A shallow bay with resident turtles and, if you are very lucky, a dugong.
Abu Dabbab is a wide, shallow bay south of Marsa Alam with a seagrass meadow across its floor. That meadow is the reason for everything: green turtles graze it, and so, occasionally, does a dugong.
The turtles are genuinely resident rather than passing through, and the water is shallow enough that you can watch one feed from the surface without diving. They surface to breathe every few minutes, which is when most people get their photograph.
The rules are simple and they matter: no touching, no riding, no blocking a turtle from surfacing, and stay above rather than swimming down onto it. A turtle prevented from reaching air is in real trouble within minutes.
The turtles are genuinely resident rather than passing through, and the water is shallow enough that you can watch one feed from the surface without diving.
Dugong sightings are rare and nobody can promise one. If an operator does, they are either guessing or planning to chase it, and neither is worth your money.
