SeaLogEgypt · reef · beginner
Three chains of linked coral ergs meeting in an inverted Y on white sand at 12 to 15 m, with a tunnel and a canyon on the eastern arm.
Tobia Soraya is one of the small coral towers scattered across the shallow sand shelf off Safaga, and it has to be read as one of a cluster rather than as a destination on its own. Within a kilometre of this pin sit Tobia Nos, Tobia Kebir and Gamul Soraya, all separate dives; Tobia Island, Gamul Kebir, Tobia Hamra and Tobia Arbaa are within four. The name is the distinguishing part: divers-guide.com glosses Tobia Soraya as Klein Tobia, the small Tobia, against Tobia Kebir the large one. If you are checking which of the Tobias you dived, this is the Y-shaped one.
The structure is three chains of connected ergs coming together in an inverted Y, standing on white sand in 12 to 15 m of water. Red Sea Creatures count four mushroom-shaped towers and three rubble-filled channels on the western chain; Ducks Safaga describe the same north-western towers as the route through the site. The eastern chain carries the two features people come for, a narrow canyon at about 11 m and a tunnel at 9 to 10 m packed with glassfish and hatchetfish. United Divers Egypt are explicit that the tunnel is lined with soft coral and should be looked into rather than swum, which is the sort of instruction worth respecting on a reef this shallow and this heavily dived.
The sand between the ergs is where most of the animals are. United Divers Egypt and Nemo Dive Club both list bluespotted stingrays, anemones and anemonefish, butterflyfish, pufferfish, crocodilefish and scorpionfish on the bottom at 12 to 15 m. Red Sea Creatures add schooling surgeonfish, bream and bigeye emperors, triggerfish, and a large school of bannerfish holding between the tunnel and the canyon on the eastern side. OBIS occurrence records within 1.5 km of the pin are consistent with that: Red Sea bannerfish, bluespotted ribbontail ray, humpnose bigeye bream, twoband anemonefish, masked puffer, giant moray, Picasso and yellowspotted triggerfish, sea goldies, and Red Sea garden eels out on the sand.
Boat only, from Safaga. Divers-guide.com give 25 minutes by boat from Safaga; United Divers Egypt and Red Sea Creatures both put it about 30 minutes out. The reef is submerged with nothing showing above water, and Red Sea Creatures describe finding it as a problem without GPS, so this is a site you reach on a dive boat that already knows it. Boats use fixed moorings on the reef.
Access to the site runs through a local operator.
No permit, quota or closure is described for this reef in any source read. Access in practice is a Safaga day boat. Which of the neighbouring Tobia and Gamul reefs the boat runs on a given day is the operator's call.
None of the sources read gives site-specific seasonality for Tobia Soraya, so no best months are set here. The practical constraint is wind rather than season: the reef is offshore and Red Sea Creatures record that its moorings are not well protected from waves, so a blowy day is what moves this site off the boat's list.
A 25 to 30 minute boat run out from Safaga onto a shallow sand shelf, tying to a mooring on an offshore reef with nothing above water. Visibility is recorded by divers-guide.com between 10 and 30 m, averaging about 15 m. The water over the ergs is shallow and bright, which is what makes the sand channels worth diving. Red Sea Creatures note the moorings are exposed to waves, so the surface can be lumpy on a windy day even when the diving is calm.
On current: The sources disagree and the disagreement is worth carrying. Divers-guide.com records the current here as limited to none and rates the site easy for all levels. Red Sea Creatures say conditions are usually fine but that the current can get strong, especially down the east side, and that the moorings are not well protected from waves. Take the second reading when planning: expect the eastern chain, where the canyon and the tunnel are, to be the part that can run.
Shallow. The ergs stand on white sand in 12 to 15 m of water and rise to within a few metres of the surface, so the whole dive sits in that band. Nemo Dive Club give 15 m as the site depth and divers-guide.com give 12 m as the maximum; take 15 m for planning. The named features are shallower still: a canyon at about 11 m and a tunnel at 9 to 10 m on the eastern chain.
Soraya is the small one. Divers-guide.com gloss the site as Klein Tobia, against Tobia Kebir, the large Tobia, 590 m away. Tobia Soraya is the Y-shaped one: three chains of linked coral ergs meeting in an inverted Y on sand, with four mushroom-shaped towers on the western chain and a canyon and a tunnel on the eastern one. Tobia Nos is 250 m away and Gamul Soraya 890 m, and both are separate dives on separate reefs.
By dive boat from Safaga, 25 to 30 minutes out depending on which operator you ask. The reef is fully submerged with nothing showing above the surface, and Red Sea Creatures describe it as hard to find without GPS, so you go with a boat that already knows it. Boats tie to fixed moorings on the reef; there is nothing at the site itself.
Yes, and it is regularly used that way. Divers-guide.com rate it an easy site suitable for all levels, and Nemo Dive Club and United Divers Egypt both list it for all levels. The reasons are the depth, which never leaves the 15 m band, and the topography, which is coral towers and sand channels rather than a wall. The one caveat is that the current can pick up on the east side.
