Dennis Bakhuis

Dive site · sea · Marsa Alam and the deep south

🇪🇬 Habili Neilson (Nelson Reef)

Abu Dabab, Marsa Alam, Red Sea, Egypt

A reef whose top never breaks the surface — a habili — nicknamed Little Elphinstone, usually dived as a relaxed drift.

Dives here
1
Deepest
19.1 m
Water
salt
First · last
2007
Also known as
Habil Neilson · Shaab el Nabaa · Nelson Reef · Om Halhala

Revision 2 · changed 18 Oct 2026

History
  1. r2 18 Oct 2026 Neutral geo_source · Dennis Bakhuis
  2. r1 10 Oct 2026 Imported from the personal log · Dennis Bakhuis

Site data © divelog-sites contributors (ODbL), descriptions and maps CC BY-SA 4.0 · 53edcaf

1 map

Plateau 17-20 mPlateau 10-15 mReef top 3-5 m↓21 mDrift around the reef · 255 mPinnacle↓21 m↓21 m↓21 m↓21 m↓21 m↓21 m↓21 m↓21 mSoft corals (west side)↓17 mSand↓24 mSpeedboat drop↓0 mN10 m
  • Entry / exit
  • Point of interest
  • Pinnacle / rock
  • Dive path
  • Wall / drop-off
  • Shallows
  • Coral / reef
  • Depth
Site map · 10 objects · 1 path · max 24 m

Habili Neilson (Sha'ab el Nabaa, Nelson Reef): a submerged reef about 50 m long with its top at 3-5 m, a deeper plateau at each end (10-15 m east, 17-20 m west), a wall to about 21 m, sand at 23-25 m and pinnacles mainly on the north side. Oriented east-west and centred on the small reef OpenStreetMap shows at the site position. Which plateau lies at which end, the pinnacle positions and the drift line are approximate.

Map © divelog-sites contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0 · 53edcaf

Properly Sha'ab el Nabaa, known to divers as Nelson Reef and written Neilson in the log. It is a habili: the Arabic term for a reef whose crown stays below the surface — here just 2–3 m down — which makes it invisible from a boat and historically dangerous.

The reef runs east–west, with a plateau about 50 m long and a drop-off to roughly 25 m. The hard and soft coral cover has earned it the nickname Little Elphinstone, after the much bigger and more famous reef further north. It is normally dived as an unhurried drift along the plateau edge.

Dived 29 July 2007 to 19.1 m.

Dived here with

Kim

Nearby sites

1 dive at Habili Neilson (Nelson Reef)

  1. 29 Jul 2007 with Kim boat date29 Jul 2007 depth19.1 m time47 min water—

Sources

  • First-hand observation (Dennis Bakhuis)