Dennis Bakhuis

Dive site · sea · Marsa Alam and the deep south

🇪🇬 Sha'ab Samadai (Dolphin House)

Red Sea, Egypt

A horseshoe reef whose lagoon is a daytime resting place for spinner dolphins — and a working example of zoning saving a site that was being loved to death.

Dives here
2
Deepest
22 m
Water
salt
First · last
2007
Also known as
Shaab Samadai (Dolphin House)

Revision 1 · changed 10 Oct 2026

History
  1. 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

Sha'ab SamadaiZone A - dolphins onlyZone B - snorkelling↓15 mCave system first, then canyons · 671 mLagoon 5-10 m↓7 mBoat entry↓0 mZone C - diving and mooringsBoat moorings↓8 mCaves and canyons↓10 mPinnacles 12-14 m↓12 mPinnacles 14 m↓14 mPinnacles 12-18 m↓12 mDrop-off to 40 m (west)↓40 mSand 25 m↓25 mN100 m
  • Entry / exit
  • Buoy
  • Point of interest
  • Marker
  • Pinnacle / rock
  • Dive path
  • Wall / drop-off
  • Shallows
  • Coral / reef
  • Other area
  • Depth
Site map · 7 objects · 1 path · max 40 m

The horseshoe reef of Sha'ab Samadai opening to the south: the lagoon (Zone A for the dolphins only, Zone B for snorkelling), and the diving area Zone C with the boat moorings, the maze of pinnacles, the caves and canyons south-west of the lagoon mouth, the drop-off to 40 m on the west and sand to 25 m in the south. Reef outline and pinnacles from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); the zones follow the HEPCA zoning as described on the web. The zone boundaries and the mooring position are schematic; the route runs through the cave system first, then the canyons. All positions are approximate.

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

Sha'ab Samadai is a horseshoe reef about 8 km offshore from Marsa Alam, roughly 4 km² in area, with a shallow sheltered lagoon inside the arms. A large group of spinner dolphins uses that lagoon during the day — spinners feed offshore at night and rest in shallow protected water in daylight, and this is one of their resting places.

By the early 2000s it was being visited by so many boats that the animals were being pushed out of the site they came there to rest in. In 2004 the reef was declared a managed zone and split three ways:

  • Zone A — the inner lagoon, dolphins only, no people at all
  • Zone B — snorkelling
  • Zone C — diving and boat moorings

It worked, and it is now cited as a model for the rest of the Red Sea. The diving in Zone C is good on its own account: coral pinnacles, caves and tunnels on the outer reef in 5–30 m.

Two dives here, July 2007.

Dived here with

Kim

2 dives at Sha'ab Samadai (Dolphin House)

  1. 30 Jul 2007 with Kim cavecavernboat date30 Jul 2007 depth15.2 m time62 min water—
  2. 30 Jul 2007 with Kim boat date30 Jul 2007 depth22 m time51 min water—

Sources