Um El Sid

A wide sandy corridor, cut into a steeply sloping reef, leads from the small beach down into the dive. It opens onto a sandy slope densely inhabited by garden eels, with tube eels on the sand and small boulders in the shallows that host cleaning stations. Move slowly and the eels stay standing.

Lower down, a massive coral tongue lies across the route, and divers pass around or beneath it before continuing to the sea fan. The way back climbs a slope of table corals sheltering groupers and rejoins the reef at about 12 m. One account puts a large pinnacle near the exit, handy for the safety stop and home to a giant moray; another curves back round the reef to the entry point, where a hawksbill turtle might swim past. One older account continues over a sandy flat at 36 m to two giant fans at 67 m, a depth beyond recreational limits.

Longnose hawkfish are what this dive is known for, and they live on the sea fan. One guide describes a fan 3 m across at 36 m with two hawkfish on it, and a second operator lists the species among the site's residents. Fan and fish together are the payoff for a route that builds through corridor, slope and coral tongue.

Approach the fan slowly and hold position off the coral; the hawkfish stay put on their branches if you do. Water in the northern Red Sea is saltier than average, about 41 ppt, so more lead may be needed.

One operator reports currents that can be strong and unpredictable, especially at depth, and the fan lies at the far end of the route: if the water starts to run, that is the stretch to shorten.