Umm Gamar Hurghada
With her corals partly clouded, every now and then white tip reef sharks come patrolling the wall or a manta occasionally surprises with its presence
Dive Site Details
With her corals partly clouded, every now and then white tip reef sharks come patrolling the wall or a manta occasionally surprises with its presence.
Umm Gamar is also referred to as Umm Gamaar. It means ‘ Mother of the Moon’, allegedly alluding to the crescent shaped wedge of the island.
Umm Gamar, surrounded by coral, is approximately 60 minutes sailing from Hurghada to the north-east and located in open sea. Therefore experience is required for the dramatic deep wall, vertically plungung into deep blue. Descending here is sheer delightful. The moorings are situated over the south plateau.
The east side comprosis a stunningly deep wall. It is accentuated by formations of coral of the soft kind. They reach out towards the blue. Photographers won’t be able to ignore the first two formations, perforated with cracks, attracting busy fish life. The next formation features a cavern with a sandy ledgeat its base at around 29 meters.
The south plateau isn’t the main attraction of Umm Gamar. It’s a dull affair, mainly frequented by free roaming napoleon wrasse, big silver sweetlips and moray eels.
Another vintage point is the plateau in the southern part of the system. Huge coral gardens cover most of this plateau. On the plateau you almost bound to see napoleons, morays, cornetfish, batfish and schools of bannerfish.
From time to time whitetips cruise by. When mantas make an appearance, it’s restricted to the months of February and March. In September titan triggerfish are guarding their nests.
Sometimes white tip reef sharks come patrolling the wall. The corals here are clouded by anthias and silversides. Caves and crevices and overhangs are full of glassfish, typically accompanied by red tooth groupers.
Coral growth is good, with a variety of species present. Hunting jackfish and marauding tuna can be seen alongside big schools of fusiliers. This occurs mainly on the wall side. Barracuda are awaiting their daily meals, suspended in mid water.
Coral cover is patchy, but there is a decent range of soft corals in the shallows, and the reef has some good examples of most species, hard and soft, one notable species being the antipatharian black bush coral, a relatively rarity on most reefs.
