Diving Ras Mohammed (Shark and Yolanda Reef)

Diving Ras Mohammed is the signature day-boat dive trip from Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt's South Sinai Governorate. The marine park at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, roughly 25 to 40 km from Naama Bay depending on the site, protects vertical coral walls, drop-offs and some of the densest reef fish life in the northern Red Sea. Shark and Yolanda Reef is the best-known site: a pair of reef pinnacles dropping into deep water, with a current-swept wall that regularly draws schools of barracuda, jacks, snappers and batfish, and occasional grey reef sharks and turtles. The Yolanda section is named for a cargo of bathroom fittings, including toilets and a bathtub, scattered on the seabed after the freighter Yolanda sank in 1980, and it is one of the region's most photographed dive scenes. Boats usually combine the two dives with a second site such as Anemone City or Eel Garden, with lunch served aboard. Participants need an Open Water certification as a minimum, and an Advanced Open Water card or a logged history of drift diving is useful because currents at Shark Reef can be strong and vary through the tide. Most centres set a minimum age of 10 to 12 for junior divers, and a recent medical declaration is required. Dive centres including Camel Dive Club, Oonas Dive Club and Sinai Divers, all PADI or SSI affiliated and based around Naama Bay, supply tanks, weights and a BCD; visitors normally bring their own mask, computer and logbook, and wetsuits and regulators can be hired. The price is typically EGP 2,500 to 4,500 (about $50 to 90) for two boat dives, plus a separate Ras Mohammed park fee that is often charged on top. Briefings cover the dive plan, current direction, buddy checks and surface signalling, and boats carry oxygen and first-aid kits, with the Sharm El Sheikh hyperbaric chamber as the evacuation destination for decompression incidents. The best season runs from October to May, when seas are calm and water ranges from about 22 to 27 C; summer brings warmer water but busier boats and stronger winds. Strong northerly winds can cancel trips, and operators generally reschedule or refund in that case.