This cruise allows you to take in some of the most notorious wrecks that the Red Sea has to offer, along with stunning coral reefs in and around Ras Mohamed National Park. 

An ideal itinerary for those new to the Red Sea, allowing you to experience world famous wrecks and pristine reefs. Some versions of the itinerary also head far enough north to encompass the Strait of Tiran.

ITINERARY HIGHLIGHTS

• Take in the world-famous dive sites of the northern Red Sea
• Dive the iconic SS Thistlegorm wreck, a Red Sea must-see
• Explore Ras Mohammed's Shark & Yolanda Reef for reef sharks and pelagics
• Discover Abu Nuhas, the notorious ‘Ships Graveyard’ of the Red Sea

Some of the dive sites you may visit on your liveaboard include:

SS. Thistlegorm – Shaab Ali

Probably the most famous of the Red Sea wrecks. The 129m English Freighter was bombed by German aviation on 6th October 1941. Today she creates an artificial reef on a sandy bottom at 32m max depth. She is home to an enormous variety of marine life and is especially popular with large schooling fish.

Small Crack - Shaab Mahmoud

This is a small split in the middle of Shaab Mahmoud’s barrier. Drift along the outside wall next to beautiful corals and colourful fish. Look for a sand slope that leads you up and through the crack. When the current is right you can fly through the 5m deep channel and be thrown out across the sandy lagoon!

Gubal Island

At the gate of the Straits of Gubal is ‘Bluff Point’, which gets its name from the turbulence created by strong currents that beat the eastern wall of the island. The wreck of the ‘Ulysses’ lies on the reef 300m north of the lighthouse, starting at 5m and sloping to 25m. 'The Barge' wreck, south of the lighthouse, provides divers with a fun and unusual night dive. The wrecks skeleton creates protection for all types of night creatures.

Abu Nuhas

Also known as the ‘Ships Graveyard’, this reef is dangerously positioned close to the busy shipping lanes of the Gulf of Suez. This reef has claimed more ships than any other in the area. On the north side are four wrecks laying on a sandy seafloor at the bottom of a steep sloping reef layered with table corals. Wrecks here include the Ghiannus D, Carnatic, Tile & Lentil Wrecks. On the south side is a safe anchorage for liveaboards and two ergs, known as Yellow fish reef.

Shag Rock

This large circular reef is often overlooked but offers excellent diving on pristine coral from any location on its perimeter. Ras Mohammed national park is not standard within this safari but may be visited at the discretion of the crew. Please enquire if you would like to visit this area.

Ras Mohammed National Park

The Ras Mohammed National Park is located at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. It was declared a protected area in 1983. The jewel in the is Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef. Shark Reef offers the chance to dive with grey and black tip reef sharks. It is also home to huge numbers of reef fish and some larger pelagics such as tunas. Yolanda Reef is named after the shipwreck. On the plateau (10–25m) are scattered remains of toilets and baths. Anemone City is a wonderful shallow dive at 12m. The dive sites in Ras Mohamed offer an abundance of reef fish life, scorpion fish, multiple macro critters, hard and soft corals.

The Dunraven

The Dunraven was a Victorian steam and sail ship carrying spices, cotton and timber from India in 1876.  She hit the reef during a dispute between the Captain, his wife and his First mate. She sank beside the reef, upside down and broken in two parts, with the deepest part lying at 30m. Inside the wreck are schools of yellow goat fish and giant morays. The hull on the top is covered with corals and full of marine life, including schools of bat fish, nudibranchs, pipe fish and the very rare ghost pipe fish. 

Tiran Strait

The Strait of Tiran is the narrow sea passage between the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas which separates the Gulf of Aqaba from the Red Sea. These reefs, named after British cartographers (Jackson, Woodhouse, Thomas and Gordon), are world famous for their extraordinary diversity of corals and pelagics. They are visit on certain departures only.

Jackson Reef

The northern most reef in Tiran, Jackson Reef is well known for the Cypriot cargo ship “The Lara” which sank in 1985; some remains of the wreckage can still be seen on the top of the reef. The west site has a forest of spectacular gorgonian fan coral in 20-30m as well as many different kinds of reef fish. The most spectacular and colorful coral garden is at the southwest site at 15m. It is very common to see turtles, white tips and grey reef sharks.

Woodhouse Reef

The longest reef in the Strait of Tiran, Woodhouse is home to reef sharks and eagle rays. At the southern part of the reef is a wall to around 30m covered with coral from the surface all the way down. Along the reef is a canyon at 25m which spreads out into a coral garden with sand alleys.

Thomas Reef

The smallest reef in the strait. The ends are vertical walls with a large plateau at about 25m on the south eastern side. The plateau is covered in colourful coral and has a fence of gorgonian fans where you can find longnose hawkfish.

Gordon Reef

The most southerly reef of the four islands and has a different topography from the others offering both a shallow plateau area and drop offs. There is a huge variety of reef fish and the chance to see sleeping whitetip reef sharks on sandy patches. At 4-5m there is an eel garden. The top of the reef, with its lighthouse, is also home to the wreck Louilla which lays almost parallel to the wreck on Jackson Reef.

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED: You must be an Advanced Open Water diver or equivalent and have logged a minimum of 30 dives to join this safari.