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Certification required
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Ras Dudi North
Egypt · reef · beginner
5–20 mbeginnerOWshore entry
Ras Dudi North
The northern run of one resort's private house reef at Kalawy Bay, entered off a 250 m jetty and dived in whichever direction the current picks.
Max depth5–20 m
Required levelbeginner
Entry typeshore
Visibilitynot sourced
The dive
Ras Dudi is the house reef of the TUI MAGIC LIFE resort at Kalawy Bay, about 32 km south of Safaga, and it is worked by a single dive centre. This pin is its northern half; the catalogue carries a separate "Kalawy House Reef, South" pin about 2 km down the coast, and that split matches how the reef is actually dived. You go in from the same place and the guide sends you north or south depending on which way the water is moving. Treating the two pins as two different dives would be a mistake.
Access is off the hotel's jetty, which divers' reports put at around 250 m long. Staff move kit to a platform at the end of it and you go down a ladder. Directly under the entry there is a sandy shelf at roughly 5 m with a large coral block on it, and from there the bottom slopes gently out to about 20 m along a fringing reef heavily grown over with hard coral. A German divers' community entry for the same reef gives 30 m as its maximum, so the sand keeps going past where the dive centre's own description stops. There is also a small cave on the reef that opens in two directions. Zodiacs run from the jetty for one-way dives further along the reef than you would swim, which is the usual way this northern section gets dived.
On marine life the honest answer is that this pin is thinly recorded. OBIS holds only two taxa within 1.5 km of it, a Red Sea ghost crab and a scaly clam, which reflects an absence of survey effort rather than an absence of animals. The dive centre names blue-spotted rays and morays on its own house-reef page, and divers posting about the reef add turtles, Napoleon wrasse, eagle rays, stonefish and barracuda, with dolphins and one whale shark reported in 2010. Treat the longer list as things people have seen here, not as what a given dive delivers.
What this site is, in short, is a good, sheltered, shallow fringing reef attached to a hotel, used for courses and for repeat unguided diving, and split across two catalogue pins. Very little is published about the northern half on its own.
- Sandy shelf at about 5 m directly under the jetty entry, with a large coral block on it
- Fringing reef heavily grown over with hard coral, sloping out to about 20 m
- A small cave on the reef that opens in two directions
- Zodiac drops from the jetty for one-way dives along the reef
- Reef worked by one dive centre only, which divers credit for its condition
Please note before you go
- The current sets north or south and dictates the direction of the dive, so a one-way swim finishes away from where it started
- Stonefish are among the animals divers report on this reef, and the dive starts and ends on sand
- The slope continues past the operator's quoted 20 m to a reported 30 m, which is easy to drift into on an otherwise very easy reef
Access & rules
Mandatory requirementsGetting there
Off the hotel jetty at TUI MAGIC LIFE Kalawy, about 32 km south of Safaga. Divers' reports put the jetty at around 250 m; the centre carries kit to a platform at the end and you enter and exit by ladder. Zodiac trips from the jetty are how the further sections of the reef, including this northern one, are reached for a one-way dive, and the centre also runs shore dives by bus from the beach. The centre requires a certification card, a medical statement and a logbook before the first dive.
Operator
Access to the site runs through a local operator.
Restrictions
The reef belongs to one dive centre, which operates it exclusively, so everything here goes through the resort's operation. Unguided diving on the local reef is offered at a reduced rate for divers with enough experience; a divers' community entry for the reef gives 25 logged dives as the threshold for independent diving.
Rules and permits
The centre's 2023 price list charges a reef fee permission of €9 for each diving day, and a separate €10 marine fee permission on the Safaga boat day trip. It also collects a €9 decompression chamber insurance and donation. Zodiac trips, shore dives by bus, night dives and early-morning dives are €10 each on top of the dive price.
Season
No source we read names best months for this reef. It is a sheltered house reef on the Safaga coast rather than an exposed offshore site, and it is dived year round on the resort's own daily schedule, so season matters less here than it does for the boat sites out of Safaga.
Conditions
Visibilitynot sourced
Currentlight
Surgenot sourced
WaterSalt water
Depth range5–20 m
Environmentreef
Coralnot sourced
Crowdsquiet
A sheltered fringing reef in front of a resort bay, entered off a long jetty rather than through surf. Current is light and mainly sets the direction of the dive. Because one centre has the reef to itself, there is no boat traffic to dodge over the shallow part and divers consistently describe the coral as being in good shape. Facilities are whatever the resort dive centre has, which is a full operation with rental gear, courses and a daily schedule.
