Coral Garden House Reef (Gassous Bay)

The Coral Garden house reef, in Gassous Bay, is so large that it is divided into zones. The north face drops in steps and terraces along the northern side of the bay, while the south face is wilder and more rugged, with stretches of wall. Past the last sand channel of the south reef lies the “Aquarium”, an area in the surf zone where schools of surgeonfish, mackerels and other Red Sea fish gather. In the southern part of the bay there is also a coral garden with white morays. The house reef is also well suited to technical diving.

The reef is known for its wealth of corals, especially gorgonians and table corals on the sandy bottom, beneath which large porcupinefish and adult morays sometimes rest. Several cleaning stations gather glassfish, schools of juveniles and cleaner shrimps. Big rays are the most common, and there are also many snails and shrimps. In December 2007, a diver looking for seahorses in the bay's seagrass found a feathertail stingray.