SeaLogEgypt · reef · beginner
A jetty, a sheltered bay and a reef that works in weather that closes the rest of the coast.
Mangrove Bay is a sheltered bay about 30 minutes' drive south of El Quseir, and the house reef of the Mangrove Bay Resort. Diving is run off a jetty: tanks and weights wait at the jetty itself, so there is no long walk in kit, and you drop straight onto the reef. Because the bay is enclosed, the operator states it can be dived in almost any weather, which on this stretch of coast is the real argument for the site.
The reef runs north and south from the jetty and reads as two different dives. North is a scatter of small and large coral blocks against a coral wall; south is a broad coral garden broken up by small plateaus and blocks. The reef drops to roughly 20 m and then gives way to sandbank. Zodiacs run short drops on the outer reef for a one-way drift back into the bay, speedboats do single dives further out, and a day boat runs two-dive excursions to sites such as Sharm Tachtani, Erg Lassal, Erg Monika and Maheleg, generally to about 30 m.
The occurrence record here is one of the denser ones on this coast: bullethead and other parrotfishes, Forster's hawkfish, pearl toby, two-banded anemonefish, sling-jaw wrasse, blue-green chromis, scalefin anthias, checkerboard wrasse, common lionfish, masked butterflyfish and Spanish dancer all appear repeatedly, along with giant clam and the well-camouflaged Red Sea walkman and devil scorpionfish. Contrary to what the name suggests, this is not a Red Sea Diving Safari camp - that operator runs only Marsa Shagra, Marsa Nakari and Wadi Lahami - so the unlimited unguided house-reef rules of those camps do not automatically apply here.
Shore entry from the jetty of the Mangrove Bay Resort, where the dive centre keeps tanks and weights, so access runs through the resort. The base is open 08:00 to 18:00 and runs guided house-reef tours at 09:15 and 13:45. Zodiac, speedboat and day boat go out from the same base.
Access to the site runs through a local operator.
The operator's check-in requires certification, logbook and a medical statement. Whether certified guests may dive the house reef unguided is not published - guided house-reef tours run at fixed times - so ask the base rather than assume the unguided rules of the camps further south.
No month-by-month baseline is published for this bay. Its selling point is not a season but its shelter - it is one of the sites that survives a windy day on this coast.
Enclosed and sheltered: the operator dives it in almost any weather, which is why it stays on the schedule when the exposed sites are blown out. No published visibility or current figure for the bay itself.
On current: The operator gives the reef as dropping to about 20 m before it turns to sandbank; that is the figure we record. No source publishes a visibility, current or surge figure for the bay, so all three are left unset. The bay is described as sheltered and divable in almost all weather conditions, which is a statement about exposure rather than a measurement.
Yes. You dive off the resort jetty, and the dive centre keeps tanks and weights at the jetty itself so you are not carrying kit down a beach. Zodiacs from the same jetty run short drops on the outer reef for a one-way drift back into the bay.
The operator gives the reef as dropping to around 20 m before it turns to sandbank, and that is the only depth figure published for the house reef. The day-boat sites reached from here run to about 30 m.
That is the main reason people rate it. The bay is enclosed enough that the operator states it can be dived in almost all weather conditions, so it stays on the schedule when the exposed reefs along this coast are blown out.
North is a scatter of small and large coral blocks set against a coral wall. South is a broad coral garden broken up by small plateaus and blocks. Both start from the same jetty, which effectively gives you two dives from one entry.
A dense, ordinary-but-intact Red Sea reef community. Parrotfishes, Forster's hawkfish, pearl toby, two-banded anemonefish, sling-jaw wrasse, blue-green chromis, scalefin anthias, checkerboard wrasse, common lionfish and masked butterflyfish all recur in the occurrence record, along with giant clam, Spanish dancer and well-camouflaged Red Sea walkman and devil scorpionfish.
We do not know, and we have not guessed. The operator publishes guided house-reef tours at 09:15 and 13:45 and requires certification, logbook and a medical statement at check-in, but says nothing about unguided diving. Ask the base before you book on that assumption.
