Shark Observatory

The dive starts under the cliff, just before the second viewing balcony, with the wall on your right and open blue on your left. The face undulates, cut by inlets, overhangs and small open caves that let sunlight in through the fringing coral plate above. The sweet spot is 15 to 18 m, and the wall changes character with its aspect. South-facing sections, fed by nutrient-rich current, carry soft corals in red, purple, yellow and green. Where the wall turns north and sunlight thins, hard corals, overhangs and ledges take over, with starfish on the ledges.

Hawksbill turtles graze the corals along the wall, and schools of fusiliers, jacks and unicornfish pass in the blue. Where the wall turns sharply below the main observatory balcony, a large fan coral sits on a ledge. If the current allows, look among its branches for a longnose hawkfish.

Rows of gorgonian fans line the wall, and one operator names them as what sets the landscape here apart from other Ras Mohammed sites.

The name comes from the cliff top overhead, where sharks used to be spotted in the water below, and the viewing balconies still mark the start of the dive. Camel Dive Club describes the wall as one that drops beyond 100 m and is known among technical divers.

The dive is a boat drift with no mooring. Strong currents turn up now and then, and the one at the corner can be very strong, so agree the turn point with your guide and keep gas for the return along the wall. Boats pass overhead, so carry a marker buoy and deploy it before you surface. Set a turn depth before you descend and track it on your computer. One operator caps the dive at 30 m, less for junior divers, and at 1 hour or 60 bar.