Located at N 27° 43,150' E 34° 15,590', Ras Mohamed is a very thin strip of land at the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula at the northern end of the Red Sea. In itself a peninsula, Ras Mohamed is a national park bordered to the west by the relatively shallow waters of the Gulf of Suez where the maximum depth is 80 meters (260 feet), and to the east by the deep waters of the Gulf of Aqaba. The water at Gulf of Aqaba reaches depths of up to 1,860 meters (6,100 feet) as this is the beginning of the enormous cleavage in the earth’s crust which separates the African and Eurasian continental plates.

To the north of Ras Mohamed lies the resort town of Sharm El Sheikh which is about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) away. Directly to the south lies the vast expanse of the Red Sea which is bordered to the west by the African coast to the east and by the Arabian peninsula.

The west side of Ras Mohamed National Park has two deep fissures in its center. There's a sandy islet called the Mangroves Island on the park's south-eastern side. It is separated by a shallow channel running north-west to south-east called the Mangroves Canal. In the north, large dunes are interspersed with outcroppings of miocene limestone in which is embedded an astonishing number and variety of marine fossils. The peninsula itself is made up of a fossil coral reef that emerged during the quaternary period about 75,000 years ago and as a result of changes in the coastline caused by variations in sea levels.

Due to its position, strong currents prevail in Ras Mohamed throughout the year, which makes the waters around it very rich in nutrients. This attracts huge numbers of schools of pelagic and reef fish. Somewhere in the range of 1,200 different species to be more specific!

Ras Mohamed is one of the best places to dive in the world. It is surrounded by high reef tables. The most prominent of these are:

Ras Ghozlani:
This site lies at the mouth of Marsa Bereka, the large shallow bay that nearly separates Ras Mohamed itself from the Sinai mainland. The reef follows the shoreline at the bay's northern point; a sheer but shallow inshore wall gives way to a sloping patchy reef face reaching 15 meters (50 feet) depth.

It's hardly worth listing the vast array of coral at this site. If it exists in the Red Sea, you'll find it here. Fish life is abundant all across the reef in a riot of scintillating color. This is one of the nicest spots on the Sinai coast when it comes to small reef species.

Unlike the popular crowded sites, this superb site is not visited by hordes of divers every day so its delicate beauty is preserved.

Ras Zatar:
The reef at this site is similar but more contoured than Ras Ghozlani. It's basically a slopping wall towards the blue. This wall has many cracks and fissures forming some small caves.

There is a wide range of both hard and soft coral species. Fish life is excellent with a dense and diverse fish population that outshines Ras Ghozlani, which makes this site a real attraction.

Jackfish Alley:
This site, also called Fisherman's Bank or Stingray Alley, begins on a sheer wall. The early section of the wall is very porous, with lots of small holes and crevices, boasting a couple of penetrable caves, each featuring separate exit and entrance holes.

Proceeding southward, the wall gives way to a sandy plateau at around 20 meters (66 feet), well covered with coral heads and outcrops. After widening out considerably, this plateau narrows at its southern end to form a small channel or alley. Further out from the wall, a second, deeper plateau is found.

Coral growth is good overall the site and the fish population is excellent, with plenty of the jacks and stingrays that give the site at least two of its names.

Shark Observatory:
The site stretches from the foot of the observatory cliff in the north, across the mouth of a shallow box-shaped inlet, to the beginning of the Anemone City to the south.

The site is a vertical wall sloping outwards. The rugged profile is most dramatic in the northern section, where the reef face is especially contoured with fissures, inlets, and crevices to explore. Coral growth is good with a load of varieties among both soft and stony species. Big schools of groupers and snappers are usually on hand.

Anemone City:
Anemone City is one of the nicest sites in the Ras Mohamed. The reef is steeply sloping, cut by deep bays and inlets. The sharply angled profile is broken by a number of plateaus or large shelves, on which densely grown pinnacles and coral heads stand. Coral growth is very rich, particularly on the portion of the reef stretching in the direction of Shark Reef.

There are of course huge numbers of anemone, with attendant anemone fish. The site also boasts some prolific fish life, particularly in the mornings when the site is bustling with activity. Near the surface, barracuda and silvery needlefish hang patiently in the water. Once, during a morning dive we had a great barracuda, a whitetip shark, and a giant moray in less than 5 minutes!

Shark Reef / Yolanda Reef:
When divers think of Sinai, they think of Shark and Yolanda reefs. The two reefs are actually the twin peaks of a single coral seamount rising just off the Ras Mohamed coast, separated from the mainland by a shallow channel.

Shark Reef, the easternmost of the two, boasts a sheer wall dropping to well past 50 meters (164 feet) along its north-east and eastern sides, giving way to a steep reef slope as the reef proceeds south-west toward Yolanda. A shallow saddle lies between the two reefs at 18 to 20 meters (60 to 66 feet) and a second shallow patch lies south of Yolanda. This second flat patch is the site of what remains of the Yolanda; a wrecked freighter. The ship itself slipped into the deep in 1986 after a severe storm but much of its cargo remains incongruously strewn across the reef, including the very famous toilet seats.

Coral is excellent, with good growth on the wall sections and dense coral gardens on the shallower flat areas. Big pelagics and schooling fish swarm these reefs in their thousands. The most impressive concentration is on the wall at Shark Reef. Big sharks of many species - hammerheads, greytips, and blacktips among them - can be seen in the blue, particularly off the north-east corner of Shark Reef. On the reef, hundreds of different reef fishes can be spotted as can moray eels of one meter (3 feet), along with bluespotted and blackspotted stingrays.