Sabina Garden

Boats moor on the south side of the reef and divers cross to the north face, where the colour begins. Hard corals are layered on top of each other on the wall — brain beside table beside fire — sloping from 8-10 m to the surface. The slope gives way to white sand at 12 m, and the maze opens up to the north and northwest. Ridges and pinnacles of coral rise from the floor at 12-14 m, separated by bright sand channels where light ripples over the bottom. The standard route follows Funfly Divers' description closely: drop onto the hill of hard corals, swim down the slope to the sand patch with the large table corals, cross into the labyrinth, and let the current carry you back along the reef toward the boat. Big porcupinefish rest in the sand. Bluespotted stingrays half-bury themselves between the table corals. At the corner where the reef transitions from colour to monochrome, a small coral block holds a stonefish where one has held one before. The safety stop runs along the wall with the layered corals overhead — the dive's last scene rather than empty blue water.

Coral architecture, not fish life, is the headline. Centres describe the formations as a Japanese garden, as one of the most beautiful coral gardens in Hurghada, as the dream world of The Little Prince — and the praise is consistent because the topography is genuinely unusual. Hard corals growing on top of each other build a three-dimensional maze that changes character with every angle of light, and the white sand patches between coral structures intensify the colour. The reef's asymmetry sharpens the impact: turn the corner from the lush north face and the scene shifts to monochrome. Within the Hurghada inshore reef set, this is the coral half of a Sabina-area double-tank — paired with Erg Sabina's glassfish-and-jack interaction as the action half. Three ScubaDiving.place reviewers all rate it "Exceptional"; one writes that dive sites like this are rare.

This is a drift when the strait runs. The current usually sets from the north and bends east at the reef, and that is the natural direction of the dive. Swimming back to the boat against it means missing the maze entirely; let the current carry you. Carry a surface marker buoy — boat traffic at the Giftun Strait sites is consistent. Stonefish are genuinely common across the coral and sand, including one specific block near the reef corner; trim and buoyancy matter, and reef-respectful distance is the rule. Stay on the north face of the main reef on the return — the south side is dead and most divers know to skip it. The boat ride from Hurghada is 50 to 90 minutes depending on departure point. Independent diving is not permitted in Egypt; access is through licensed operators only.