Ras Nasrani

The dive

Ras Nasrani - 'Christian Cape' - is a headland about 11 km up the coast from Naama Bay, immediately south of Ras Ghamila, at the mouth of the Straits of Tiran. It is a boat dive; Red Sea Diving College records no shore access and lists it as boat, mooring or drift. The dive is defined by the corner. Divers usually start on a small sandy plateau at about 6 m and work north towards the cape with the current, which Circle Divers describes as weak to moderate along the reef and faster as you approach the headland - and, on the corner itself, capable of being seriously strong, a version of the dive for experienced drift divers with good gas consumption.

The topography is why it repays the current. The fringing reef plate is broken by large sandy bays, then extends into a plateau under dense coral cover, and the reef drops from the shallow bays into a wall pitted with caves and overhangs - Camel Dive Club puts the wall at around 50 m with the coral garden between 5 and 14 m, and other sources describe it running past 60 m. What stands out are the large gorgonian fans growing perpendicular to the flow, exactly where the water is moving, with pelagics passing off the plateau. Red Sea Diving College caps the site at 30 m and Circle Divers recommends diving it between 15 and 18 m.

The occurrence data for this position is the second richest of the nine Sinai sites in this batch, and it is a hard-coral grazers' list: bullethead and heavybeak parrotfish lead, with slingjaw wrasse, clown coris, masked pufferfish, sohal surgeonfish, forsteri hawkfish, rusty parrotfish, broomtail wrasse and Desjardin's sailfin tang close behind, then sergeant majors, Klunzinger's wrasse, Picasso triggerfish, Red Sea bannerfish, regal angelfish, peacock hind, scrawled filefish, bigeye emperor, bluespotted ribbontail ray and twoband anemonefish. That is a busy, well-grazed reef rather than a pelagic station, which matches the guides putting pelagics as an occasional rather than a reliable sighting.

• Headland dive 11 km north of Naama Bay, at the mouth of the Straits of Tiran
• Current builds towards the cape and can be seriously strong on the corner itself
• Large gorgonian fans growing perpendicular to the flow, with caves and overhangs in the wall
• Divable as a drift, a semi-drift or off a mooring depending on the day

Conditions

A fringing reef with large sandy bays running out to a coral-covered plateau, with a wall behind it. The dive is usually run north towards the headland with the current, which runs weak to moderate along the reef and faster at the cape. Most of it happens at 15-18 m with a 30 m ceiling.

On current: Sources agree on the ceiling and disagree on what is below it. Red Sea Diving College gives a 30 m maximum, less for junior divers, with a one-hour or 60-bar limit; Circle Divers records 0-30 m and recommends diving it at 15-18 m. The wall itself is described at around 50 m by Camel Dive Club and as dropping past 60 m elsewhere, with the coral garden between 5 and 14 m - those are descriptions of the topography, not of the dive, and we record 5-30 m. Current is the variable that matters: weak to moderate along the reef, faster approaching the cape, and on the corner strong enough that the sources restrict that version to experienced drift divers with good air consumption. No visibility figure specific to this site was found.

Dives & underwater footage