SeaLogEgypt · reef · beginner
A 900 m resort fringing reef worked from the beach: a guide rope south to the blocks by the jetty, a zodiac drop for the better northern half, and a seagrass meadow in the middle of the bay.
The house reef of the Three Corners Equinox Beach Resort, a few kilometres south of the Abu Dabbab bays on the Marsa Alam coast, is dived by Extra Divers Equinox, whose centre sits on the hotel beach. The operator describes the reef as nearly 900 m long with depths from 5 to 40 m, made up of seagrass meadows, isolated coral pinnacles and coral gardens. Entry is on foot from the beach in front of the centre's service station, and boats and zodiacs leave from the resort's own jetty at the south end of the sand.
The reef has two clearly different halves. A guide rope runs from the beach over a sand flat to the southern reef block, which continues to the jetty; a three-week trip report by two working instructors puts the maximum on that side at just under 10 m, with coral blocks on the western, seaward face. The northern half is the better dive and is normally reached by zodiac, with the best section about 60 to 70 minutes of dive time up the coast; from a drop there you work back south past coral blocks carrying large aggregations of glassfish. Between the two, in the deeper middle of the bay, lies a seagrass meadow that is worth leaving the reef for.
That meadow is where the animals people remember are found. The same report records big turtles and rays on the grass and a dugong as an occasional visitor; a diver review from 2022 describes meeting a dugong on the house reef about twenty minutes into the first dive, along with a resident large turtle sleeping among the southern blocks and a frogfish that stayed on a piece of overgrown structure from October through January. Extra Divers is careful to put the dugong as luck rather than a fixture, and calls it one of the Abu Dabbab animals.
The occurrence records for this position are ordinary Red Sea reef and seagrass fauna and are consistent with those accounts: bluespotted ribbontail ray, day octopus, tentacled flathead, banded pipefish, twoband anemonefish, sea goldie, giant moray, orbicular batfish, broomtail wrasse, small giant clam and common lionfish all appear. The reef will not hold a diver for a fortnight on its own, which is why the centre runs zodiac drops to the Abu Dabbab reefs and day-boat trips from the jetty.
Shore entry from the resort beach in front of the Extra Divers service station, roughly 30 m from the equipment room; a guide rope leads over the sand to the southern reef. Zodiac drops for the northern half run mornings and midday, and day boats leave from the resort's own jetty. Marsa Alam airport is about 30 km away, Hurghada about 240 km.
Access to the site runs through a local operator.
The reef fronts a private resort beach and both the entry and the jetty are inside the hotel grounds, so access runs through Extra Divers Equinox. None of the sources we read state a policy for divers who are not staying at the resort, so ask the centre directly rather than assuming walk-in access.
Egyptian diving services carry a 10 per cent government amusement tax that the centre states is charged on top of prices that already include 14 per cent VAT. Recorded 2026-08-07.
The reef is dived year-round. The trade-off reported by returning divers is temperature against crowding: January can put five divers on the base and about 22 C in the water, while October fills it with 40 to 80 and gives the warmer water and the better offshore trips. We have no site-specific seasonality beyond that, so we set no best months.
A sheltered resort bay: flat water most days, easy visibility from the beach out to the reef edge, and a working shore entry that gets harder as the tide drops. Water is warm through the season but not uniform; a diver reported about 22 C in January and recommended a 7 mm suit for it, against the 29 C the operators quote for high summer.
On current: No source we read reports significant current on this reef, and the bay is used for try dives and Open Water training, which is itself an indication. The tide matters more than the current: the shore entry crosses about 50 m of shallow, partly stony ground and is noticeably harder at low water, and booties are recommended for it. The published depths disagree in a way worth understanding before you plan a dive. Extra Divers gives 5 to 40 m for the reef as a whole; the section you reach on foot and follow south to the jetty bottoms out at just under 10 m. Treat 40 m as the outer edge and the north end, not as the profile of a beach dive.
Extra Divers Equinox publishes 5 to 40 m for the whole 900 m reef. The part you reach on foot from the beach and follow south to the jetty bottoms out at just under 10 m, according to a detailed trip report by two instructors. The deeper ground is out at the reef edge and off the northern end, which is normally reached by zodiac.
Yes, that is the normal way. You walk in from the beach in front of the dive centre's service station and follow a guide rope across a sand flat to the southern reef block. The entry crosses about 50 m of shallow, partly stony ground and is noticeably harder at low tide, so booties are recommended.
Yes. The dive centre runs try dives, Open Water courses and children's diving from 8 years old on this reef, and part of the training is done in the resort's heated pool when the sea is rough. The southern section is shallow, sheltered and has a fixed guide rope, which is why it is used for first dives.
