Sha’ab Sheer West

The dive

Sha'ab Sheer is a single horseshoe reef southeast of Safaga, about a kilometre long, sometimes listed under the name Hyndman Reef. It carries two named dives, one at each end, and this pin is the western one. Operators also sell the west end under its own local name, Coral Paradise. The eastern end, dived as Sha'ab Sheer East or Shark Point, is a different dive on the same reef: three ergs forming a channel with the main reef, with caves and overhangs inside them and a hard-coral landscape outside. Sha'ab Sheer Soraya is a separate, smaller reef that Blue Submarine puts about 800 m to the south, and the Salem Express and the Al Kafain ferry lie nearby, so this reef is often the second dive of a day rather than the headline.

The western dive works the north side. Duck's Dive Center describes reaching an intact hard-coral garden on the north side through a small channel; Blue Submarine describes the same run as shallow passages first, sometimes finning against the flow, opening into a clear garden, then an inclined hard-coral wall along the main reef. The coral garden on this side is the point of the dive, reported at around 20 m, with sea fans below 20 m. The corals named across sources are brain, table and acropora, and the character described is structure rather than fish density.

Depths do not agree. Operators give the reef as 5 to 30 m and one liveaboard gives 5 to 25 m, while Zentacle lists the western dive at 15 m maximum. Taking the shallow reading as the working plan and treating 25 m as the outer limit is the safe way to dive it. Current is described the same way by everyone: quiet behind the reef, occasional strong flow around the corners, with a counter-current sometimes running in the channel and drift dives possible on the outside.

This is an anchorage as much as a dive site. Zentacle notes Sha'ab Sheer is a common overnight stop for dive cruises, and 4Ever Sea puts it about 70 minutes out from Safaga, while Blue Submarine says nearer 90 from port. Records from this pin include spinner and Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, and Blue Submarine reports dolphins visiting the reef regularly.

• An intact hard-coral garden on the north side, reached through a small channel
• Inclined hard-coral wall along the main reef
• Sea fans below 20 m
• Also sold as Coral Paradise, the western dive on Sha'ab Sheer
• Spinner and bottlenose dolphins recorded on this reef

Conditions

Water sits around 29 C in the warm months, when operators call a 3 mm shorty or full suit enough. Conditions on the sheltered side of the reef are usually calm, which is why liveaboards anchor here overnight, while the corners and the outside are where the moving water is. No source gives a measured visibility figure for this end of the reef, so none is recorded here.

On current: Two things are consistent across sources: it is calm behind the reef and it can run hard around the corners. Duck's Dive Center notes a counter-flow in the small channel on the north side, so the way in is sometimes a swim against the water, and Blue Submarine says the same about the shallow passages at the start of the western dive. Drift dives on the outside are possible when the flow is there. Depths conflict, with operators giving 5 to 30 m for the reef and Zentacle listing 15 m maximum for the western dive; the conservative plan is to treat the coral garden at around 20 m as the working depth and 25 m as the floor.

Best months: Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct, Nov