It depends which side you are on, and the sources disagree. Divers-guide.com record the current here as limited to none. Red Sea Creatures say conditions are usually fine but that the current can get strong, especially down the east side, which is where the canyon and the tunnel are, and that the moorings are not well protected from waves. Plan for the second reading and let the guide pick the running order.
United Divers Egypt say not to. The tunnel on the eastern chain sits at 9 to 10 m and is lined with soft coral, and their guidance is to look into it rather than pass through, both for the coral and because it is packed with glassfish and hatchetfish. Ducks Safaga describe the same feature as a cave area at 10 m in the eastern block. There is also a narrow canyon at about 11 m nearby that is dived normally.
Most of the animals are on the sand between the towers: United Divers Egypt and Nemo Dive Club list bluespotted stingrays, anemones with anemonefish, butterflyfish, pufferfish, crocodilefish and scorpionfish. Red Sea Creatures add schooling surgeonfish, bream and bigeye emperors, triggerfish, and a large school of bannerfish between the tunnel and the canyon. OBIS records near this pin match, adding giant moray, sea goldies, masked puffer and Red Sea garden eels on the sand.
You can float over it, but the site is not really a snorkelling one and none of the sources read rate it as such. The tops of the ergs come up shallow enough to see well from the surface, but the canyon, the tunnel and the sand life at 12 to 15 m are what the reef is dived for and none of them are reachable on a breath. It is also boat-only, 25 to 30 minutes offshore.
| Species | How often | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Tursiops aduncus | occasional | 6 |
| Pseudanthias squamipinnis | occasional | 6 |
| Chaetodon semilarvatus | occasional | 5 |
| Parapercis hexophtalma | occasional | 5 |
| Monotaxis grandoculis | occasional | 5 |
| Gymnothorax javanicus | occasional | 5 |
| Taeniura lymma | occasional | 5 |
| Callyspongia crassa | rare | 4 |
| Arothron diadematus | rare | 4 |
| Grammistes sexlineatus | rare | 4 |
| Heniochus intermedius | rare | 4 |
| Hipposcarus harid | rare | 4 |
| Lethrinus nebulosus | rare | 3 |
| Epibulus insidiator | rare | 3 |
| Pione mussae | rare | 3 |
| Bodianus anthioides | rare | 3 |
| Pygoplites diacanthus | rare | 3 |
| Taeniamia fucata | rare | 3 |
| Variola louti | rare | 2 |
| Cheilodipterus macrodon | rare | 2 |
| Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus | rare | 2 |
| Tridacna maxima | rare | 2 |
| Abudefduf vaigiensis | rare | 2 |
| Amphiprion bicinctus | rare | 2 |
| Arothron stellatus | rare | 2 |
| Chaetodon lineolatus | rare | 2 |
| Chaetodon melannotus | rare | 2 |
| Chaetodon paucifasciatus | rare | 2 |
| Chlorurus sordidus | rare | 2 |
| Halichoeres hortulanus | rare | 2 |
| Hologymnosus annulatus | rare | 2 |
| Mulloidichthys flavolineatus | rare | 2 |
| Mulloidichthys vanicolensis | rare | 2 |
| Parupeneus cyclostomus | rare | 2 |
| Pomacanthus maculosus | rare | 2 |
| Pseudobalistes fuscus | rare | 2 |
| Rhinecanthus assasi | rare | 2 |
| Sargocentron caudimaculatum | rare | 2 |
| Ctenochaetus striatus | rare | 2 |
| Octopus cyanea | rare | 2 |
| Pycnochromis dimidiatus | rare | 2 |
| Dascyllus abudafur | rare | 2 |
| Dascyllus marginatus | rare | 2 |
| Ecsenius aroni | rare | 2 |
| Epinephelus tauvina | rare | 2 |
| Eviota guttata | rare | 2 |
| Fusigobius neophytus | rare | 2 |
| Gorgasia sillneri | rare | 2 |
| Chromis viridis | rare | 1 |
| Chromodoris quadricolor | rare | 1 |
| Millepora dichotoma | rare | 1 |
| Scolopsis ghanam | rare | 1 |
| Siganus luridus | rare | 1 |
| Siganus rivulatus | rare | 1 |
| Pedum spondyloideum | rare | 1 |
| Abudefduf sexfasciatus | rare | 1 |
| Crella (Grayella) cyathophora | rare | 1 |
| Amblyeleotris steinitzi | rare | 1 |
| Nausithoe punctata | rare | 1 |
| Inimicus filamentosus | rare | 1 |
The middle block of the Tobia chain: one gorgonian-hung pillar and a scatter of smaller ergs between Tobia Kebir and Tobia Soraya.
The big one of the Tobia reefs: a long north-south reef with ergs off its southern end, a channel to cross, and a glassfish cave at about 10 m.
The small half of the Gamul pair north of Safaga Island: a round reef with a sand plateau of coral pinnacles and a garden-eel colony off its south side.
The sand island at the south end of the Tobia Hamra reef, with a gentle coral slope off the beach, a garden-eel field in the deep sand and dolphins that come in on the snorkellers.
A U-shaped reef half an hour out of Safaga with three pinnacles off the north end and seagrass in the lagoon.
A coral garden cut by a maze of sandy canyons, sheltered by Soma Bay and shallow where it matters.
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