Torfa El Shahed sits inside the Giftun marine park, an outcrop of the northern tip of Small Giftun ringed by coral towers. A shallow channel runs west from the mooring between the towers, and no part of the site is deeper than about 20 m. It lies behind the reef and out of the wind, which is why it suits a first boat dive as readily as a photographer's fiftieth.
- Depth
- 8-20 m
- Visibility
- 15–25 m
- Season
- Apr - Nov
- Boat ride
- 50 min
- Difficulty
- All levels
Torfa El Shahed
The plan of the reef
On the chart
Torfa El Shahed
50 min from the marina
Topography and dive profile
A run of coral towers standing on a sandy floor, with a channel about 8 m deep leading west from the mooring and forming the edges the towers grow along. Northwest of the channel the ground opens out into coral blocks and natural overhangs. Depth across the whole site varies between 8 and 20 m.
The towers are covered in soft coral, but the sand between them is the interesting half: gobies sharing a burrow with their shrimp, crocodilefish lying flat and waiting, razorfish hanging nose-down over the bottom. Green turtles are a common sighting here rather than a lucky one.
What you'll see
- ◇Green turtles
- ◇Crocodilefish
- ◇Gobies with their shrimp
- ◇Razorfish
- ◇Soft coral on the towers
Who it suits
Every level. It sits sheltered behind the reef, the current is gentle, and the sand bottoms out around 20 m, so there is no part of the site an Open Water diver has to skip. It is equally a macro photographer's dive, because the sandy floor holds more than the towers do.
When the captain runs this site
Part of the Giftun rotation, roughly 50 minutes out, usually paired with Banana Reef or Ben El Gebel on a standard 2-tank day. No transit supplement.