Snorkeling at Shams Alam Beach Resort

How to go snorkeling at the Shams Alam Beach Resort?

The Shams Alam Beach Resort is located in the southern part of Marsa Alam, more than 100 kilometers south of the region’s airport. It is part of the Wadi Gimal Nature Reserve. The snorkeling spot is about 1500 meters south of the Gorgonia Beach Resort, which also has good snorkeling.

The possibilities of accessing this spot without staying at Shams Alam Beach Resort are uncertain, as the beach is private and guarded.

Water entrance for snorkeling at the Shams Alam Beach Resort

This spot has several snorkel entries:

1. The beach at the Shams Alam Beach Resort, which faces Middle Bay, where you can usually encounter sea turtles (snorkel entry 1 on the map).
2. North Bay Beach. This snorkel entry (number 2 on the map) is especially recommended if you want to drift snorkel following the north-south current and then exit the water either at the jetty or at the southern exit point.
3. The pontoon facing the diving club (snorkel entry 3 on the map), is the recommended water entrance if you want to explore the South Bay. Indeed, if there is a current, it can be tough to snorkel from the pontoon to Middle Bay. Alternatively, you can enter the water from the beach (snorkel entry 4).
4. If you are an advanced snorkeler, you can consider walking north to the Gorgonia Beach Resort (20 minutes), entering the water from the resort’s jetty, and then drift snorkeling back to the Shams Alam Resort (1500 meters, approximately 1 hour). Don’t go alone and wear swim fins.

Shams Alam Beach Resort reef snorkeling exploration

The house reef of Shams Alam has several interesting features, in particular seagrass beds and coral reefs.

1/ The seagrass beds of Middle Bay

The central part of the bay is sandy and shelters seagrass meadows where 5 or 6 Green sea turtles are found almost every day. The Halavi ray, a spectacular fish that can grow to 50 inches in length, is also a frequent visitor to the bay.

The seagrass beds are visited by other species such as pufferfish, boxfish, and flounders.

2/ The reef areas of North Bay and South Bay

The north and south of the snorkeling location feature a diversity of underwater reliefs including flats, patch reefs, slopes and drop-offs. The corals are unfortunately in poor condition, with large areas of bleached corals.

The sea life, however, remains extremely dense and includes around a hundred species of reef fish, octopuses, and other invertebrates.

Snorkeling the reefs, you will easily spot Bluecheek butterflyfish, Red Sea anemonefish, Coral hind, and Lionfish (see the list of species already observed at this location at the bottom of the page).

Restaurants and accommodations nearby

This spot is the house reef of the Shams Alam Beach Resort.