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Scuba Diving in Safaga, the Red Sea
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Dive Site: Ras Umm Hesiwa
Location: Safaga
Description: Reef
Depth: 15 - 30 metres + (50 - 100 feet)
Visibility: 20 metres (65 feet)
Rating: ****
Ras Umm Hesiwa is located to the east of nearby dive site Sha'ab Saiman and has some of the finest hard coral of any site I've dived in the Red Sea. Located right on the northeast tip of a large outcrop area of coastline, known as Ras Abu Soma, Ras Umm Hesiwa is essentially a wide coral encrusted sandy plateau which slopes from 15m down to 30m before dropping away sharply into the depths. The coral slope has huge acropora table coral and boulder corals, often with giant moray eels tangled within their confines. There is usually no current on the eastern plateau as it tends to sweep down from the north and break on the east tip. The open conditions on the surface make this a site best dived in calm weather. Also ideally dived from a zodiac or RIB it is good to get dropped just to the north west of the tip in deep water where the current can be strong and you'll be swept down around the northeast tip onto the calm plateau. White-tip sharks and grey reef sharks often frequent the northern parts where they cruise effortlessly in the current, alongside schools of barracuda. Turtles are not uncommon on the plateau, although they seem sparser today than in the early 1990's.
Rik Vercoe, BSAC Advanced Instructor
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