Ras Mohammed National Park: An Honest Visiting Guide

What is Ras Mohammed, exactly?

Ras Mohammed is a protected area covering the headland at the southern end of Sinai, plus the surrounding waters and a scatter of offshore islands. It was declared a national park in 1983, when Sharm el-Sheikh was little more than a dive camp, and the protection arrived in time to spare the reefs from the development that followed. The land is desert: salt flats, fossil coral terraces lifted above sea level, a few mangroves and almost no shade.

The park matters because of where it sits. Two gulfs meet at the tip, and the currents that converge there push nutrient-rich water past sheer reef walls. That combination produces heavy fish life in a small area. You do not swim for twenty minutes to find something. The reef starts near the shore and the wall begins almost immediately.

Why is the diving here rated so highly?

The short answer is topography and current. Most Red Sea reefs slope. At Ras Mohammed the reef often ends in a vertical wall that drops well beyond recreational depth, and the current runs along it. Walls plus current means concentrated life: schooling snapper and barracuda in summer, jacks, unicornfish, occasional larger pelagics passing in the blue. Coral cover on the upper wall is dense and in good condition compared with reefs closer to town.

It is fair to say the reputation is partly historical. Ras Mohammed was one of the first places European divers came for warm-water reef diving, and the name carries weight because of that. The diving is genuinely very good. It is not unique in the Red Sea, and sites further south in Egypt see fewer boats. What Ras Mohammed offers is that quality within about an hour of a town with an international airport, which is a real advantage if your time is short.

Conditions do vary. On a slack day with poor visibility, an average dive here is just an average dive. Divers who arrive expecting a guaranteed spectacle sometimes leave disappointed. Book more than one day if the diving is the point of your trip, because a single booking gives the weather one chance to spoil it.

Shark Reef and Yolanda: what to expect

Shark and Yolanda are two adjacent pinnacles at the tip of the headland, and they are usually dived together as a single drift. The standard run starts at Shark Reef, follows the wall in the current, crosses the sandy saddle between the two, and finishes at Yolanda. Do not read much into the name. Shark Reef carries the reputation of early diving days rather than any promise: some people see reef sharks here, and most do not.

Yolanda is named after a freighter that ran aground here in 1980. The hull later slid into deep water and is beyond recreational limits, but the cargo stayed behind, scattered across the reef: crates, containers, a BMW, and famously a load of bathroom fittings. Toilets and basins sit on the sand with coral growing over them. It is an odd sight and a genuinely enjoyable end to a dive, though it has become a photograph people collect rather than a wreck they explore.

This is not a beginner site when the current is running. Be honest with your guide about your experience before the dive, and be willing to accept a different site if the conditions do not suit you. Guides who know the area well will make that call. Push them and they may take you anyway, which is how people get into trouble here.

The mangrove channel and the salt lake

Away from the reefs, the land side of the park has two features worth the drive. The mangrove channel is a narrow, shallow inlet lined with one of the few mangrove stands in this part of Sinai. Mangroves survive here by shedding salt through their leaves, and the channel acts as a nursery for juvenile fish. It is quiet, slightly eerie, and photographs poorly. It is interesting if you like the mechanics of how a place works and dull if you came for scenery.

The salt lake and the surrounding flats are equally understated. Water seeps through fossil coral to form pools that evaporate in the heat, leaving a crust behind. There are marked viewpoints along the park road, including Shark Observatory, where the land ends in a cliff above deep water. All of it takes maybe an hour to see properly, and the drive between the points is longer than the looking.

Be honest with yourself about whether this part appeals. Plenty of visitors drive the loop, look at brown flats in strong sun, and wish they had stayed on the boat. Others find the desert-meets-sea contrast the most memorable thing about the day, and the quiet a relief after a crowded mooring.

Boat from Sharm or the road: which is better?

Most people arrive by boat from Sharm el-Sheikh, and for diving and snorkelling that is the right choice. Day boats run out to the reefs, tie up at the dive sites, and give you two or three entries with lunch on board. You cover water you cannot reach any other way, and the sites at the tip of the headland are effectively boat-only.

