Abu Helal

The dive starts in a small crescent of sand. The shore entry opens into a semicircular lagoon 7 to 12 metres deep with a compact reef on either side. Keeping the reef on your left leads into the coral garden, hard and soft coral with lionfish, groupers and unicornfish along it and the occasional turtle passing through. Where the garden ends, a sandy seabed to the north gives an exit, or you can circle back to the shallow lagoon. One operator has the garden running on to a second sandy bay where divers come out.

On the outer side of the reef the bottom falls away. At about 30 metres a split called the Small Canyon cuts into it, and a diver who swims straight out from the shore, off the garden line, ends up above it. Operators who describe the split ask recreational divers to leave it unexplored.

Abu Helal is one reef with two dives attached: a coral garden for a recreational dive, and a canyon that belongs to technical divers. The garden sits in a lagoon that operators dive only when the tide is high and the sea calm.

The canyon sets it apart from an ordinary shore reef. Past the split at 30 metres, the deeper system reportedly winds parallel to the shore at 45 to 60 metres and more, and it is typically explored on trimix. Where the technical canyon begins is put at about 35 metres by some divers and about 45 metres by others.

The name is given as Headland of the Crescent Moon or Cape of the Growing Moon; helal is the Arabic for crescent.

The site can only be dived at high tide and in calm, low-wind conditions, and operators watch both before driving out. A strong north current is possible when the tide runs from high to low, so keep your position against the reef in mind and the exit options close.

The canyon is hazardous by depth and by narrow entry and exit points, and operators say recreational divers should not attempt it. Its floor silt lifts at the lightest touch.