Diving the Red Sea from Egypt's South Sinai

Sharm's diving stretches from the current swept reefs of the Straits of Tiran, along the reefs fringing the Sinai's coast, known as 'Local Dives', to the awesome walls of the Ras Mohammed National Marine Park. Renowned for some of the worlds finest wall dives, sites like Jackson, Ras Um Sid, Shark and Yolanda Reef have passed into legend. The wall diving is interspersed by lovely coral gardens, some accessible from shore.

West of the Sinai the Straits of Gubal connect the Red Sea to the Suez channel and from there the Mediterranean. The assorted reefs and islands found in the straits have become a graveyard of Red Sea wrecks. Around three hours sailing from Sharm they are mainly the preserve of liveaboard divers as crossing the straits isn't really an option open to shorebased divers. Perhaps the best known of all the Red Sea wrecks, the Thistlegorm at Sha'ab Ali, is an exception and can be dived on a special day trip, but be pre-paired for an early start! Between Ras Mohammed and Sha'ab Ali is another long thin reef, Sha'ab Mahmoud, with its own wreck the Dunraven, and the seven coral heads known as the Alternatives.

Year round diving from Sharm is first class. During school holidays and October dive sites can get busy. Coral bloomings in late spring may reduce visibility but attract the filter feeders and reef life is active. Northerlies tend to pick up in January and February producing surface chop and reducing air and water temperatures but compensated for by attractive prices and quieter reefs.

Straits of Tiran - Running down the Sinai's eastern side is the 2000m deep Gulf of Aquaba. It narrows at its southern end as it passes between the Sinai coast, at Ras Nasrani, and the islands of Tiran and Sanafir, around 1½ hours sailing from Sharm. These straits are also shallower than the Gulf proper creating a funnelling effect which, when combined with the normal tidal action, produces strong currents and brings fresh water and nutrients up to feed the rich reefs. Offshore, close to the islands, is a string of four large reefs Gordon, Thomas, Woodhouse and Jackson named after 19th century British cartographers. Around Tiran Island a fringing reef forms a beautiful lagoon.

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Sharm's Local Dives - Sharm's local dive sites are fringing reefs along the desert coastline, itself uplifted coral. Diving from shore, where still accessible, generally involves crossing 10-20m of back reef so most diving is now done by local hard boat taking between 10 minutes to an hour to reach. The sites range from Ras Nasrani in the North to Ras Katy in the South. Generally the currents are gentler here though, at prominent points such as Ras Umm Sid and Ras Nasrani, they can pick up. The reef forms walls some shear others shelving with occasional features like coral blocks, overhangs and towers. There are also shallow coral gardens bathed in sunlight which make for excellent gentle diving.

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Ras Mohammed - the northern waters of the Red Sea splits into the Gulfs of Aqaba and Suez by Ras Mohammed, at the Sinai's southern most tip. The uniqueness and popularity of this area, both above and below the water, led to the formation of the Ras Mohammed National Park where access is now strictly controlled.

The Park actually encloses a large area that includes several dive sites from Ras Ghazalani and Ras Za'atar at the mouth to Marsa Bareika, through Shark Observatory, to Shark and Yolanda Reefs. Renowned for its vertical walls Ras Mohammed also includes gently sloping sand bottom, at Eel Garden, and communities of anemones at Anemone City. The reefs are formed by over one hundred different hard and soft coral species. These are in turn populated by a complement of reef fish including giant Napoleon Wrasse and Moray Eels. In the blue schooling Jacks, Tuna and Barracuda are joined by three species of reef shark and pelagic species as well as various types of ray. Currents are unpredictable here frequently coming from the North, at other times from the south and occasionally up or down currents add interest to already exhilarating diving.

Straits of Gubal - on the eastern, Sinai side, of the Straits are two large areas of Reef. Around 30 minutes north west from Ras Mohammed you come to Sha'ab Mahmoud here you find seven flattop reef heads, or Ergs, known as the Alternatives. Close by Beacon Rock is the resting place of the Dunraven . North from Sha'ab Mahmoud is probably the Red Sea's most famous wreck. The Thistlegorm lies just south of Sha'ab Ali around 3-4 hours sailing from Sharm. Nearby Shag Rock offers good reef dives and Sha'ab Ali itself has a mix of reef and wreck dives to offer.