Redmah Wall

Big Fishes Wall

The undisputed best soft coral wall known to date in all of the waters off Saudi Arabia is unquestionably the 150 m section of the Redmah Wall. That is a bold claim but the site is open to inspection for anyone that may care to dispute it. Located on the northern end of the marker at Redmah Reef this wall never fails to deliver. Usually this dive is made after a visit to the outer reefs therefore the seas are usually rough, so it is best for the boat to drop divers off and let them drift along the wall towards the marker. After circumnavigating the coral heads at the front of the reef, the diver is confronted with a deep channel and vertical wall that parallels the reef. There are small channels to explore, that penetrate a few metres into the reef, and like most reefs it is best to drift along at 9-12 m to see the most reef fish and have the best colour. There is hardly a square meter to be found that doesn't have soft corals of some description and because there is a deep channel several species of sharks, and pelagic fish have surprised the unexpecting diver.


This dive is a photographer's nightmare, as you really don't know what to shoot next. There are Nudibranchs of every description and colour, Starfish, spotted Hawkfish, Gobies, Feather and Basket Stars all of which are either attached to or semi-hidden in the coral ready to pose. The wall offers sun silhouettes; back lit soft corals and unlimited choices of wide angle, close-up or microphotography. A little deeper there is a forest of whip coral covering 30 or more square metres of the hard coral bed. The dive is not over once you have passed this soft coral mass, for the landscape changes back in forth, from walls with small tunnels burrowing to the surface and coral outcroppings, to short shelves with scattered coral heads and huge Tabletop Corals all delicately coloured in blossoms of Soft Corals and clusters of Sea Anemones with yellow Clownfish fussing about in their tentacles. It is not uncommon to see three or four Blue Spotted Rays on these sand shelves or as many Moray Eels lurking holes and under the coral ready to strike. Upon surfacing the dive boat picks the divers up along the wall so it is understood why this dive is so popular.

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