Sataya Gota Soraya

Current: N/W in the morning, N/E at midday
Visibility: J, F, M, A: 25–30 m; M, J, J, A: 30–50 m; S, O, N, D: 40–50 m
Temperatures: J, F, M: 24–25°C; A, M, J: 26–28°C; J, A, S: 28-31°C; O, N, D: 30-25°C
Depth: 40 m

Overview

One of the most beautiful coral gardens of the Red Sea. Playground of dolphins and adventure garden for navigation lovers. Through a cave you can dive in a lagoon. Nitrox is definitely required here!

Description

"Soraya" means "small". This tells us that we are on the sister reef of the larger Sataya Gota Kebir. The water depth in the area to be dived is 20 to 25 meters. The reef has a length of 250m and a width of about 70m. The boat usually moors in a small lagoon in the southeast of the reef. However, depending on the current, there is also the possibility to moor the boat in the southwest at a notch of the reef. The Sataya area almost always has current from the north.
The mooring in the southeast, in the lagoon, is also one of the most beautiful places to dive in the midday. Very few people dive here and you get the impression that you are entering the water shortly after the coral garden is formed.

The most common diving tours, due to the current from the north, start with the Zodiac of course in the north. Then one has the free choice whether one dives left or right hand side. Here you can practice navigation and you have a dive of about 60 to 70 minutes in each direction. There is also a small path in the north through a cave into a lagoon. This is covered with mountain corals. The whole area is full of huge mountain corals, large table corals, leather corals and soft corals. There are a lot of juvenile fish, large schools of snappers, bigeyes and barbels. You can also find snails, as well as dolphins and young reef sharks.

There is another coral garden in the northwestern area, behind a sandy road. It consists of old and new coral formations and slopes down to 40m in the north.

Hotspots

Lagoon: In the north we go through a small cave to the enchanting lagoon full of magnificent mountain corals.
Dolphins: No matter where we go, we should always be on the lookout for these oceanic beauties. Meeting dolphins in the wild is a very emotional experience -can not be compared with anything else!

Dive Plans

1.Lagoon and around the reef 2.The north to the southwest 3.For navigation wonders

Lagoon and around the reef

In the north, starting from the Zodiac, we go to the reef and over an abrasion edge. Then into a lagoon covered with mountain corals. A cave on the west side of the lagoon leads you into a coral garden bordered by four blocks. You can explore these well in a zigzag and dive back to the north. You will find everything around the blocks, whether anemones, moray eels, young reef sharks or turtles. The reef always to the right shoulder you come back to the boat.

The north to the southwest

Again, head out from the Zodiac towards the reef. Dive the blocks to the west and explore the beautiful formations. Then continue south, the reef left shoulder, always crossing sandy areas. See if you can find tracks of false stonefish and follow them to their hiding place. At some point you will come across another single block . Check your no-decompression time and air - it's no problem to be picked up by the Zodiac again.

For navigation wonders

This dive also starts in the north and goes northeast into a wide stretched area with boulders. Average depth there is 22m and the blocks are between 3 and 10 meters high. How you dive these blocks, you plan, after checking the current, best in the 3D view and the overview map of reef interactive. Shortly before the boat, you can dive around the outside of the large block instead of through the channel.