Ras Mohammed

Ras Mohammed was declared Egypt's first national marine park in 1983, protecting the point where the Gulf of Aqaba meets the Gulf of Suez at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. The result is a stretch of coastline with some of the steepest, healthiest coral walls in the northern Red Sea.

The park's signature dive: a drift along a near-vertical wall connecting two reefs, named for the Yolanda, a cargo ship that sank nearby in 1980 and scattered part of its cargo down the slope. Grey reef sharks patrol the blue off the wall, alongside barracuda schools, napoleon wrasse and the occasional passing hammerhead in season.

Anemone City is a shallower, gentler counterpoint — a reef flat carpeted in anemones and clownfish. Jackfish Alley adds swim-throughs and dense schools of jacks working the current.

The reef top sits around 5–10m, with the walls dropping well past recreational limits — plan your dive to the 30–40m range and respect your computer, not the wall. Currents can be strong and change direction without much warning, which is why Advanced Open Water (or better) matters here more than at most Red Sea sites.

Ras Mohammed is too far from Hurghada for a day boat — we reach it as part of the North Wrecks & Reefs liveaboard route, usually toward the end of the week after Thistlegorm and Abu Nahas.