On current: Nobody describing this reef calls the current strong. What it does is decide direction: divers report going either north or south from the jetty depending on the flow, which is why the reef ends up catalogued as two pins. The depth figures disagree and the page takes the shallower one. The dive centre's own description of its house reef has the seabed sloping gently to 20 m; a German divers' community entry for the same reef gives 30 m as the maximum. Both are describing the same slope, so 20 m is the dive and the extra 10 m is the sand below it.
Questions & answers
Where is Ras Dudi North?
It is the northern part of the house reef in front of the TUI MAGIC LIFE resort at Kalawy Bay, about 32 km south of Safaga on the Egyptian Red Sea coast. The reef is worked exclusively by the resort's own dive centre. Our catalogue also carries a "Kalawy House Reef, South" pin about 2 km away, which is the other half of the same fringing reef.
How deep is Ras Dudi?
There is a sandy shelf at about 5 m directly under the jetty entry, and from there the bottom slopes gently out to around 20 m, which is the figure the dive centre publishes for its own house reef. A German divers' community entry for the same reef gives 30 m as the maximum, so the sand does continue below the operator's number. In practice this is a shallow dive.
How do you get into the water at Ras Dudi?
Off the hotel jetty. Divers report it at around 250 m long; the centre moves kit out to a platform at the end and you enter and exit by ladder. For the further stretches of reef, including this northern section, the centre runs zodiac trips from the jetty so the dive can be done one way. Shore dives by bus from the beach are also on the schedule.
Is Ras Dudi good for beginners?
Yes. It is a sheltered fringing reef with a shallow shelf right under the entry, and the resort's dive centre runs its Scuba Diver and Open Water courses on it. Current is light and mainly determines which direction you swim. Experienced divers can also dive it without a guide at a reduced rate, with 25 logged dives given as the threshold.
Is there a fee to dive here?
Yes, separate from the dive itself. The centre's 2023 price list charges a reef fee permission of €9 for each diving day, and adds €10 each for a zodiac trip, a shore dive by bus, a night dive or an early-morning dive. A €9 decompression chamber insurance and donation is also collected, and the Safaga boat day trip carries its own €10 marine fee.
What will I see at Ras Dudi?
The reef itself is the constant: a fringing reef heavily grown over with hard coral, a large coral block on the 5 m shelf, and a small cave that opens in two directions. The dive centre names blue-spotted rays and morays; divers posting about the reef add turtles, Napoleon wrasse, eagle rays, stonefish and barracuda, with dolphins and a whale shark reported in 2010. Very little has been formally recorded at this pin, so treat the longer list as sightings rather than expectations.
Can you snorkel at Ras Dudi?
Yes, and the sheltered water and the shallow reef crest make it reasonable. The coral block on the 5 m shelf under the jetty is visible from the surface. What a snorkeller misses is the slope out to 20 m, which is where most of the dive happens, so it is a pleasant swim rather than the main event.
Is Ras Dudi North a different dive from Kalawy House Reef South?
Not really. They are the two ends of one fringing reef in front of the same resort, roughly 2 km apart, and the guide picks north or south from the same jetty entry according to the current on the day. Booking them as two separate sites would misread how the reef is dived; the zodiac exists precisely so the far ends can be reached and swum in one direction.
Life recorded at Ras Dudi North
2 species within 1.5 km · OBISOcypode saratanrare · 1 records
Tridacna squamosarare · 1 records
Nearby sites in Safaga
Explore all sitesKalawy House Reef, South1.9 km
SafagaThe southern half of a resort fringing reef 30 km below Safaga, entered off a 250 m jetty onto a sand platform at 5 m.
El Makluf ED2.9 km
SafagaHalf an hour south of Gassous Bay in the base bus, in through a small cave under overhangs, out onto blocks that stand from deep water almost to the surface.
Abu Saaf ED3.3 km
SafagaA hotel house reef south of Safaga you enter through a hole in the reef top - no current, no boat traffic, any weather.
Gasus Soraya8.3 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.
Salim ED10.0 km
SafagaA minibus shore dive on the Safaga to El Quseir road: a channel cut through the reef top, a cave beside it, and coral blocks on the sand outside.
Coral Garden / Gassous Bay10.3 km
SafagaA house-reef bay 22 km south of Safaga: 30 steps from the dive base to the water, no current, no boat traffic.
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