Shark Reef and Yolanda
Ras Mohammed, Sinai · 8-30 m · often 15-30 m · year-round, current
The park's signature drift: a wall, a current, and the Yolanda freighter's cargo on the reef. Crowded, famous, still a real sea.
Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
Accessibility54
Skill ceiling60
Gear load70
Risk56
Seasonality34
Wow factor91
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Last reviewed Sources & creditsMedia creditsMethodology
Quick answers
Which local rescue or training agency should I check first?
Use the local lens: coastguard/federation norms and the shop briefing for that bay — not a blog visibility claim.
What is the Thistlegorm?
A British WWII cargo ship bombed in 1941 at Sha'ab Ali, rediscovered for the public by Cousteau-era film, now a mass recreational wreck. Holds are overhead. See wreck-diving.
Is Dahab's Blue Hole a beginner site?
The shallow rim can be snorkelled. The arch and deep hole are an advanced, lethal-if-casual scuba problem. Freedivers use it with a plan or not at all. See freedive-safety.
Jackson Reef?
A Tiran Strait reef, often dived as a drift with a wrecked freighter on the reef in the lore. Current and park rules apply.
Elphinstone and the Brothers?
Offshore marine-park walls, typically liveaboard, with a pelagic reputation. Not a first Sharm house reef.
Abu Dabbab?
A Marsa Alam area known for seagrass and, at times, dugongs, plus a few wreck and reef names. Distance and park manners apply.
These are famous, mapped sites. Wind and park rules change; boats publish the day. Depths are typical published bands, not a live plan.
A Dahab jetty or a Hurghada garden is the correct first Red Sea water.
Points
SS Thistlegorm
Sha'ab Ali, Egypt · 16-30 m · often 15-30 m · year-round, wind
Sank 1941; trucks and BSA bikes made it a mass wreck. Holds are overhead. Typically a liveaboard or long day.
Dahab Blue Hole
Dahab, Sinai · entry 6-20 m rec. · often 15-25 m · year-round
A beautiful hole with a lethal arch folklore. The rim is a snorkel; the arch is not a first Red Sea plan. Also a freedive site with a buddy.
Jackson Reef
Tiran Strait, Egypt · 8-25 m · often 15-25 m · year-round, current
A Tiran classic with current and a wrecked freighter in the site lore. Wind cancels the strait.
Elphinstone
off Marsa Alam, Egypt · 18-40 m · often 15-30 m · liveaboard / weather
An offshore wall with a pelagic reputation. Not a house reef. Current and depth.
Brothers Islands (Big / Little)
offshore Egypt · 10-40 m · often 20-30 m · liveaboard windows
A marine-park pair of walls and wrecks (Numidia, Aida in the lore). Weather is the gate.
Abu Dabbab seagrass
Marsa Alam, Egypt · 5-15 m · variable · year-round
A seagrass bay known for turtles and, at times, dugong sightings. Distance rules; this is not a chase product.
Canyon (Dahab)
Dahab, Sinai · 10-30 m · often 15-25 m · year-round
A shore-accessible canyon/reef site that is a Dahab craft classroom: buoyancy, a guide, and a map, not a Hole dare.
Tips
- Jetty before Yolanda — The park can wait a checkout.
- Thistlegorm as a plan — Wind and a wreck brief.
- Rim, not arch — The Hole sentence this atlas will repeat.
- Brothers are a week — Not a coupon.
The Red Sea is a park drift, a mass wreck and a hole that should stay a rim. The Brothers are a later week.