Marsa Tondoba

The dive

Marsa Tondoba is a natural bay about 14 km south of Marsa Alam town, entered on foot from a sandy beach. The floor slopes gently from the shoreline into seagrass meadows and scattered coral patches, with the fringing reef on either arm of the bay carrying walls and short canyons as you work outward. The bay is enclosed enough that operators sell it as the site that still works when the wind is up.

Published depths disagree. Deep South Divers describes the divable range as 1-20 m; Divers Guide puts the house reef's maximum at 30 m. We record the shallower figure and flag the difference, because the shallow end is what the site is actually used for - open-water courses, refreshers and first dives. Current is described as very mild to none by one operator and limited by the other. Visibility is quoted at 15-25 m and at 20-30 m; we record the lower bound.

The seagrass is the reason to come. Operators report green turtles regularly and dugong occasionally, along with eagle rays, blue-spotted stingrays, morays and macro life in the sand. Our own OBIS record for this bay is thin - 19 taxa and single-figure occurrence counts, headed by common lionfish, with one Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin record - so treat that list as evidence of light survey effort rather than of a poor reef.

Access runs through a dive centre: Divers Guide states that diving here is through an authorised dive school and that dives are guided. Zodiac drops are also available as an alternative to the walk-in.

• Walk-in entry from a sandy beach into an enclosed bay
• Seagrass and sand at snorkelling depth; turtles regularly, dugong occasionally
• Very mild to no current, and sheltered when the coast is windy
• Used as a training site: open-water courses, refreshers, first dives

Conditions

A protected natural bay: gently sloping sand into seagrass and coral patches, with the reef on both arms. Current is reported as very mild to none, or limited. Visibility is quoted between 15 and 30 m depending on the source; expect the lower end after wind or at low tide. Water is about 22 C in winter and 29 C in summer.

On current: Two operators disagree on the numbers. Deep South Divers gives 1-20 m depth, 15-25 m visibility and current 'very mild to none'; Divers Guide gives a 30 m maximum, 20-30 m visibility (average 25 m) and 'limited' current. We record the conservative figures from each - 20 m maximum and 15 m visibility - and note that the bay is shallow and sheltered rather than deep. Water runs about 22 C in winter and 29 C in summer.

Dives & underwater footage