SeaLogEgypt · reef
The mangrove and lagoon island of the Qulaan group off Hamata, worked as the last snorkelling stop of the day.
Um El Sheikh is Umm al-Shaykh, one of the four islands of the Qulaan archipelago off Hamata, alongside Siyal, Shawarit and Mahabis. The group lies 3 to 7 km off the mangrove coast south of Marsa Alam and sits inside Wadi El Gemal National Park. What sets this island apart from its neighbours is that it carries a mangrove forest and a lagoon of its own, and is a sanctuary for birds and other wildlife rather than a bare sand cay.
The honest position on the diving is that almost nothing is written about it. No operator or dive guide read for this page publishes a depth range, a reef profile, a current pattern or a route for Um El Sheikh, and unlike its neighbour Siyal it does not even appear in the diver atlases as a named dive site. It is a real, identifiable place with a real reef around it, but if you are looking for a described dive with numbers behind it, the Fury Shoals reefs further offshore are where the published material is.
What is documented is the excursion. Boats out of Hamata marina work the island chain in sequence and reach Um El Sheikh on the last leg, roughly 20 minutes on from the previous island, with about an hour in the water at each stop. Snorkelling gear and an in-water guide come with the trip. The national park entrance fee, around 40 Egyptian pounds, is charged per person, landing is restricted to protect the ground, and visitors are asked to take their litter away with them.
Day boat from Hamata marina as part of the island chain run: roughly 40 minutes to the first island, then about 20 minutes on to Um El Sheikh at the end of the sequence. Sold from Marsa Alam hotels as a full day of about ten hours with an early pickup. No source publishes a coordinate for the island; the position this catalogue holds came from an import that stacked Hamata sites on a resort and should not be trusted.
Access to the site runs through a local operator.
Inside Wadi El Gemal National Park. Landing is restricted to protect the island, the mangroves and the lagoon; visitors are asked not to leave litter, and fishing is permitted only in authorised deep water at a distance from the islands.
Wadi El Gemal National Park. A park entrance fee of about 40 Egyptian pounds, roughly two euros, is charged per person and is normally collected with the excursion ticket.
No source gives a season for this island. The excursion boats run year round on fixed days, and what varies is sea state on the crossing rather than anything about the site itself.
Sheltered shallow water a few kilometres off the Hamata mangrove coast, on the inshore side of the Fury Shoals. No source read for this page gives a visibility figure, a current reading or a temperature series for this island specifically.
It is Umm al-Shaykh, one of the four islands of the Qulaan archipelago off Hamata in the southern Egyptian Red Sea. The islands lie between 3 and 7 km off the mangrove coast, inside Wadi El Gemal National Park, well south of Marsa Alam.
No. They are two separate islands in the same archipelago, and day boats visit them as separate stops with about 20 minutes of boat time between them. The two pins sit on top of each other in this catalogue only because both coordinates came from a faulty import.
No source publishes a depth for it. No operator or dive guide read for this page gives a depth range, a profile or a route, and the island does not appear as a named entry in the diver atlases. Ask your guide for the profile on the day rather than planning against a figure.
Yes, and that is the normal use of the site. It is the final stop on the Hamata island boat run, with roughly an hour in shallow sheltered water, and mask, fins, vest and an in-water guide included in the excursion.
It carries a mangrove forest and a lagoon of its own and functions as a sanctuary for birds and other wildlife, which sets it apart from Siyal's long white beach and Shawarit's cliffs and rocky shore. It is the birdwatching stop of the group.
By boat from Hamata marina, as the last leg of the island chain run: about 40 minutes to the first island and roughly 20 minutes on from the previous stop. Marsa Alam hotels sell the whole thing as a ten hour day with an early morning pickup and a long road transfer.
The island is inside Wadi El Gemal National Park and a park entrance fee of about 40 Egyptian pounds, roughly two euros, is charged per person, normally as part of the excursion ticket. Landing is restricted to protect the mangroves and lagoon, and visitors are asked to take their litter away.
| Species | How often | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Scarus frenatus | occasional | 28 |
| Chlorurus gibbus | occasional | 24 |
| Acanthurus sohal | occasional | 18 |
| Thalassoma rueppellii | occasional | 18 |
| Cheilinus lunulatus | occasional | 17 |
| Naso unicornis | occasional | 16 |
| Chlorurus sordidus | occasional | 16 |
| Abudefduf sexfasciatus | occasional | 15 |
| Zebrasoma desjardinii | occasional | 13 |
| Flavocaranx bajad | occasional | 12 |
| Scarus niger | occasional | 12 |
| Hipposcarus harid | occasional | 12 |
| Chaetodon fasciatus | occasional | 12 |
| Rhinecanthus assasi | occasional | 12 |
| Amblyglyphidodon indicus | occasional | 12 |
| Ctenochaetus striatus | occasional | 11 |
| Arothron hispidus | occasional | 11 |
| Cetoscarus bicolor | occasional | 11 |
| Coris aygula | occasional | 10 |
| Pygoplites diacanthus | occasional | 10 |
| Taeniura lymma | occasional | 10 |
| Balistoides viridescens | occasional | 8 |
| Monotaxis grandoculis | occasional | 8 |
| Arothron diadematus | occasional | 8 |
| Diodon hystrix | occasional | 8 |
| Naso elegans | occasional | 8 |
| Acanthopagrus bifasciatus | occasional | 8 |
| Halichoeres hortulanus | occasional | 7 |
| Cephalopholis miniata | occasional | 7 |
| Chaetodon larvatus | occasional | 7 |
| Chaetodon auriga | occasional | 7 |
| Caesio lunaris | occasional | 7 |
| Siganus stellatus | occasional | 7 |
| Paracirrhites forsteri | occasional | 7 |
| Hemigymnus melapterus | occasional | 7 |
| Chaetodon austriacus | occasional | 7 |
| Lutjanus bohar | occasional | 7 |
| Heniochus intermedius | occasional | 7 |
| Pomacentrus sulfureus | occasional | 7 |
| Tridacna maxima | occasional | 6 |
| Chromis viridis | occasional | 6 |
| Abudefduf vaigiensis | occasional | 6 |
| Cephalopholis argus | occasional | 6 |
| Caesio striata | occasional | 6 |
| Dascyllus abudafur | occasional | 6 |
| Lethrinus harak | occasional | 6 |
| Mulloidichthys flavolineatus | occasional | 6 |
| Neoglyphidodon melas | occasional | 6 |
| Scarus ferrugineus | occasional | 6 |
| Stegastes nigricans | occasional | 6 |
| Chromis flavaxilla | occasional | 5 |
| Amanses scopas | occasional | 5 |
| Ostracion cyanurus | occasional | 5 |
| Halichoeres marginatus | occasional | 5 |
| Pomacanthus imperator | occasional | 5 |
| Cirripectes castaneus | occasional | 5 |
| Chaetodon semilarvatus | occasional | 5 |
| Pterois miles | occasional | 5 |
| Pycnochromis dimidiatus | occasional | 5 |
| Coenobita scaevola | rare | 4 |
The largest of the four Qulaan islands off Hamata: a white-sand island inside a national park, snorkelled far more often than it is dived.
A resort jetty onto a sheltered fringing reef: sandy lagoon at 2 to 3 m, then a 10 to 15 m outer wall, open from 06:00 to 21:00.
The jetty reef at the Zabargad resort in Hamata: giant stride off the end, wall and overhangs, deep water within a fin's length of the coral.
SeaLog imports your dives from your dive computer or Apple Watch, tracks every animal you see, and keeps your logbook safe forever.
Download SeaLog
