; no boat is involved. The base describes the bay as a large wind-protected lagoon with calm, clear water, and uses the shallow end of it for its beginner courses and try-dives. The reef runs across the whole bay and is predominantly hard coral, scattered blocks rather than a single wall. Divers reporting on it put the interesting structure between roughly 7 and just under 20 m, and agree that the ground immediately off the check-dive area is the dullest part: the blocks and short reef faces worth swimming are further to the right and further out.

The seagrass meadow in the shallows in front of the beach is the reason to dive slowly here. The base's own site-notes name seahorses, several pipefish species, snake eels and seagrass ghost pipefish in the grass, plus assorted snails and shrimps, and OBIS records for this pin match that habitat closely: Schultz's and double-ended pipefish, marbled and tiger snake eels, leopard flounder, striped pyjama nudibranch, twoband anemonefish. Morays and octopus sit in the crevices in the blocks, blue-spotted rays and feathertail stingrays lie in the sand, and eagle rays pass through occasionally. Trevally and tuna are seen hunting across the bay. The base names a large resident green turtle plus two more large turtles and a small loggerhead, and a June 2022 visitor report to the same base says very large green turtles are on the reef almost every dive.

Two bits of structure are worth routing around: the jetty on the right of the bay, whose piles are grown over with soft coral, and the steel pillars behind it; and a group of small wrecks that the base places at a maximum of 7 m and treats as a photo subject. The bay is dived by day and by night, night dives starting after 17:00. Be clear about what this is, though. Safaga's reputation rests on its boat reefs, and a diver forum thread on this specific bay described the blocks as partly silted and heavily dived, useful for a check dive, a night dive or a last day rather than a week of diving. That thread is from 2005 and should not be read as a current statement of reef condition, but nothing published since contradicts the ranking: this is a macro and training reef, not the reason you come to Safaga.

• Seagrass flat off the beach: seahorses, pipefish, snake eels and seagrass ghost pipefish reported by the base
• Resident large green turtles, reported daily by the base and confirmed by a 2022 visitor report
• Soft-coral-covered jetty piles and the steel pillars behind them
• A group of small wrecks at a maximum of 7 m
• Dived at night as well as by day

Conditions

Shallow and sheltered. Most of the dive is spent between the seagrass in front of the beach and coral blocks that diver reports place between about 7 and just under 20 m. Water is around 22.5 degrees in February and March and 29 degrees in August on ten-year monthly averages for Safaga.

On current: The base describes the bay as a large, wind-protected lagoon with calm, clear water, which is why it runs its open-water training and try-dives here rather than from the boat. No source describes a current problem at this site. That shelter is the practical argument for the dive: it is one of the few Safaga options that still works on a windy day.