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Um Khararim (Cave Reef)
Egypt · reef · intermediate
5–18 mintermediateAOWliveaboard entry
MEDIA5 items
Um Khararim (Cave Reef)
A shallow reef block eroded into linked caverns and tunnels, lit through holes in its roof, fourteen hours south of Marsa Alam.
Max depth5–18 m
Required levelintermediate
Entry typeliveaboard
Visibility20 m
The dive
Um Khararim is written half a dozen ways in the operator literature: Umm Khararim, Umm Kharalim, Umm Chararim, Umm Kharareem. Liveaboards sell it as St John's Caves or simply Cave Reef, and Regal Diving's Daedalus and St John's itinerary lists it as "St John's Caves or Umm Kharalim". The pin sits at the northern end of the St John's ground in Foul Bay, about 23 km north of Umm El Aruk, which is the nearest thing our catalogue holds. This entry carries no destination and that is honest: there is no town, no shore and no day boat. Dive The World puts the St John's group 210 km south of Marsa Alam, roughly fourteen hours of steaming, and the itineraries that reach it start and end at Port Ghalib.
The dive is inside a single reef block eroded into a system of linked caverns, tunnels, overhangs and swim-throughs. Sea Serpent Fleet publishes it at 5 to 18 m and describes the tunnels opening onto a lagoon with a large mountain-coral garden. What the site is dived for is the light. The roof of the block is perforated with holes and cracks, and sunlight comes down through them in beams; every operator page we read leads with that rather than with the fish. A diver who logged it on 15 September 2012 describes two possible routes through the block, one with wide passages that is forgiving on buoyancy and one narrower with a few squeezes, both coming out in a central lagoon ringed with hard coral. A Dive The World trip report from October the same year describes spending a whole dive in the tunnels without covering the same ground twice, with some entrances spacious and others low and narrow.
Shallow and daylit does not stop this being an overhead environment. Inside the passages there is no direct ascent, the walls and floor are coral and fine sediment, and the constraint is other people as much as it is the rock: the 2012 trip report describes the boat briefing an agreed plan for its 24 divers specifically to stop them meeting head-on inside, with guides reporting queues at the site in peak season. The same diver recorded numerous broken hard corals and damaged soft corals from the traffic through the tunnels. Operators do not agree on who should be in there. Sea Serpent rates the site itself beginner; one Polish operator's eight-day southern safari asks for Open Water and 20 logged dives; Regal Diving asks for 30 logged dives with some vessels requiring Advanced and 50; and Dive The World describes the whole St John's group as designated for experienced divers only. This page takes the higher figure, because the failure mode here is being out of your depth inside a tunnel with divers behind you.
The fauna is the secondary reason to be there. The 2012 log records a blue-spotted ribbontail ray, a grouper lying camouflaged on the bottom, clams growing on the hard corals, starfish tucked into the shaded ledges, and a Napoleon wrasse of about a metre and a half near the mooring. Occurrence records within 11.5 km of the pin, a radius wide enough to take in neighbouring reefs, add giant moray, titan triggerfish, small giant clam, striped pyjama nudibranch, Spanish dancer, twoband anemonefish and bottlenose dolphin. Sea Serpent Fleet singles out the seamoth in the lagoon's coral garden, which no other source we read mentions. At least one operator runs the caves as a night dive.
- A single reef block eroded into linked caverns and tunnels, published at 5 to 18 m
- Sunlight coming down through holes in the roof, which is what the site is dived for
- Two routes through the block: wide passages, or a narrower line with a few squeezes
- A central lagoon ringed with hard coral where the tunnels come out
- Run as a night dive on at least one eight-day southern itinerary
Please note before you go
- Overhead environment: linked caverns and tunnels with no direct ascent from inside, and one of the two routes has squeezes narrow enough that operators warn about buoyancy
- Fine sediment and living coral on the floor and walls of the passages; a careless fin ends the visibility for whoever is behind you
- Congestion is a real constraint, not a nuisance: a 2012 trip report describes the boat briefing an agreed one-way plan for 24 divers to stop them meeting inside, with guides reporting queues in peak season
- Remote: about 210 km and fourteen hours of steaming south of Marsa Alam, with no shore, no support and no chamber within reach
- Current across the wider St John's group is published as able to be strong, which matters on the reefs either side of this one and on the surface between dives
Access & rules
Mandatory requirementsGetting there
Liveaboard only. Dive The World puts the St John's group 210 km south of Marsa Alam, about fourteen hours of steaming, and the itineraries that include the caves start and end at Port Ghalib on seven-night southern routes of roughly 18 to 19 dives. The reef is worked from the boat at a mooring. Boats brief an agreed route through the block before anyone gets in, which is the part of the plan that keeps the tunnels workable.
Operator
Access to the site runs through a local operator.
Restrictions
Southern itineraries are permit-controlled and the permissions are arranged by the boat, not by the diver, which is why this part of the coast cannot be dived independently. Operators also set their own experience minimums for the trip: Regal Diving asks for Open Water plus 30 logged dives with some vessels requiring Advanced and 50, and one Polish operator's eight-day safari asks for Open Water plus 20 logged dives.
