Exploring the magical underwater world – Ras Mohamed…

We decided to take a day trip from Naama bay to Ras Mohamed National Park, one of Egypt’s most popular dive and snorkeling sites. Including lunch and hire of snorkel equipment. The trip cost about £40pp. Visiting several reef’s. Ras Mohamed is Egypt’s only national park. The reef’s range in age from 15,000 to 2,000,000

After about a hour our boat dropped the Angkor at the southernmost point of the peninsula, an area known as the ‘Quay’. The sea here was pretty rough. We jumped off the boat and were told to swim approx 200 metres quickly to the reef, as we needed to cross a open deep part of the water where big fish swim through. The only thing i could think about now was ‘Sharks’, ha. We had a guide to tour us around this reef as it was quite large and circular pointing things out to us. It was amazing the reef was so busy, larger than anything i have ever seen under the water. There was so many colours, species of fish, and living corals and plants. This was a breathtaking experience. We saw lots of colourful little fish, some of the ones we spotted that i knew were Clown fish, Barracuda’s, Tuna, Sea horses, lion fish, Trevally, Napoleon Wrasse and Whitetip Shark!

We cruised further down the coast as we of Ras Mohammed whilst enjoying a light lunch to Marsa Bareika, another great spot for snorkeling in the calm waters.  We saw giant Manta Rays and were told turtles were regularly spotted here, but we didn’t see any.

The Best dive sites of Ras Mohammed National Park are:

Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef

This spot offers a great reef with beautiful coral and a teeming reef life. Keep an eye in the blue as there are also many pelagic fishes such as shoals of Barracudas, Jacks and Trevallies. Various Reef Sharks such as Grey and Blacktip Reef Sharks can also be spotted in the blue. At the end of your dive you can see the remains of the Yolanda Wreck that was carrying toilets seats!

Anemone City

This is a really beautiful dive site with an interesting underwater topography featuring many plateaus cutting the steep reef slope. The coral formations are really nice and of course there are lots of Anemones and Clown fishes! Pelagic and Reef Sharks are also a common encounter.

Shark Observatory

This a great wall dive with many cracks full of life and hard and soft coral. You will also spot many Groupers, Snappers and Napoleon Wrasses as well as all usual reef fishes of the Red Sea. Whitetip Reef Sharks are usually spotted in the deeper section of the wall.

Ras Ghozlani

This an easy and shallow (15m deep) wall dive. The hard and soft coral is prolific and very beautiful. This is a great dive site if you like to observe small reef species. This a really beautiful spot and less crowded than the previous ones.

Jackfish Alley

Jackfish Alley dive site is a steep wall with several small caves to explore. There are also two sandy plateaus where you can find many stingrays giving to this spot its second name: Stingray Alley! The marine life is teeming and the coral is beautiful.

Ras Zatar

This is a wall dive a bit like Ras Ghozlani featuring many fissures and small caves. Very interesting site if you like to explore small cracks to take nice underwater pictures! The hard and soft coral is beautiful and the marine life is teeming.

It is possible to dive in Ras Mohammed Marine National park all year round like in all the Red Sea. However if you look for warm water, it is better to come during the Summer….