Sharm El Sheikh · Egypt · Wall · Cave & cavern
Shark Observatory
A vertical wall that drops to 90 m before it slopes
Area photo: patano · CC BY-SA 3.0
A vertical wall on the Ras Mohammed headland that runs straight down to 90 m and only slopes outwards at its foot. Caves in the face hold sweeping schools of glassfish, big overhangs shade huge gorgonian fans, and the open water alongside carries jacks, trevallies and barracuda. It is a site for advanced divers, and the current can be tricky.
Where it is and how deep
27.7320° N, 34.2614° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
Most divers arrive by boat, though the site can also be reached from the shore by swimming out through a hole in the reef. What you drop onto is not a slope but a wall: it is literally vertical down to 90 m and only fans outwards at its foot, so depth control sits entirely with the diver. There is nothing underneath to catch a descent that gets away from you.
Swim the face and it is broken by caves, several of them holding sweeping schools of glassfish, and by big overhangs hung with huge gorgonian fans. Off the wall in the open water are the pelagics: swarms of jacks, trevallies and barracuda, along with a selection of die-hard resident sharks. Currents here can sometimes be a bit tricky, and they are the reason the site is kept for advanced divers.
Marine life and season
- Trevally & jacks
- Barracuda
- Reef fish swarms
| 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 wall is vertical to 90 m with no bottom beneath recreational depth, so a fast or distracted descent has nothing to stop it.
- Currents on the headland can be tricky and are not always the same through the dive.
Questions divers ask
Can you dive Shark Observatory from shore?+
Yes, by swimming out through a hole in the reef, although most divers come in on a Ras Mohammed day boat. Either way it is an advanced dive: the wall is vertical to 90 m and the current can be tricky.
Sources
- Shark Observatory — Scubago
- Diving in Ras Mohammed, Egypt — Dive The World
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
Coral blocks from 2 to 40 m on a sea-grass bottom
Table corals still intact on a slope opened to divers recently
A column of gorgonian fans standing from 14 to 28 m
Similar dives elsewhere
No road in — a 50-minute boat ride to a fan-coral drop-off
Overhangs on the southern wall and a cavern you enter at 10 m
Cousteau's diving-saucer hangar still on the sand at 13 m
Mother of Sharks: hammerheads and tigers on a lone pinnacle