Rules and permits
On a southern liveaboard the fees are collected on board rather than at the site. Regal Diving lists a government reef tax of USD 200 per trip for its Daedalus and St John's departures, plus environmental taxes of EUR 50 or EUR 100 depending on the boat; one Polish operator includes national park fees in the trip price. For scale on the per-day figures elsewhere in Egypt, the 27 November 2019 decree was published by operators as EUR 7 per person per day for the South Sinai sites, TGI Diving charged EUR 6 per guest from 15 January 2020 for trips into the Wadi El Gimal park, Red Sea Diving Safari's list effective 7 January 2025 runs EUR 10 to 19 per person depending on the site, and a 2026 Red Sea price guide puts protected-site fees at roughly EUR 5 to 25 per person. The amounts have moved repeatedly and differ by boat and by year, so confirm what your trip actually charges before you travel.
Season
No source we read names best months for this reef. Dive The World gives the St John's group a water temperature range of 23 to 30 C, and the trip report that recorded 30 C and 40 m visibility was an October crossing. Because the light through the roof is the point of this dive, time of day and sun angle matter more here than month does; ask the boat when it plans to put you in.
Conditions
Visibility20 m
Currentnot sourced
Surgenot sourced
WaterSalt water
Depth range5–18 m
Environmentreef
Coralnot sourced
Crowdsnot sourced
An isolated reef block in open water in Foul Bay, worked from a liveaboard mooring, with the boat usually giving it one dive and sometimes a second one at night. Dive The World gives the St John's group visibility of 20 to 35 m and water of 23 to 30 C, and an October trip report recorded 40 m and 30 C. Inside the block the conditions are set by the sun angle and by how many other divers are in the tunnels, not by the weather.
On current: Nothing we read describes current inside the tunnels, which is where the dive happens. What is published is for the group rather than the reef: Dive The World gives the St John's sites visibility of 20 to 35 m, water of 23 to 30 C, and current that can be strong. A Dive The World trip report from October 2012 recorded visibility reaching 40 m and water at 30 C on that trip. Depth also splits by source. Sea Serpent Fleet publishes 5 to 18 m for this site while Dive The World gives 5 to over 40 m for the St John's group as a whole. This page uses 5 to 18 m, because the cavern block is the dive and the deeper figure belongs to the reefs around it.
Dives & underwater footage
Questions & answers
How deep is Um Khararim (Cave Reef)?
Sea Serpent Fleet publishes the site at 5 to 18 m, and the caverns and tunnels that make the dive are in that band. Dive The World gives 5 to over 40 m for the St John's group as a whole, but that figure covers the reefs around this one rather than the cavern block itself. Plan on a shallow dive with a long bottom time.
How do you get to Um Khararim?
By liveaboard only. Dive The World puts the St John's reefs 210 km south of Marsa Alam, about fourteen hours of steaming, and the itineraries that include the caves start and end at Port Ghalib on seven-night southern routes. There is no town, no shore access and no day boat to this part of the coast.
Do you need a cave certification for St John's Caves?
No source we read requires one, because the system is a set of daylit caverns and swim-throughs rather than true caves, and the boat guides you through. Operators disagree on the experience minimum: Sea Serpent rates the site beginner, one safari asks for Open Water and 20 dives, Regal Diving asks for 30 dives with some boats wanting Advanced and 50, and Dive The World calls the whole St John's group experienced-divers-only. Take the higher figure.
Is Um Khararim dangerous?
It is an overhead environment, which means no direct ascent from inside the passages, coral and fine sediment on the walls and floor, and one of the two routes narrow enough that operators warn about buoyancy. The other real constraint is traffic: a 2012 trip report describes a boat briefing an agreed one-way plan for 24 divers to stop them meeting head-on, with guides reporting queues in peak season. Stay on the briefed route.
What are the two routes through the caves?
A diver who logged the site in September 2012 describes one route with wider passages that is forgiving on buoyancy technique, and a second that is much narrower with a few squeezes and needs good control. Both come out in a central lagoon bordered by hard coral. Which one you get depends on the guide's read of your group.
Can you snorkel Um Khararim?
Not usefully. The block is shallow, so a snorkeller would be floating above its roof, but the dive is the inside of it and none of that is visible from the surface. There is also no shore or day-boat access at all, so the only way to be at the reef is on a southern liveaboard.
What will I see at Um Khararim?
The reason people dive it is the light: the roof of the block is perforated with holes and sunlight comes down through them in beams, which is what every operator page leads with. For fauna, a 2012 log from the site records a blue-spotted ribbontail ray, a grouper camouflaged on the bottom, clams on the hard corals, starfish in the shaded ledges and a Napoleon wrasse of about a metre and a half near the mooring. Occurrence records in the surrounding water add giant moray, titan triggerfish, small giant clam, striped pyjama nudibranch and Spanish dancer.
Do you need a permit or pay a park fee to dive St John's?
