Abu Dabab North

Marsa Alam · Red Sea Governorate · Egypt

Abu Dabab North is the quieter approach to one of the Red Sea's most extraordinary wildlife encounters. The main Abu Dabab bay has earned global fame as one of the few reliable dugong encounter sites, but the main beach entry has become a victim of its own success with crowds concentrated around a single access point. The northern section offers the same seagrass ecosystem, the same resident wildlife, and substantially fewer people. Entering the water from the rocky shore north of the main beach, the reef begins with scattered coral heads on a sandy slope before giving way to the seagrass meadows that make this site ecologically remarkable. Seagrass beds are the marine equivalent of terrestrial grasslands, and these meadows at Abu Dabab are among the most extensive remaining in the northern Red Sea. They support a food chain that begins with the grass itself and extends upward through the herbivorous green turtles and dugongs that depend on it. Green turtles are virtually guaranteed on every dive. Large individuals, some with shells approaching a metre in length, graze unhurriedly on the seagrass, raising their heads occasionally to eye approaching divers before returning to their meal. Their tolerance of human presence is remarkable, and patient divers can observe feeding behaviour from barely two metres away. The dugong encounters are Abu Dabab's defining experience. These rotund, gentle sirenians move through the seagrass with surprising grace for animals that can weigh 400 kilograms. A feeding dugong roots through the grass with its broad, bristled snout, leaving clearly visible trails on the seabed. When one surfaces to breathe, the exhalation is audible and oddly moving, a sound that connects this ancient animal to the mythological origins of mermaid legends. Beyond the seagrass, the northern reef edge develops better hard coral structure than the main bay, with small walls and overhangs at 15 to 22 metres hosting guitar sharks and eagle rays. Abu Dabab North is not a separate site but a different way of experiencing one of the Red Sea's most important marine habitats, with the patience and respect its extraordinary residents deserve.