Quick Facts:
| Location: |
Central: Southern most point of the Sinai, directly northeast of Yolanda Reef |
| Depth: |
Max: 700m+ (2200ft+) |
| Access: |
Boat |
| Level: |
ADVANCED-DIVEMASTER |
This is it. This, along with its neighbor, Yolanda Reef is what most people call the Ras Mohamed dive. If the Red Sea is the best place to dive in the whole world, then its northern part is where it is at its best. If Ras Mohamed is the most spectacular diving spot in the Northern Red Sea, then Shark Reef is it its prize diving spot. As objective and humble as one could be, this simply is the best diving site on this planet.
Shark and Yolanda Reefs are two twin mounts in a sandy sea bed that extends for hundreds of meters (thousands of feet) below the surface. They are both joint at the base. The site is separated from the coast by a shallow channel some hundred meters wide. shark Reef starts at about 26 meters below the surface and resembles a submerged mountain peak. The eastern end of the site is a sheer vertical wall that extends to the sea bed downwards. It is the same wall that extends all the way up to Ras Atãr further North. The other side facing the west, the saddle, is much shallower and constitutes part of the plateau that surrounds Yolanda Reef. 
Both these sites are usually done as a drift dive starting at Shark Reef, currents permitting. The currents here are extremely strong and at times unpredictable, especially the vertical currents which are strongest further west between the two reefs. This is surely no place for the beginner. Though some divers get into the site by swimming eastward across the channel from Anemone City, shore, individual, or unguided dives are strongly not advised.
Every possible fish species is found here. Hammerheads, gray tipped, white tipped, and all the other open sea fish, including barracudas and gigantic tuna can be found east of the vertical Eastern Wall. There also seems to be a permanent school of Snappers hovering there at all times. A strange phenomena encountered is how some schools of these pelagic and open sea fish tend to encompass divers. Either they have been over-visited or the currents cause them to do so. There are literally thousands of Jackfish, Batfish, and all kinds of sting rays on the densely coralled saddle amongst the massive population of the other typical reef fish. The scorpion fish is readily available here although it is quite a rare sight elsewhere.
Coral growth here is relatively good with sparse growth on the wall but quite dense on the saddle. As is the case in neighboring Anemone city, there are plenty of anemones here with the usual clownfish crowd. Here is a good place to see the giant moray eels. Visibility is good averaging 20m (65ft) for the whole site. This might decrease somewhat if the thermal spring in the site is active.
