Fanous West
is a form of a lighthouse in Arabic as there is a small light point located at the eastern and more popular part of thus reef. The reef itself is some 300 m long and extends to the west. Furthermore, it is divided into two parts: El Fanous East and El Fanous West.
Dive route:
We start more to the southern wall of the reef, just by the canal leading north to a sandy lagoon. The depth under the boat will reach about 7 m while in the canal it is around 5 m. We head across the lagoon in the north-west direction keeping the reef on our right hand side, within our sight. On the way we should run into a clusters of corals forming a road sign and assuring us that we have the right diving direction. After reaching the northern edge of the lagoon we continue north, where, in about 10 m, we will see coral erg covered mainly with hard corals. We make a circle around it looking out for big Sand Rays and return to the main reef. When coming back to the lagoon, hold the reef on your left hand side. We return to the boat through the same canal we first crossed.
Flora & fauna:
We can find, as always, many interesting creatures in the sand with dominance of Blue Spotted Sting Rays and Stone Fish. One can very often spot here huge Sand Rays or Feather tail Rays but the real fun is to see a pod of Dolphins very often passing through the lgoon and the canal when the pod heads to the south of Hurghada.
Depths: from 6 m to 16 m
(click to enlarge)