Sharm El Sheikh · Egypt · Wall · Drift · Wreck
Shark & Yolanda Reef
A freighter's bathroom cargo scattered across the reef at 25 m
Photo: Matt Kieffer · CC BY-SA 2.0
The best-known dive in Ras Mohammed National Park, where a vertical wall drops into water charted to nearly 800 m and the current sets the terms of the dive. It is run as a drift from Shark Reef south to Yolanda, finishing over the cargo a Cypriot freighter left on the reef in 1980. Pelagics are the draw, and the incoming tide is when they show.
Also known as Yolanda Reef.
Where it is and how deep
27.7252° N, 34.2589° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The drift starts at the north end of the western wall and the current carries you south, from Shark Reef towards Yolanda. Shark Reef itself is a vertical face dropping to charted depths of nearly 800 m, so there is no bottom to work against: most divers hold between 15 and 30 m and let the wall do the navigating. The current pushes hardest on an incoming tide, which is also when the big pelagics turn up.
Grey reef sharks cruise the drop-off regularly. Hammerheads come through in the mornings and usually below 30 m, which puts them at the edge of a recreational plan, and oceanic whitetips are occasional seasonal visitors. Closer in, the wall carries snappers, batfish and barracuda. The current is not steady here: it turns every which way during the dive, so groups stay tight and nobody goes exploring on their own.
The dive finishes over the Yolanda cargo, which sits at around 25 to 30 m on the reef with debris scattered deeper. British toilets, bathtubs and pipes lie strewn across the coral, left behind when the hull slid off the reef in a storm in March 1987. From there the drift carries you up onto the shallower reef to finish the dive.
The wreck
- Vessel
- MV Yolanda
- Type
- Cypriot cargo ship
- Built
- 1964
- Sunk
- 1980
- Cause
- Ran aground on the reef at Ras Mohammed on 1 April 1980
- Lies
- Hull at 145-160 m since a storm in 1987; the cargo remains on the reef at 25-30 m
Jolanda, spelled Yolanda by most divers, was a Cypriot cargo ship built in 1964 at Gijon in Spain. She grounded on a reef at Ras Mohammed on 1 April 1980, and her cargo of British toilets, bath tubs and pipes spilled onto the coral, where it still lies. The hull itself stayed on the reef as a dive site until a storm in March 1987 pushed it off into deep water. It was not seen again until 2005, when Leigh Cunningham and Mark Andrews found it at 145 to 160 m.
Marine life and season
- Reef sharks
- Hammerheads
- Oceanic whitetips
- Barracuda
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair |
Season follows Sharm El Sheikh: Hammerhead sightings at Tiran peak June–September; winter winds can make Tiran crossings choppier.
Know before you go
- The current turns every which way during the dive and can pull divers off the wall, so this is a guided group drift rather than a site to explore alone.
- Shark Reef pushes hardest on the incoming tide, which is the best chance of pelagics and the point at which the drift is least forgiving.
Photos from Shark & Yolanda Reef
Tim Sheerman-Chase · CC BY 2.0
3coma14 · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Cosmonaut · CC BY-SA 2.5
Dive videos
Shark and Yolanda Reef with The Yolanda Wreck Toilet Museum - Red Sea Diving, Egypt · Chris Price Diving on YouTube
Diving in Egypt, Sharm El Sheikh. Shark & Yolanda Reef, 2021. 4K · Scuba Notes by Dmitry on YouTube
Oceanic whitetip shark - Shark & Yolanda reef · Adel M. El Beialy on YouTube
Questions divers ask
Where is the Yolanda wreck now?+
The hull is no longer on the reef. A storm in March 1987 pushed it into deep water, and it was rediscovered at 145 to 160 m in 2005. What divers see today is the cargo it left behind at around 25 to 30 m: British toilets, bath tubs and pipes.
Are there really sharks at Shark Reef?+
Grey reef sharks cruise the drop-off regularly. Hammerheads come through in the mornings, usually below 30 m, and oceanic whitetips turn up as occasional seasonal visitors. None of it is guaranteed on any given dive.
Sources
- Shark & Yolanda Reef - Ras Mohammed dive site — PADI
- Ras Mohammed National Park: The Complete Diving Guide — Travel to Dive
- Shark & Yolanda Reef and Yolanda wreck — SSI
- Yolanda (ship) — Wikipedia
- British Divers Discover Yolanda Wreck at 145m Off Sharm El Sheikh — Divernet
- SS Thistlegorm: Red Sea Wreck Diving - Egypt — Dive The World
Photo credits
- Diver photographing coral-encrusted pipe sections from the Yolanda cargo scattered on the reef. by Matt Kieffer, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Coral-encrusted bathtub and pipe shapes from the Yolanda wreck's cargo scattered across the reef. by Tim Sheerman-Chase, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- A cowtail stingray resting on sand near coral at Yolanda Reef. by 3coma14, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Rocky headland and turquoise inlet at Shark Observatory Bay, the shore point above the reef. by The Cosmonaut, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
In The Logbook
- Where to dive with oceanic whitetip sharksBig animals · 11 min read
- Drift diving: how to read and ride a currentDrift & current · 8 min read
More dive sites in Sharm El Sheikh
Reef
Anemones holding a permanent population of anemonefish
Reef
The freighter Loullia aground on the reef since 1981
Reef
Two enormous caves filled with shoaling glassfish
Scalloped hammerheads off the back of the reef in late summer
A 1984 freighter broken up in 10 to 12 m of water
Lagoon
Shallow hard coral lagoon on the west side of Tiran Island
Wreck
A 175 m bulk carrier aground off Nabq since 1996
Coral blocks from 2 to 40 m on a sea-grass bottom
Similar dives elsewhere
Cousteau's diving-saucer hangar still on the sand at 13 m
A drift along a 35 m wall over the 1887 wreck of the Ulysses
A 20 m-wide ridge to 60 m off Big Brother's shark-patrolled point
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Best chances of oceanic whitetips run from October to December.