Sometimes, but treat it as luck rather than a plan. The seagrass meadow in the middle of the bay is where turtles and rays are reliably seen, and both a 2022 diver report and a longer trip report describe dugong encounters there. Extra Divers itself frames the animal as one of the Abu Dabbab dugongs that may wander in, not a resident.
Yes, and it is one of the better parts of the site. The long jetty at the south end of the hotel beach reaches out over the southern reef and has a ladder entry, and the seagrass meadow is shallow enough to watch turtles and rays from the surface. The centre rents snorkelling gear and runs dedicated snorkelling trips.
The northern half. Both the operator and an independent instructor report rate it above the southern section, and it is normally reached by a zodiac drop rather than swum to, with the best stretch about 60 to 70 minutes of dive time north of the entry. Working back south from there you pass coral blocks carrying large glassfish aggregations.
We could not establish that from published sources. The dive centre, the beach entry and the jetty are all inside the Three Corners Equinox grounds, so any access goes through Extra Divers Equinox. Contact the centre directly before travelling rather than assuming walk-in access is available.
| Species | How often | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Pterois miles | occasional | 15 |
| Paracirrhites forsteri | occasional | 12 |
| Pseudanthias squamipinnis | occasional | 10 |
| Arothron diadematus | occasional | 9 |
| Bodianus anthioides | occasional | 9 |
| Octopus cyanea | occasional | 8 |
| Zebrasoma xanthurum | occasional | 8 |
| Chaetodon austriacus | occasional | 8 |
| Taeniura lymma | occasional | 8 |
| Coris aygula | occasional | 7 |
| Zebrasoma desjardinii | occasional | 7 |
| Platax orbicularis | occasional | 7 |
| Corythoichthys flavofasciatus | occasional | 7 |
| Lutjanus kasmira | occasional | 7 |
| Cheilinus lunulatus | occasional | 7 |
| Amphiprion bicinctus | occasional | 7 |
| Dascyllus trimaculatus | occasional | 7 |
| Tridacna maxima | occasional | 6 |
| Chaetodon paucifasciatus | occasional | 6 |
| Balistoides viridescens | occasional | 6 |
| Papilloculiceps longiceps | occasional | 6 |
| Gymnothorax javanicus | occasional | 6 |
| Chlorurus sordidus | occasional | 6 |
| Chromis viridis | occasional | 6 |
| Canthigaster margaritata | occasional | 6 |
| Caranx melampygus | occasional | 6 |
| Flavocaranx bajad | occasional | 6 |
| Monotaxis grandoculis | occasional | 6 |
| Mulloidichthys vanicolensis | occasional | 6 |
| Ostracion cubicum | occasional | 6 |
| Cephalopholis miniata | occasional | 6 |
| Halichoeres hortulanus | occasional | 5 |
| Parupeneus forsskali | occasional | 5 |
| Fistularia commersonii | occasional | 5 |
| Chaetodon lineolatus | occasional | 5 |
| Epinephelus fasciatus | occasional | 5 |
| Echeneis naucrates | occasional | 5 |
| Rhinecanthus assasi | occasional | 5 |
| Heniochus intermedius | occasional | 5 |
| Chaetodon fasciatus | occasional | 5 |
| Variola louti | rare | 4 |
| Chaetodon auriga | rare | 4 |
| Chaetodon semilarvatus | rare | 4 |
| Cirrhitichthys oxycephalus | rare | 4 |
| Diodon hystrix | rare | 4 |
| Epibulus insidiator | rare | 4 |
| Pomacentrus sulfureus | rare | 4 |
| Chlorurus gibbus | rare | 4 |
| Cirripectes castaneus | rare | 4 |
| Ctenochaetus striatus | rare | 4 |
| Dascyllus abudafur | rare | 4 |
| Naso unicornis | rare | 4 |
| Thalassoma rueppellii | rare | 4 |
| Abudefduf vaigiensis | rare | 4 |
| Fromia ghardaqana | rare | 4 |
| Scolopsis ghanam | rare | 3 |
| Neoniphon sammara | rare | 3 |
| Rastrelliger kanagurta | rare | 3 |
| Siganus luridus | rare | 3 |
| Stenopus hispidus | rare | 3 |
A small patch reef a six-minute zodiac hop off the Equinox beach, with block tops two metres under the surface.
The coral garden inside the dugong bay: shore entry, blocks from 2 m down, and a seagrass meadow you are not allowed to kneel on.
The southern house reef of the Abu Dabab seagrass bay - the same bay as our Marsa Abu Dabab and Abu Dabab Garden records, under a third name.
The seagrass bay with the green turtles, the rare dugong and an entry ticket - shore diving 34 km north of Marsa Alam.
A shallow drift past a field of pinnacles that dive guides call an aquarium - and do not offer to snorkellers.
Reef one of the Abu Dabbab chain: a coral garden on sand with a shallow canyon, and the one of the group operators sell least.
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