The permissions for southern itineraries are arranged by the boat rather than by the diver, which is why the area cannot be dived independently. The money is collected on board: Regal Diving lists a government reef tax of USD 200 per trip plus environmental taxes of EUR 50 or EUR 100, and one operator includes national park fees in the trip price. Egyptian protected-area fees have moved repeatedly, from EUR 7 per person per day in the 2019 decree to a range of roughly EUR 5 to 25 quoted in 2026, so confirm what your trip charges.
Life recorded at Um Khararim (Cave Reef)
60 species within 11.55 km · OBISTaeniura lymmaoccasional · 7 recordsGymnothorax javanicusoccasional · 5 recordsBalistoides viridescensrare · 4 recordsCheilinus undulatusrare · 3 recordsHexabranchus sanguineusrare · 3 recordsTursiops truncatusrare · 3 records
All 60 species recorded in this area
| Species | How often | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Amphiprion bicinctus | occasional | 13 |
| Callyspongia crassa | occasional | 8 |
| Taeniura lymma | occasional | 7 |
| Zebrasoma desjardinii | occasional | 7 |
| Monotaxis grandoculis | occasional | 7 |
| Lutjanus ehrenbergii | occasional | 6 |
| Pomacentrus sulfureus | occasional | 6 |
| Tridacna maxima | occasional | 5 |
| Gymnothorax javanicus | occasional | 5 |
| Hipposcarus harid | occasional | 5 |
| Myripristis murdjan | occasional | 5 |
| Scarus niger | occasional | 5 |
| Chromodoris quadricolor | occasional | 5 |
| Siganus stellatus | occasional | 5 |
| Chromis viridis | rare | 4 |
| Dascyllus abudafur | rare | 4 |
| Coris aygula | rare | 4 |
| Ptereleotris evides | rare | 4 |
| Sargocentron caudimaculatum | rare | 4 |
| Sargocentron spiniferum | rare | 4 |
| Scarus ferrugineus | rare | 4 |
| Stegastes lacrymatus | rare | 4 |
| Balistoides viridescens | rare | 4 |
| Cephalopholis hemistiktos | rare | 4 |
| Naso elegans | rare | 4 |
| Chaetodon paucifasciatus | rare | 3 |
| Cephalopholis argus | rare | 3 |
| Cetoscarus bicolor | rare | 3 |
| Cheilinus undulatus | rare | 3 |
| Cheilodipterus lachneri | rare | 3 |
| Ctenochaetus striatus | rare | 3 |
| Epibulus insidiator | rare | 3 |
| Hexabranchus sanguineus | rare | 3 |
| Millepora dichotoma | rare | 3 |
| Naso brevirostris | rare | 3 |
| Ostracion cyanurus | rare | 3 |
| Parapercis hexophtalma | rare | 3 |
| Pomacanthus imperator | rare | 3 |
| Pygoplites diacanthus | rare | 3 |
| Rhinecanthus assasi | rare | 3 |
| Tursiops truncatus | rare | 3 |
| Phyllidia multifaria | rare | 3 |
| Pseudanthias squamipinnis | rare | 3 |
| Cephalopholis sexmaculata | rare | 2 |
| Chaetodon trifascialis | rare | 2 |
| Epinephelus tauvina | rare | 2 |
| Lutjanus kasmira | rare | 2 |
| Macolor niger | rare | 2 |
| Parupeneus cyclostomus | rare | 2 |
| Platax orbicularis | rare | 2 |
| Pseudodax moluccanus | rare | 2 |
| Pterois miles | rare | 2 |
| Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus | rare | 2 |
| Pearsonothuria graeffei | rare | 2 |
| Halichoeres hortulanus | rare | 2 |
| Heniochus intermedius | rare | 2 |
| Linckia multifora | rare | 2 |
| Thelenota ananas | rare | 2 |
| Stenella longirostris | rare | 2 |
| Cephalopholis miniata | rare | 2 |
Nearby sites in St John's
Explore all sitesUmm El Aruk23.1 km
St John'sTwo dozen coral pillars standing 6 to 9 m off a sand floor in Foul Bay, on the Tropic of Cancer, reachable only by liveaboard.
Sataya Reef South59.1 km
HamataThe mooring end of Sha'ab Sataya: liveaboards tie to the coral rocks under the south wall, so this is where the night dives and the pre-breakfast wall dives happen.
Sataya Reef West59.9 km
HamataThe western arm of the Sataya horseshoe: hard coral garden, then open sand studded with blocks worth searching slowly.
Dolphin House Sataya Reef North60.4 km
HamataThe north side of the largest reef in the Fury Shoals, whose sheltered lagoon is a daytime resting ground for spinner dolphins under a zoned management plan.
Gota Sataya63.4 km
HamataA free-standing gota in the eastern Fury Shoals, ringed by sand at about 20 m, dived for the coral garden along its northern flank.
Malahi Reef64.6 km
HamataMalahi means playground, and the reef is exactly that: a maze of coral towers, sandy canyons and narrow swim-throughs in under 25 m.
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