SeaLogEgypt · reef
The north reef of a two-reef stop off Hamata: coral garden and blocks between about 5 and 25 m, and the first site the boats drop when the wind is down.
Shaab Bango is a reef lying off Hamata in Egypt's deep south, at the inshore end of the Fury Shoals complex. The German Egypt dive guide that describes it also gives it a second local name, Erg Harni, and puts the diving between about 5 and 25 m over coral gardens and coral blocks with a wide mix of reef fish. It is the northern half of a two-reef stop: the operator listing this catalogue row was imported from says Bango and Shaab Camelia are dived together on one trip, with Bango the north reef and Camelia the south one, and puts the coral garden directly under where the boat sits.
The one condition the sources are specific about is weather. The German guide says plainly that Bango is not a site to dive in strong wind, because the swell it raises carries down and spoils visibility even at depth. That is a useful line for a reef this shallow, and it is the reason a Hamata boat will move on to somewhere more sheltered on a blown-out day rather than persist here.
One claim needs flagging rather than repeating. The same German page says a steamer sank in this area in 1958 and that pieces of it still lie at about 12 m. No operator or wreck database I could find puts a wreck on Bango. The one documented steamer in the Fury Shoals is the Adamantia K, which ran aground on 23 January 1948 in the Abu Galawa reef system, and her remains sit at about 4 m for the engine and 8 m for the separated bow and stern, not 12 m. The date, the depth and the reef all disagree, so do not go to Bango expecting a wreck.
Access is by boat from Hamata port. Orca Dive Club at Wadi Lahmy Azur rates the Fury Shoals reefs at 10 to 40 minutes by speedboat and 45 minutes to 2.5 hours by the larger day boats, and Regaldive puts most Hamata sites within an hour of shore. Be aware that the coordinates on this record are not the reef: the scubago import stacked the whole Hamata site list on top of the resort, so the pin is an area marker only.
Boat only, from Hamata port, about a ten minute transfer from Wadi Lahmy Azur. Orca Dive Club rates the Fury Shoals reefs at 10 to 40 minutes by speedboat or 45 minutes to 2.5 hours by the larger day boats; Regaldive says most Hamata sites are reached within an hour of shore and all within two. Bango is normally run together with Shaab Camelia as one trip.
Access to the site runs through a local operator.
Hamata day trips carry a locally paid environmental fee. Regaldive states that all trips with Orca Divers include an environmental fee made up of national park fees plus tax and permissions, paid locally and non-refundable.
No months are claimed. Nothing I read gives a diving season for Bango or for the Hamata reefs generally, and the only seasonal fact available is that winter water temperatures here are higher than in the northern Red Sea. Given the site's documented sensitivity to wind, the practical question is the forecast on the day rather than the month.
Unmeasured. No source publishes visibility, temperature or current numbers for Bango. What can be said is that it is a shallow reef complex of gardens and blocks that works on calm days and gets murky when the wind is up, and that Regaldive notes winter water in this part of the Egyptian Red Sea runs warmer than the northern Red Sea.
On current: No source gives a current figure for Bango. What is documented is swell rather than current: the German Hamata guide says the site is not recommended in strong winds because the resulting swell reaches down and spoils visibility even at depth, which makes this a fair-weather reef. The two descriptions also disagree on how deep the sand runs, the German guide giving 5 to 25 m and the operator listing this row was imported from giving a sandy bottom to about 14 m before the drop-off. The deeper figure is recorded here and the shallower one is the one to plan gas around.
The German Hamata guide puts the diving between about 5 and 25 m over coral gardens and blocks. The operator listing this record was imported from gives a shallower figure, a sandy bottom to about 14 m ending in a drop-off. The two disagree, so plan gas for the shallower number and treat 25 m as the outer edge.
Almost certainly not, despite one guide saying so. That page claims a steamer sank in the area in 1958 with parts still at about 12 m, but no operator or wreck database puts a wreck on this reef. The one documented Fury Shoals steamer is the Adamantia K, lost in 1948 at Abu Galawa, with her engine at about 4 m. Do not dive Bango expecting wreckage.
In strong wind. The German guide that describes the site says it is not recommended when the wind is up, because the swell it raises carries down and spoils the visibility even at depth. It is a fair-weather reef, and on a blown-out day the boat will normally move to something more sheltered instead.
No, it is normally one half of a two-reef stop. The operator listing says Shaab Bango and Shaab Camelia are done together on one trip, Bango being the north reef of the pair and Camelia the south one. If your day sheet shows only one of the two names you are still likely to see both.
By day boat from Hamata port, roughly a ten minute transfer from Wadi Lahmy Azur. Orca Dive Club rates the Fury Shoals reefs at 10 to 40 minutes by speedboat or 45 minutes to 2.5 hours by the larger boats, and Regaldive puts most Hamata sites within an hour of shore and all within two.
It carries both names locally. The German Hamata dive guide lists the site as Shaab Bango with Erg Harni in brackets, so the two names refer to the same reef. Expect either on a briefing board or a boat schedule in the Hamata area, and do not log them as two separate dives.
No. The scubago import that produced this record stacked the entire Hamata dive site list on top of the resort rather than on the individual reefs, so the pin sits within a few hundred metres of a dozen other Hamata names. Treat it as an area marker for the Fury Shoals and take the reef position from your operator.
Animals divers commonly encounter in these waters. This site has no occurrence record of its own yet, so this list comes from the sea it sits in rather than from observations at the pin.
A 1935 Chinese harbour tug lying against the reef in 5 to 18 m, so overgrown that on one side you cannot tell the hull from the coral.
A ring reef in the Fury Shoals with a coral garden inside it, a channel you swim through between coral walls, and a small American sailing yacht sunk in 1980 that the reef has taken over.
A submerged Fury Shoals reef built around four large coral blocks, six hundred metres south of Sha'ab Claudio.
A small reef at the south end of the Fury Shoals built around a shallow cave system that stays lit because most of it is open to the sky.
A small Fury Shoals reef whose northern end is a field of coral pinnacles rising to the surface, usually dived as a zodiac drift.
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