Ras Mohammed National Park Seven sites where the two gulfs meet

Ras Ghozlani

27°47.527′ N · 34°15.752′ E

Marsa Bareika has Ras Ghozlani on its northern tip and Ras Za’atar to the south. Notably, divers were only let into the bay a few years ago, and access is still limited to the outer sides. Besides, a small stake on the sandy shore carries two banners, one red and one green, marking the zone nobody may enter.

Two fixed moorings used to sit on the accessible stretch, but they were removed, so today this is a drift. Instead, the route follows a broad sandy slope that starts at six metres and runs down to a drop-off between twenty-five and thirty. Moreover, coral pinnacles rise from that sand, most of them crusted in red and pink soft coral and swarming with anthias, alongside huge Acropora tables and branching heads. Indeed, near the entrance to the bay the effect is less like a reef than a forest.

Notably, under the table corals you find batfish (Platax sp.), glassfish and groupers. Meanwhile the open sand holds bluespotted stingrays, pufferfish of the genera Arothron and Diodon, and triggerfish of the genera Odonus and Pseudobalistes.

Watch for

• Afternoon light, which throws the pinnacles and the hard coral into relief
• Also the crowds, because the site’s reputation has spread quickly
• Current is rarely strong here, though it usually sets north to south

Ras Za’atar

27°45.860′ N · 34°15.364′ E

Firstly, this is the rocky promontory that closes Marsa Bareika to the south. Since there is no shamandura, the dive is a drift around the headland, and it can run either way depending on the water. Most often it goes northeast with the reef on your left. Because the best of it lies around the point, start past the large crevice you can see from the boat in the coastline.

First, the dive opens at a coral pinnacle carrying a table coral at twenty-one metres, then follows a wall that falls away vertically, painted with Alcyonarians and gorgonians set at a curiously horizontal angle, together with colonies of black coral (Antipathes dichotoma). Afterwards, come up to ten or fifteen metres rather than staying deep. That is where the chimneys begin, narrowing as they rise until they open onto the reef platform, and the sunlight pours down them.

Meanwhile, lionfish, glassfish and some substantial groupers (Epinephelus sp.) live inside those crevices. Once past the tip of the wall, turn into the bay itself and cross a sandy slope studded with pinnacles, a genuine coral garden. Further, jackfish, barracuda and the occasional tuna hunt out in the blue.

Watch for

• Hold ten to fifteen metres if you want the chimneys, which are the highlight
• Then the current, which strengthens noticeably around the headland
• The northernmost chimney gives the most dramatic light of the three

Ras Burg

27°45.376′ N · 34°15.162′ E

Certainly, roughly five hundred metres south of Ras Za’atar sits a site few guides propose. Admittedly it is the less spectacular of the two, yet the wall is built on the same pattern and it carries two advantages: almost nobody dives it, and it is practically untouched.

Notably, a fossil coral pinnacle stands a couple of metres out of the water like a tower, which is how the site got its name, since Ras Burg is Arabic for Tower Cape. Next, descend the wall to about twenty metres with it on your right, past bluespine unicornfish (Naso unicornis) and schools of fusiliers (Caesio sp.). After a few dozen metres a wide chimney opens with its summit exposed, much like the one at Za’atar.

Specifically, inside there are yellow gorgonians of a startling brightness, red sponges (Cliona vastifica), siphon sponges, butterflyfish and anthias, and the upper section forms an arch whose roof climbs to 3.5 metres. Afterwards keep along the wall, past pinnacles of every shape, until a second and far plainer chimney marks the gradual ascent to the end. Overall, hawksbill turtles, jackfish and fusiliers are regular company throughout.

Watch for

• Above all, small groups only, since the first chimney is narrow
• Therefore no more than three or four divers inside it at once
• Also midday, when the sun sits overhead and the chimney lights up
• The site is generally sheltered from both wind and swell

Jackfish Alley

27°46.000′ N · 34°15.400′ E

Naturally, the name comes from a wide sandy road between the coral ledge along the shore and a satellite reef running parallel to it, a corridor that jackfish and other predators patrol. Older charts call the site Fisherman’s Bank, and some crews still say Ras Kusba. Usually, a white mark on the cliff makes the drop-in easy to find.

