Northern Red Sea

The northern route begins from the port of Sharm el Sheikh. This purpose built holiday destination is popular with all nationalities and offers a wide range of activities you would associate with a resort of its size. Sharm el Sheikh is located just 2.5 hours away from St Catherine’s Monastery and the site of the burning bush, and a short flight away from Cairo. This ensures divers on a mini safari will not be stuck for things to do with their time on land.

The Sinai Peninsular itself is a mountainous region which often seems mirrored underwater with monumental drop offs’, dramatic vertical walls and canyons. The water around the Sinai is on a major shipping route and is a gateway from Europe to Africa. Over the years the combination of hundreds of reefs and boats has resulted in shipping accidents creating numerous wrecks. The Northern Red Sea boasts some of the most impressive wrecks world wide including the Rosalie Moller and the SS Thistlegorm. In addition to the wrecks the northern Red Sea is home to some spectacular reef dives.

Ras Mohamed National Park
Ras Mohamed peninsula separates the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba. Currents flow out of both gulfs and bathe Ras Mohamed in rich nutrients, which assure both plentiful and varied marine life. Shark Reef and Yolanda wreck is the most impressive dive in the national park. Shark reef has a vertical wall descending to over 800m and although the Yolanda wreck is too deep for recreational dives you can swim amongst her cargo of ideal standard toilets, baths and a BMW car. In the summer months vast numbers of snapper, barracuda and bat fish school in the blue water in front of Shark reef with oceanic black tip sharks moving between them.

The Straits of Tiran
There are four main dive sites in Tiran: Gordon; Thomas; Woodhouse; and Jackson. These are named after the English Cartographers who drew the first nautical maps of the region. The straits are formed by the island of Tiran to the east, and the Sinai coastline to the west. The meeting of deep waters, continental plate, and narrow passage creates a bottleneck through which a strong, dense flow of plankton is funneled to the coral reefs. A food chain is set in motion which links the plankton, coral organisms and reef fish to the larger fish – the sharks! At certain times of the year, weather and sea conditions permitting, a dive may be done in the deep blue water to search for a school of hammerheads.