Sha'ab Sheer

Marsa Alam · Red Sea · Egypt

Sha'ab Sheer is one of the Egyptian Red Sea's deep south jewels, a remote offshore reef where sheer vertical walls drop into the abyss and pelagic sharks patrol in numbers that recall what the Red Sea looked like before the advent of mass dive tourism. Accessible only by liveaboard on week-long itineraries from Marsa Alam, this isolated reef system rewards the journey with shark encounters that rank among the finest in the Red Sea. The reef emerges from deep water as an elongated oval, its walls dropping from a narrow reef crest to beyond 200 metres on all sides. The northern plateau, a shallow extension at 15 to 25 metres, is the focal point for shark aggregations. Here, the deep blue water of the open Red Sea meets the reef structure, creating conditions that attract schooling hammerhead sharks in numbers that can exceed fifty individuals during peak summer months. Early morning dives on the northern plateau are the signature experience. Descending in the pre-dawn grey, the wall drops away into darkness below while the reef crest provides a reference point above. As first light reaches the depths, the hammerheads materialize from the blue in loose formations, their distinctive hammer-shaped heads scanning the water column. They pass within metres of motionless divers, their ancient eyes reflecting the faint surface light, before vanishing back into the deep as the sun rises higher. Beyond the hammerheads, Sha'ab Sheer's open water attracts other shark species throughout the day. Oceanic whitetip sharks, increasingly rare elsewhere in the Red Sea, cruise the blue water off the southern wall with their characteristic slow, weaving swimming style and attendant pilot fish. Silky sharks in groups of three to eight make passes along the wall edges, and grey reef sharks patrol the reef itself in resident populations. The walls themselves are spectacular even without the pelagic encounters. Vertical faces of pristine hard and soft coral descend into visibility that regularly exceeds 40 metres, creating a sense of infinite depth. Massive gorgonian fans grow in the current-swept sections, their surfaces alive with commensal organisms. Schools of barracuda form silver columns above the reef crest, and giant trevally hunt along the wall edges at speed. Sha'ab Sheer demands respect for its remoteness and conditions. The deep south Red Sea is true open ocean, with currents that can be powerful and unpredictable. But for experienced divers willing to commit to a liveaboard expedition, the reef delivers encounters with apex predators in a pristine environment that represents the Red Sea at its most wild and magnificent.