Turtle Bay is also known as Torfa El Gaz. Torfa meaning “Tongue of reef “and Gaz is the local name for big jackfish, which fishermen used to catch here. When it comes to hard corals there are not many places in around in the area that can compete with Turtle bay.

The dive site consists of three parts: A small lagoon inside the reef peninsula stretching out from the northern tip of Big Giftun Island, a shallow wall along the north side and a channel into the sheltered area. Since the boats have to moor behind the reef and the entrance is on the outside a drift dive is recommended. There are two ways to do this, either you drop just out side the first entrance and go straight in to the lagoon, or you drop a little bit north of the second entrance and start the dive on the wall outside before entering the lagoon. Either way, you should be aware that it takes about twenty minutes to swim back to the boat after exiting so you have to decide whether you want the boat to wait and pick you up, or you swim through the channel to the mooring spot.

Inside the lagoon you find a large number of pinnacles scattered over a dramatic under water landscape. More than one guest has told me that it "feels like being on a different planet".

The name Turtle Bay does not mean that there is a "turtle guarantee" on this dive but sometime you may be lucky and find one. It is easy to become a little bit disorientated here so it is a good idea to use a compass or at least be aware of this fact.

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Big thanks to Anders "Samaka" Jälmsjö (https://www.facebook.com/redsea.equalizer) for the site map and description.