Sudanese Red Sea · Sudan · Pinnacle · Wall · Cave & cavern · Drift
Angarosh Reef
Mother of Sharks: hammerheads and tigers on a lone pinnacle
Area photo: Alexander Vasenin · CC BY-SA 4.0
Angarosh is an isolated pinnacle about 12 km east of Mukawwar Island, rising out of deep water to roughly 10 metres below the surface. The name means Mother of Sharks in Sudanese and the diving lives up to it: plateaus stepping down at 18, 20, 30, 40 and 45 metres, deeply fissured walls, and current strong enough to hold hammerheads and tiger sharks.
Also known as Angarosh.
Where it is and how deep
20.8500° N, 37.4333° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The reef starts about 10 m down and drops away steeply on every side, so the dive is a plateau-and-wall pattern rather than a swim along a reef. The south plateau steps at 20 and 45 metres; the north plateau steps at 40, 30 and 18. Which of them gets dived is decided by the current on the day, and the current at Angarosh is often strong, which is a large part of why the sharks are here at all.
Sharks are the reason boats make the crossing. Scalloped hammerheads and tiger sharks are both seen commonly, with silvertips and whitetip reef sharks closer in and barracuda, bluefin tuna and yellowfin trevally working the plateaus. Manta rays pass through. Visibility normally runs between 20 and 40 metres and averages upwards of 25, so animals are visible a long way off the wall.
Shallower up, the walls are deeply fissured and hold several caverns worth working through on the way back towards the boat, with giant moray eels in the cracks. There is no shelter on this pinnacle and nothing close by — Abington reef is 5 km to the northeast — so the plan is a drop upcurrent, a dive that stays on the reef, and a pickup downstream rather than a swim back to a mooring.
Marine life and season
- Hammerheads
- Tiger sharks
- Reef sharks
- Manta rays
- Barracuda
- Tuna
- Trevally & jacks
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Fair |
Season follows Sudanese Red Sea: Best conditions run April–June and October–November; the 2023 conflict has disrupted Port Sudan liveaboard departures — verify operators.
Know before you go
- Current is often strong on an isolated pinnacle with open water downstream; drop upcurrent, stay on the reef and expect a tender pickup rather than a return to the boat.
- The plateau steps reach 40 and 45 metres and the sharks are usually deep, which makes this an easy site on which to overshoot a plan, a long way from any chamber.
Dive videos
Sudan Diving Day 1 Angarosh reef · kcogden on YouTube
Sudan Hammerheads in Angarosh 2020 · Del Duca Films on YouTube
Questions divers ask
Is Angarosh good for hammerheads?+
Hammerheads are commonly reported here — the name means Mother of Sharks — along with tiger sharks, silvertips and whitetip reef sharks. They hold around the plateau steps, which reach 40 and 45 metres, so sightings tend to come deep and early in the dive.
Sources
- Diving in Sudan: The Red Sea - Umbria Wreck, Cousteau's Conshelf — Dive The World
- Sudan Diving. Sudan dive sites — Thailand Liveaboards
- Angarosh (island node 7731569557) — OpenStreetMap
In The Logbook
- When and where to dive with hammerheadsBig animals · 16 min read
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