The road option means a four-wheel drive or minibus down the coast and into the park through the entrance gate. You pay a park fee, drive the internal roads, and reach the shore points, the mangroves and the viewpoints. Snorkelling from shore is possible at a few marked spots. Road entry is the only way to see the land side of the park and the only way to be there without a boat schedule dictating your day.

If you want both, do them on separate days rather than trying to combine them. A rushed half-day of each satisfies nobody. Foreign visitors have at times faced restrictions on entering the park by road depending on nationality and paperwork, so confirm the current rules with your operator before you plan a land day.

Snorkelling versus diving: is snorkelling worth it?

Yes, more than at most dive destinations. Because the reef walls start close to the surface, the top few metres hold a great deal of the coral and much of the fish life. A competent snorkeller floating over the reef edge sees a lot. The drop into deep blue directly below is visible from the surface, and that is the part most snorkellers remember afterwards.

The caveat is current. The same water movement that makes the diving good makes snorkelling here harder than in a sheltered bay. Boats will position you sensibly, but you need to be a confident swimmer and comfortable in open water away from the boat. If you are nervous in the sea, say so at booking rather than at the moment of getting in.

Bring your own mask if you have one. Rental gear varies and a leaking mask ruins the day. A rash vest or long-sleeved top is more use than sunscreen: you will be face down in strong sun for long stretches, and the backs of your legs will burn before you notice.

When should you go?

Water temperatures are warm year-round by European standards, but the range is real. Summer months are hottest, with the calmest water and the best chance of large schooling fish gathering near the tip. They are also brutally hot on deck and on land, and the park's land sections are genuinely unpleasant on a midsummer afternoon.

Spring and autumn are the reliable choice: comfortable air temperatures, good visibility, water warm enough that most people are fine in a thin wetsuit. Winter is quieter and cheaper, the water noticeably cooler, and wind can cancel boat days. If you are travelling in winter, build a spare day into your plan so a blown-out day does not cost you the trip.

Whenever you go, get on the earliest boat available. Sites at the tip fill up as the morning goes on, and the difference between a first-wave dive and a mid-morning one, with several boats tied up nearby, is significant. The same holds on the land side, where the light and the heat are both better early.

What do most visitors get wrong?

The biggest mistake is treating Ras Mohammed as a box to tick on a Sharm holiday. People book a single crowded day boat, spend more time queuing to get in the water than in it, and come away thinking the reputation is inflated. It is not the site that failed; it is the format. Fewer people on the boat, an earlier start and a guide who picks sites by conditions rather than by itinerary changes the day completely.

The second mistake is buoyancy. Divers who have not been in the water for a year touch the reef, kick coral and stir up sand. On walls with current, poor buoyancy is also a safety issue. If it has been a while, do a check dive on an easier site first. Nobody sensible will think less of you for it, and your guide will be quietly grateful.

The third is expecting sharks because of the name, or the Yolanda toilets to be more dramatic than they are. Neither of those is what makes the site good. Go for the walls, the fish and the water, because those are the parts that reliably deliver on whichever day you happen to be there.

The conservation rules that actually matter

This is a national park and the rules are enforced. Do not touch, stand on or break coral. Do not collect shells, coral fragments or anything else, including from the beach. Taking coral out of Egypt is illegal, and it is treated seriously at the airport rather than as a formality. Do not feed fish, however much someone on the boat encourages it.

Fishing is prohibited within the park. Take all rubbish back with you, including anything that blows off the boat. Stay on the marked roads and tracks on the land side, because driving off them damages a fragile crust that takes years to recover. Anchoring on reef is not allowed, and mooring buoys exist for exactly that reason.

Reef-safe sunscreen is worth using, though covering up with a rash vest is the more effective step. Park entry fees apply and are collected at the gate, or included in a boat operator's costs. Check the current amount locally before you go, as it changes from time to time and is quoted in different currencies depending on who you ask.