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Shaab Hamdallah
Egypt · reef · advanced
0–20 madvancedAOWboat entry
Shaab Hamdallah
A group of tall coral towers standing off the south tip of the Sha'ab Sheer plateau, dived only on days flat enough to leave a boat with no shelter at all.
Max depth0–20 m
Required leveladvanced
Entry typeboat
Visibilitynot sourced
The dive
Shaab Hamdallah sits at the southernmost point of the wide shallow plateau that surrounds Sha'ab Sheer, the reef the British charts call Hyndman. It is roughly 80 to 90 minutes out from the Safaga bases, and the wreck of the Salem Express lies about 1.3 km to the north-west of it on the same plateau; some Safaga operators say the ferry clipped this reef before going down, which is consistent with the published account — she grounded on a reef while taking the captain's habitual shortcut inside Hyndman, and the wreck is recorded as lying on Hyndman reef — but is not something any source names outright. The name is usually glossed as 'God's gift'.
The dive is a set of tall ergs, coral towers standing on sand. The most detailed published description counts five of them rising from about 18 m and arranged like the five pips on a die: the central one is the smallest and the most heavily covered in soft coral, the southern one is steeply undercut and hung with gorgonians, and the largest, northern erg has a soft-coral-lined tunnel running through its middle, with a split erg to the west that you can swim the canyon of. More ergs continue to the south, but those five are described as more than a single dive's worth. Safaga operators describe the same site more simply as two big blocks ringed by coral heads with a channel between them where bannerfish always sit, so expect the layout to read differently depending on where the boat drops you. Maximum depth is 20 m either way, which makes this a shallow dive with a hard weather gate rather than a deep one.
What you look at is mostly the towers themselves and what lives on them. Around a hundred bluecheek butterflyfish hold station between the northern erg and the gorgonian erg, small pale greasy groupers live in the tunnel, and the tops of the ergs carry a lot of scorpionfish and false stonefish; the sand between them is named as one of the few places around Safaga where you meet spiny devilfish. Operators add schooling fish over the whole reef with Napoleon wrasse, turtles, tuna and barracuda, and eagle rays now and then. OBIS records around the pin are consistent: greasy grouper, redmouth grouper, titan triggerfish, yellowbar angelfish, lunar and Suez fusiliers, orangespotted trevally, tentacled flathead and porcupinefish.
Two things are worth knowing before you get in. The site is open sea with nothing to hide the boat behind, so it goes off the programme at the first sign of weather and one local centre rates it 5 out of 5 for difficulty on that basis alone. And the tunnel through the northern erg is not a swim-through: the guide that describes it says explicitly to look and not enter, because exhaled bubbles knock the soft coral off the roof. The same applies in the split-erg canyon, which has a large intact table coral in it.
- Five tall ergs rising from about 18 m, laid out like the five pips on a die
- Soft-coral-lined tunnel through the largest, northern erg (look, do not enter)
- Steeply undercut southern erg hung with gorgonians
- Around a hundred bluecheek butterflyfish between the northern and gorgonian ergs
- Sand between the towers is one of the few Safaga spots for spiny devilfish
Please note before you go
- Open sea with zero shelter for the boat — the site is only dived in genuinely calm conditions and is cancelled on any real wind
- Current can run from nothing to strong on the same reef, with no protected water downstream
- Numerous scorpionfish and false stonefish sit on top of the ergs, and the sand between them is one of the few Safaga sites where spiny devilfish are found
- The soft-coral tunnel through the northern erg is a look-only feature, not a swim-through: bubbles alone dislodge the corals lining it, and there is a large intact table coral in the split-erg canyon
Access & rules
Mandatory requirementsGetting there
Day boat from Safaga, about 80 minutes from the town bases and about 90 minutes quoted by the dive guides. There is no protected mooring area: the boat lies in open sea on the south edge of the Sha'ab Sheer plateau.
Operator
Access to the site runs through a local operator.
Rules and permits
Standard Egyptian Red Sea diving permit fees apply per diving day out of Safaga — one local base's 2023 price list charges 5 euro per diving day on top of the dive price. The published dive plan for this site asks divers not to enter the soft-coral tunnel and to keep clear of the table coral in the split-erg canyon.
Season
The gate here is wind, not season. Safaga water sits between about 22.5 degrees in February and March and 29 degrees in August on ten-year averages, so temperature never rules the site out; whether the boat can lie off an unsheltered reef 80 to 90 minutes from port does, and that is a day-by-day call rather than a month.
Conditions
Visibilitynot sourced
Currentstrong
Surgenot sourced
WaterSalt water
Depth range0–20 m
Environmentreef
Coralnot sourced
Crowdsnot sourced
Open water over a sand seabed with towers standing off it, maximum depth 20 m. Conditions are binary rather than variable: on a calm day the boat sits over an unsheltered reef and the dive is easy at 20 m, and on any other day it does not run. Water is around 22.5 degrees in February and March and about 29 degrees in August on ten-year monthly averages for Safaga.
On current: Sources disagree and the safe reading is the pessimistic one. The most detailed guide says the current here runs from nothing at all to 'highly inconvenient' but never so strong you cannot dive it; two Safaga operators simply call it moderate to strong, and a third attributes the strength to how exposed the reef is. Plan it as a current dive on an unsheltered boat, because the failure mode here is being blown off an erg with nothing downstream to sit behind.
Questions & answers
How deep is Shaab Hamdallah?
Shallow for an offshore Red Sea reef: maximum depth is 20 m, quoted the same way by a dive guide and by a Safaga operator. The coral towers that make up the site rise from a sand seabed at about 18 m, so a whole dive can be spent circling them well inside no-decompression limits. The difficulty here comes from the weather and current, not from the depth.