First, descend to six metres and the entrance to the first cave is immediately in front of you. Notably, it runs about forty metres into the reef, and you leave it on your left at nine metres. Next, work southwest with the reef on your right until a large coral outcrop appears; just beyond it, at fourteen metres, a second cave climbs to a wide exit at six. Glassfish fill it completely.

A little further south a sandy bay has to be crossed on a southwest heading. At eleven metres another outcrop stands there, alive with a second glassfish colony. Finally, past a stretch thick with madrepores, the sandy alley itself opens at eighteen to twenty metres. Notably, whitetip reef sharks, manta rays, jackfish, blue triggerfish (Pseudobalistes fuscus) and bluespotted stingrays have all been seen working it.

Watch for

• First, do not drop below five or six metres at the start, or you will miss the first cave
• Caves are for small groups of experienced divers only
• Also carry a torch, and keep the time inside them short

Eel Garden

27°45.900′ N · 34°15.200′ E

Similarly, facing a small beach between Jackfish Alley and Shark Observatory, this is one of the few places where the fossil cliff drops low enough to let you walk in. Currents barely reach it. Wind and swell do, however, so check the sea before committing, particularly from the shore.

Admittedly, very few divers bother with it, which is a shame, because biologically it is one of the more interesting stops in the park. Instead, the route crosses a sandy plateau tilted gently east in front of the beach. Notably, a small cave in the middle of the ledge appears to pour out a V-shaped river of sand.

Above all, beyond that lies the colony itself: garden eels (Gorgasia sillneri), a Congridae endemic to this sea, which can pass eighty centimetres. Indeed, two-thirds of each animal stands clear of the sand, swaying in the current after plankton. Besides, their lairs are cylindrical shafts held together by a secretion from a gland near the tail, and they never leave them. Approach carefully, because at the first hint of movement the whole colony vanishes.

Watch for

• First, never dive it in waves, especially if you are entering from the beach
• Then approach the eels from the north, and slowly
• Mornings give the best light for photographing them
• Also worth snorkelling, since everything sits shallow

Shark Observatory, the Ras Mohammed Wall

27°44.005′ N · 34°15.605′ E

Firstly, the name belongs to the terrace on top of the promontory, sixty metres above the water, and also to the dive that runs beneath it. Divers usually call it the Ras Mohammed Wall, and it is the signature dive of the whole park. Looking out rather than down is the point here: large predators cross the blue constantly, hawksbill turtles come past, and a whale shark (Rhincodon typus) has been recorded.

Next, begin near the second observation terrace on the cliff. Descend to roughly fifteen metres and hold that, since the route is long and few divers have the gas to run it deeper. Then, work the wall on your left, which is dense with Alcyonarians and cut by gullies, shelters and caves, while keeping half an eye on the open water for jackfish, barracuda and sharks.

Soon, level with the southern corner of the promontory the wall swings sharply west and heads for the small beach below the observatory. Specifically, here large gorgonians (Subergorgia hicksoni) stand out, and higher up a majestic overhang cuts back into the rock. Finally, continue and the dive finishes in a genuinely beautiful cave, split at the top by a fissure that lets the light in, with an exit straight onto the reef.

Watch for

• Check the current first, because an ebbing tide gives the better dive
• Hold fifteen to twenty metres, then finish between eight and five
• Afternoon light is what makes the cave worth the swim

Shark and Yolanda Reefs, with Anemone City

27°43.300′ N · 34°15.000′ E · 10–30 m · no mooring

Ultimately, at the very southern end of the peninsula the classic route finishes with three names that need no introduction: Anemone City, Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef. Their full write-up sits on its own page, Shark and Yolanda Reef. Any list of Ras Mohammed diving ends here, where the current running around the tip is strongest, and where the pelagic traffic is heaviest as a result, particularly through the summer months.

Specifically, there is no shamandura anywhere on the site, so it has to be a drift, and it runs from Shark towards Yolanda. Boats drop divers at Anemone City or on Shark Reef itself. The plateau sits between ten and twenty-five metres, the Yolanda cargo field between ten and thirty, and below the drop-off the wall keeps falling to roughly nine hundred. Therefore plan the entry with the skipper, agree the pickup before anyone enters the water, and carry an SMB without exception.