Red Sea Leonfish
Contributor
I was lucky enough to have been last week! I can certainly agree that Shark/Yolanda reefs are one of the bext dive sites easily accesable from Europe. On more than one occasion we were not only the first boat to moor up but (unheard of in recent years) the only boat there all morning.
One amusing snippet overheard on my recent trip (when I dived the area repeatedly) was a guest say to a guide "Ras Mohammed aagin? Oh we went there last week...".
Of course, the whole site at Shark/Yolanda can (depending on current and interest) be dived forwards and backwards (and sideways with the rear-sides of each reef offering new areas to explore). The swimthrough at 5-3m always makes for a good but of fun during the safety stop and the frequent - if unpredictable - current keeps the water clear. I can honestly agree that the schools hanging out in the blue at the moment are amazing - huge baraccuda and trevally just hanging in the water and surfing the currents.
On one day (probably the best three-dive day I've ever had) we dived (1) the Yolanda wreckage to Shark Reef in the morning having an encounter with a 6ft (ok, maybe 5ft) hammerhead shark shooting the currents at 30m and a truly impressive school of snappers just swirling in a vortex of fish that filled the whole field of vision in my mask, (2) Jackfish Alley with more jackfish (circling in perfect colour-coded male/female pairs like they were in buddy pairs) and large lightening-blue trimmed trevally and then (3) the semi-canyon in Marsa Bareika bay as a stop-off on the way back to Travco Marina.
A five Euro Park Fee, one small boat, four divers with a guide, and 3 tanks of EAN32 each (with all the bad beathers told to take 15lt tanks or not to come at all and a guide prepared to put the first to 100 on his alternative air source for a while to keep the dive going)... pretty much the most perfect day you can have anywhere within 5 hours of rainy Bristol!
