Habili Ali

Overview

Habili Ali is the wild, current-swept easternmost reef of the St John's complex, far out in the deep south of the Egyptian Red Sea. A "habili" is a submerged reef that never breaks the surface, and this one — a small oval seamount 44km offshore, marooned between Zabargad Island and the open sea — is among the most exposed and exhilarating dives in the country. There is no shelter here: the reef pulls in current from every direction, and with it the big animals. This is a liveaboard-only site for confident divers who come for sharks, gorgonians and the sheer drama of a reef in the blue.

The Dive

Habili Ali is a steep-walled pinnacle, roughly 270m long and 80m wide, with an average working depth past 30m and walls that plunge well beyond recreational limits — over 70m in places before vanishing into the deep. The reef top starts around 10–13m but often sits too close to the surface to use as a refuge, with breakers washing over it, so dives are planned down the walls. Those walls are the attraction: grooves, notches and overhangs encrusted with vivid soft and hard corals, big gorgonian fans and stands of black coral, all fed fat by the relentless current.

That current is the defining condition and the reason for the marine life. It can run weak to very strong and arrive from any direction, so a current check before the dive is mandatory and the plan adapts to whatever the reef is doing on the day. Dives are typically run as drifts along the walls with a sharp eye on the blue, ascending into the shallower southern slope where the reef narrows into a plateau. Habili Ali is unequivocally an advanced dive — exposure, depth and current together demand experience, solid air management and comfort with negative entries and drifting.

Marine Life

Habili Ali is shark country. The current draws grey reef sharks, hammerheads and oceanic whitetips, with eagle rays and the occasional manta sweeping through, and shoals of barracuda holding in the flow off the walls. The reef itself is a riot of soft coral, gorgonian fans and black coral, with anthias and reef fish blanketing the structure — the kind of lush, untouched growth that only a remote, well-flushed reef produces.

Good to Know

The deep south is a liveaboard destination, dived mainly in the warmer, calmer months of the southern season (roughly spring and autumn into early summer); visibility is usually excellent at 20–30m or more. Habili Ali is for advanced divers only — the combination of strong, unpredictable current, real depth and total exposure leaves no margin for the inexperienced. Expect negative entries, drift dives and a guide who will call the dive on the conditions, not the schedule.