Abu Dabbab

Twenty-seven green turtles have been named and individually tracked in this bay, and they behave accordingly — grazing unhurried through the seagrass at three to eight metres, surfacing to breathe, and returning to the same patches they have used for years. Entry is from a sandy beach, the slope is gentle, and the encounter begins almost immediately.

The bay floor is a wide seagrass meadow with sandy channels between the grass. Guitarfish rest on the open sand, blue-spotted rays move through the vegetation, and pufferfish drift at mid-water. The turtles are the defining presence: calm, habituated, and close enough that a slow horizontal approach brings you within arm's reach without disturbing their feeding. The key is patience and a flat body position — active pursuit achieves nothing and breaks the encounter for the next diver too. Dugongs — endangered globally and present in only a handful of Red Sea bays — are another possibility here. They are not guaranteed on any single visit, but the site is genuine in its potential. The fringing coral reefs along the northern and southern edges of the bay offer conventional Red Sea reef fish in the shallows, while east of the bay mouth a steep wall descends to 30-40m for divers who want a different profile on the same trip.

Abu Dabbab is not a dramatic reef dive. It is a seagrass bay, and that habitat is what produces its wildlife. Dugongs are globally endangered; in Egypt they persist in only a handful of seagrass-fed bays, and this one combines genuine dugong potential with a resident turtle population that is as close to guaranteed as marine wildlife gets. The combination at snorkelling depth — accessible to swimmers, first-timers, and experienced divers alike — is unusual for the Red Sea.

The managed beach setting makes it feel different from the remote bays further south: sunbeds, a restaurant, lifeguards, and a compressor on site. For mixed-ability groups or families where some are diving and others snorkelling, that infrastructure has obvious appeal. For divers seeking isolation, the setting is not ideal — peak-day visitor numbers are substantial and the bay can feel busy. These are two sides of the same site.

The wildlife code matters here. Resident turtles are habituated through consistent calm behaviour from divers over many years; chasing or touching breaks that habituation. Slow movement, horizontal trim, and letting the animal approach on its own terms produce far better encounters. The same applies to any dugong — maintain distance and let it decide the interaction.

Stonefish are present on the sandy and seagrass bottom. Wear appropriate footwear when wading in, and keep neutral buoyancy off the seabed. Scorpionfish and lionfish sit on reef sections. Boat traffic reaches the outer reef area — use an SMB on ascent there. Early morning is consistently the best time: fewer people, calmer water, and turtles that have not yet been disturbed by the day's first tour groups.