Gamul Soraya

Gamul Soraya has a sandy plateau at its northwest end and pinnacles spread to the southeast, roughly 50 to 60 m apart on the sand, so it is worth checking your bearings before you jump. On the way to the largest pinnacle you pass garden eels swaying over the seabed. The two coral blocks on the northeast side of the main reef hold the so-called Fish Prison, a cave full of glassfish and hatchetfish, framed by gorgonians, that divers swim through. A free-standing coral column rises almost to the surface and gathers large schools, and with luck eagle rays show up.

The pinnacles to the south are covered in soft corals and surrounded by schools of butterflyfish, goatfish and groupers, and there are many scorpionfish on the sandy bottom. Yellowfin goatfish, yellowbanded sweetlips, pennant coralfish and butterflyfish gather in compact schools, and with luck tuna, eagle rays or turtles pass over the colony of garden eels. Mackerel, batfish, lionfish, crocodilefish, nudibranchs, shrimp and moray eels also appear and, with luck, anglerfish. Green morays and spotted garden eels are also among the animals listed for the site. At a block standing apart from the reef, which divers called the Barracuda Block, a large school of about 100 barracudas up to 1.2 m long was seen very often in 2003.

Being sheltered, the site is an option on windy days, when the weather narrows the choice of places to dive, and it also lends itself to night dives. In the Safaga region, diving usually takes place throughout the year: summer generally brings the warmest water, spring and autumn the most comfortable air, and the wind tends to decide which reefs are accessible in each season.