Diving in Ras Mohammed National Park

Declared a national marine park in 1983, Ras Mohammed is one of the best kept marine parks in Egypt, it’s also one of the most visited. Known for its great wall diving with drop offs to 1000 metres, big fish and lovely corals are a plenty here and diving is fantastic.

You can do a day trip from Sharm el Sheikh or Dahab but the best way to explore the area is by liveaboard, so you can relax and truly enjoy all the special dive sites. You never know what you’re going to see in this area but for certain you’ll see many types of colourful hard and soft corals, every Red Sea reef fish imaginable and maybe even a shark, turtle, octopus or ray. The water is very clear and full of nutrients many big schools of fish hang out in the area.

Some of the best dives in the area are Ras Ghozlani with its beautiful table corals and pinnacles covered in glassfish; this is an easy drift dive and great for any level of diver. Ras Za’atar is the most northern dive in the marine park and great for its many caves and overhangs. The wall is covered in gorgonians and sea fans and keep an eye out for the chimney at 15 metres, which is home to a Malabar Grouper.

Jackfish Alley is the largest plateau in the park, with sandy alleys and Spangled Emperors, maybe even a black tip reef shark if you’re lucky. Eel Garden is a nice, easy sandy dive and Shark Observatory to Anemone City is fabulous for its walls and towering cliffs.

The best dive in the park would have to be Shark and Yolanda Reefs. Shark Reef is a wall that drops to 800 metres and is covered in coral and fish, Yolanda Reefs is a coral garden and in between the two reefs lays the cargo of the wreck Yolanda which sunk in 1980. In 1987 the ship sunk into the abyss leaving the cargo behind and makes for an interesting dive. Currents can be strong here.

The area is fabulous for macro photography so be sure to take a camera to capture all the cool critters you’re going to see.

(By Kelly Luckman)