Panorama Reef North

The dive

This pin is the northern end of Panorama Reef, one of the largest single reefs off Safaga, not a reef of its own. Panorama is a seamount rising from water more than 400 m deep, and it carries two plateaus, north and south, joined by steep east and west walls. Its Arabic name, Abu Alama, means "father of the mast" and refers to the concrete pillar that used to mark the north end; that pillar has been replaced by an automated beacon, which is now the landmark you navigate the north dive by. The catalogue also holds a general "Panorama Reef, Safaga" pin about 600 m from this one; that is the same reef, and this entry is specifically about its northern half.

The north plateau is published between roughly 15 and 25 m by one Safaga centre and 15 to 30 m by another, and it ends at the reef's northern tip in a wall that drops vertically to about 84 m before falling away into open water. Operators disagree about what sits on the plateau: one describes hard coral gardens between 27 and 40 m along the drop-off with gorgonian fans, whip, brush and black corals, another describes carved shelves stepping out toward the blue. What they agree on is how you dive it. Boats moor at the southern end of the reef, so the north plateau is worked as a one-way drift after a zodiac or boat drop, with the classic entry made a few hundred metres short of the beacon and the current carrying you across the plateau.

The current is the whole story here. It normally sets from the north, and the operator with the most specific description of the site says it can be very strong across the north plateau, with up- and downcurrents. That is why the north end only gets dived when conditions allow and why Safaga centres rate Panorama advanced rather than a site for everybody, even though the plateau itself is shallow. It is also why the fish are there.

The payoff for that exposure is midwater life. Operators working the north plateau report schooling surgeonfish, unicornfish and barracuda, giant trevally, whitetip and grey reef sharks, and, less often, silvertips and oceanic whitetips, with turtles common and a resident Napoleon wrasse on the reef. On the plateau itself OBIS records giant moray and blue-spotted ribbontail ray among the most frequently logged animals, along with bluecheek butterflyfish, sling-jaw wrasse, coral hind, brown and elegant unicornfish, Spanish dancer and Moses sole on the sand.

• One-way drift across the north plateau, entered short of the Abu Alama beacon
• Vertical wall off the northern tip falling to about 84 m
• Gorgonian fans, whip, brush and black corals along the drop-off
• Schooling barracuda holding off the tip of the plateau
• Whitetip and grey reef sharks in the blue, with turtles common

Conditions

An offshore reef 60 to 90 minutes out of Safaga, exposed on the north end and dependent on the weather. Water is 22 to 28 C across the year and visibility is published at 20 to 40 m. On a workable day the dive is a drift across a shallow plateau with the wall and open water on one side; on a marginal day the north end is dropped and the boat works the sheltered southern plateau instead, where it moors.

On current: The current here sets from the north and is the deciding factor. One Safaga centre calls it potentially very strong across the north plateau and warns specifically about upcurrents and downcurrents; a liveaboard operator says the north plateau is best done when the weather permits because of the strong northerly flow; a third describes the flow across the reef as gentle to moderate. Take the strong reading, because the north tip ends in a wall that drops vertically to about 84 m and a downcurrent there has somewhere to put you. The depth numbers also differ: 15-25 m, 15-30 m and 27-40 m are all published for the north plateau by different operators, and the page uses the shallower range because that is where the drift is run.

Dives & underwater footage