No. Red Sea Diving Safari lists only three villages - Marsa Shagra, Marsa Nakari and Wadi Lahami - and Mangrove Bay is not one of them. Its unlimited-unguided house-reef policy therefore does not carry over to here.
| Species | How often | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Chlorurus sordidus | occasional | 23 |
| Paracirrhites forsteri | occasional | 20 |
| Canthigaster margaritata | occasional | 17 |
| Scarus fuscopurpureus | occasional | 14 |
| Epibulus insidiator | occasional | 12 |
| Calotomus viridescens | occasional | 12 |
| Amphiprion bicinctus | occasional | 12 |
| Scarus psittacus | occasional | 11 |
| Pseudanthias squamipinnis | occasional | 10 |
| Chromis viridis | occasional | 10 |
| Mulloidichthys flavolineatus | occasional | 10 |
| Halichoeres hortulanus | occasional | 10 |
| Scarus collana | occasional | 10 |
| Scarus ferrugineus | occasional | 10 |
| Coris aygula | occasional | 10 |
| Hemigymnus sexfasciatus | occasional | 10 |
| Epinephelus tauvina | occasional | 9 |
| Heniochus intermedius | occasional | 9 |
| Pterois miles | occasional | 9 |
| Chaetodon austriacus | occasional | 9 |
| Ctenochaetus striatus | occasional | 9 |
| Arothron diadematus | occasional | 9 |
| Pomacentrus sulfureus | occasional | 9 |
| Hexabranchus sanguineus | occasional | 9 |
| Arothron hispidus | occasional | 9 |
| Pardachirus marmoratus | occasional | 8 |
| Pygoplites diacanthus | occasional | 8 |
| Scarus niger | occasional | 8 |
| Scorpaenopsis diabolus | occasional | 8 |
| Tridacna maxima | occasional | 8 |
| Caesio striata | occasional | 8 |
| Chaetodon paucifasciatus | occasional | 8 |
| Inimicus filamentosus | occasional | 8 |
| Parapercis hexophtalma | occasional | 8 |
| Theonella swinhoei | occasional | 7 |
| Lethrinus borbonicus | occasional | 7 |
| Chaetodon semilarvatus | occasional | 7 |
| Cephalopholis miniata | occasional | 7 |
| Monotaxis grandoculis | occasional | 7 |
| Callyspongia crassa | occasional | 7 |
| Naso elegans | occasional | 7 |
| Macolor niger | occasional | 7 |
| Paracheilinus octotaenia | occasional | 7 |
| Cyclichthys spilostylus | occasional | 7 |
| Cheilinus abudjubbe | occasional | 7 |
| Taeniura lymma | occasional | 6 |
| Aluterus scriptus | occasional | 6 |
| Cephalopholis argus | occasional | 6 |
| Chaetodon fasciatus | occasional | 6 |
| Cheilinus lunulatus | occasional | 6 |
| Fistularia commersonii | occasional | 6 |
| Lutjanus bohar | occasional | 6 |
| Lutjanus monostigma | occasional | 6 |
| Myripristis murdjan | occasional | 6 |
| Octopus cyanea | occasional | 6 |
| Pomacanthus imperator | occasional | 6 |
| Rhinecanthus assasi | occasional | 6 |
| Scarus ghobban | occasional | 6 |
| Variola louti | occasional | 6 |
| Acanthurus nigrofuscus | occasional | 6 |
The bay next door to Mangrove Bay, dived along its northern outer side over a wide coral garden broken by blocks, then finished inside the bay.
A quiet lagoon that opens into coral slopes - the site that still works when the coast is windy.
The south end of one resort house reef: walk in beside the jetty, turn left, sand and coral blocks giving way to a drop-off.
The northern end of one long fringing reef in Ras Allasad bay, with its own entry point reached by the dive centre's shuttle.
A hotel jetty, a reef straight off it, and almost no published numbers.
A name on the map south of El Quseir with no published dive behind it.
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