How do you get to Shaab Hamdallah?
By day boat from Safaga. One local base gives about 80 minutes' running time from its jetty, and the dive guides quote roughly 90 minutes from town. The reef lies at the southern tip of the Sha'ab Sheer plateau, about 1.3 km south-east of the Salem Express wreck, and there is no sheltered mooring: the boat sits in open sea for the whole dive.
Is Shaab Hamdallah suitable for beginners?
No. It is graded advanced by the guide that describes it in most detail and 5 out of 5 for difficulty by a Safaga operator, entirely because of exposure and current rather than depth. There is no protected water to drift into and no shelter for the boat, so a diver who is not comfortable finishing a dive in current on an open reef should take one of the inshore Tobia sites instead.
Is there current at Shaab Hamdallah?
Often, and reports vary. One guide says it ranges from nothing at all to 'highly inconvenient' but is never too strong to dive; two Safaga operators call it moderate to strong, and a third puts the strength down to how exposed the reef is. Plan for the strong version, because the boat has nowhere to hide and there is no lee downstream.
What will I see at Shaab Hamdallah?
The published description names about a hundred bluecheek butterflyfish holding between the northern erg and the gorgonian erg, small pale greasy groupers living in the tunnel, and a lot of scorpionfish and false stonefish on the tops of the towers; the sand between them is one of the few places around Safaga where spiny devilfish turn up. Operators add schooling fish across the reef, Napoleon wrasse, turtles, tuna, barracuda and occasional eagle rays, and bannerfish that sit permanently in the channel between the two main blocks. OBIS records for the pin also list titan triggerfish, yellowbar angelfish, lunar and Suez fusiliers, orangespotted trevally, tentacled flathead and porcupinefish.
Can you swim through the tunnel in the big erg?
You are asked not to. The largest, northern erg has a tunnel running through its middle whose walls are lined with soft coral, and the published dive plan says to look but not enter, because even exhaled bubbles dislodge the corals growing inside. The same care applies in the canyon of the split erg to the west, where there is a large intact table coral at fin height.
When is the best time to dive Shaab Hamdallah?
Any month the sea is flat. Water temperature is never the limit here, running from about 22.5 degrees in February and March to about 29 degrees in August on ten-year Safaga averages. What decides it is wind on the day: the reef offers a boat no protection at all, so the trip is booked and then cancelled on the morning rather than planned by season.
Is this the reef the Salem Express hit?
At least one Safaga operator says so, and the geography allows it: the ferry grounded while taking her captain's usual shortcut inside Hyndman Reef, which is the same plateau Shaab Hamdallah stands at the southern tip of, and the wreck lies about 1.3 km away. No source names the reef she hit outright, so treat this as a local attribution rather than an established fact. The wreck itself is a separate dive and, as a mass grave from December 1991, a separate decision.
Life recorded at Shaab Hamdallah
27 species within 1.5 km · OBISBalistoides viridescensrare · 1 records
Scarus ferrugineusrare · 4 records
Epinephelus tauvinarare · 3 records
Chromis pembaerare · 2 records
Siganus argenteusrare · 2 records
Caesio suevicarare · 1 records
All 27 species recorded in this area
| Species | How often | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Scarus ferrugineus | rare | 4 |
| Epinephelus tauvina | rare | 3 |
| Chromis pembae | rare | 2 |
| Siganus argenteus | rare | 2 |
| Caesio suevica | rare | 1 |
| Cheilodipterus macrodon | rare | 1 |
| Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus | rare | 1 |
| Corythoichthys flavofasciatus | rare | 1 |
| Dascyllus marginatus | rare | 1 |
| Dascyllus trimaculatus | rare | 1 |
| Diodon hystrix | rare | 1 |
| Acanthurus nigrofuscus | rare | 1 |
| Myripristis murdjan | rare | 1 |
| Ostracion cyanurus | rare | 1 |
| Papilloculiceps longiceps | rare | 1 |
| Parupeneus cyclostomus | rare | 1 |
| Pomacanthus maculosus | rare | 1 |
| Scarus niger | rare | 1 |
| Thalassoma rueppellii | rare | 1 |
| Zebrasoma desjardinii | rare | 1 |
| Aethaloperca rogaa | rare | 1 |
| Ctenochaetus striatus | rare | 1 |
| Mulloidichthys vanicolensis | rare | 1 |
| Flavocaranx bajad | rare | 1 |
| Amblyglyphidodon flavilatus | rare | 1 |
| Balistoides viridescens | rare | 1 |
| Caesio lunaris | rare | 1 |
Nearby sites in Safaga
Explore all sitesSalem Express, wreck1.3 km
SafagaA 1991 ferry disaster on Hyndman Reef. Hundreds of people are still inside her, and that is the whole of what this dive is.
Sha’ab Sheer Soraya2.2 km
SafagaThe small round hard-coral reef detached to the south of Sha'ab Sheer, dived as the shallow second half of a Salem Express day.
Shaab Claude2.4 km
SafagaA small outer reef south of Sha'ab Sheer with a ridge of fused ergs and shallow swim-throughs at 4 to 6 m.
Sha’ab Sheer East3.4 km
SafagaThe eastern end of Safaga's boomerang reef, where three ergs stand off the reef and leave a shallow channel that decides how the dive goes.
Al Kahfain (Wreck)3.7 km
SafagaA 115 m ferry lying inverted against the wall of Sha'ab Sheer, still settling, dived one way from a zodiac drop.
Sha’ab Sheer West4.0 km
SafagaThe western dive on Sha'ab Sheer: in through a small channel to a hard-coral garden on the north side, then an inclined coral wall along the main reef, with sea fans below 20 m.
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