secrets
| Red Sea secrets |
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 Habili means "un-born" a term used in southern Egypt for coral reefs that do not yet come up near the surface. |
 A lotta bottle: The ss Carnatic is also known as the "Bottle Wreck" because she was carrying a cargo of mineral water in Victorian teardrop-shaped bottles. The Bottle Wreck was discovered by Adrian O'Neill in 1986, when he was captain of the Lady Jenny V. Much of the brasswork of this Victorian P&O steam sailing ship, including many port-holes and gimbal-mounted lamps, are at present held privately in a house near Oxford. |
That sinking feeling: The rough sea conditions that can occur in the Gulf of Suez go some way to explaining why so many vessels have come to grief on the reefs of the Straits of Gubal. The mv Chrisoula K was once one of two wrecks with their bows protruding above the surface at Sha'ab Abu Nuhas. Wave action has made it slip back off the reef and now the wreck is hazardous to dive. The "Lentil Wreck" is in fact the remains of the mv Seastar, a 5000 ton Lebanese freighter that foundered in 1976. The mv Giannis D sank in 1983 and is broken in two with her bow section now some short distance from the stern.  CONFLICTING POSITIONS The castle (now completely renovated) at Coral Island was not built by the Crusaders but by Saladin in his defence against them. It represents the permitted limit of range for day boats operating out of Eilat in Israel. Tiran Island was given by Saudi Arabia to Egypt in 1966. This gave Egypt control of the Straits of Tiran, which in turn precipitated the Six Day War. The Sinai was the ancient Biblical land of Moses. It was later captured from the Egyptians by the Israelis during the Six Day War and held until handed back under the terms of the Camp David Agreement. The politics and bureaucracy of the countries abutting the Red Sea can be confusing. For example, the offshore reefs and islands of Egypt, such as the Brothers, Daedelus Reef and Rocky Island, have been closed for reasons of "security". We have been informed that subject to special conditions permission to visit those places can be obtained. However, this permission may not be recognised by the officers of the Egyptian Navy who patrol these offshore regions. One way or another, dive-boat captains take a risk if they visit these places. |
 Bump on the head: Napoleon wrasse start life as males but mature into females. When a vacancy occurs on the reef, one female will change again, into a super-male with the distinctive bump head. Bump-headed parrotfish are found in the Red Sea only south of the Tropic of Cancer. They move across the coral grazing like a herd of bison. |
 Who's laughing? Clownfish, those little yellow fish splashed with a touch of blue and white, and otherwise known as anemonefish, live in symbiosis with the anemone in which they make their home. They become immune to the anemone's sting, that protects them from predators. In return, they clean the anemone of unwanted matter. |
Coral betting: The most southerly true coral structures are Fawn and Saunders Reefs near the border between Eritrea and Sudan. Further south, coral grows on sandy areas or the volcanic sub-strate of the Yemeni islands. The broccoli-like soft corals (dendonephyta and lytophiton), often bright red (below), or yellow, are a characteristic of the Red Sea. Unlike most other corals, they have no algae living in symbiosis with them, so they must absorb nutrients that pass on the current. They do not take part in theformation of the reef because they have no calcarean skeleton. Gorgonian corals (right), or sea fans proliferate only where there is a good flow of water. Echinoderms like the crinoid featherstar or basketstar also feed on nutrients that pass by. However, they are able to move about and choose their spot at night or hide during daylight hours. The mv Colona IV is still in the Red Sea but no longer in use as a liveaboard dive boat. She lies in around 70m outside Hurghada after hitting a reef during a severe storm. No one was hurt in the accident. Local technical divers now use her for trimix courses. |
Shark remarks: The Shark Observatory at Ras Mohammed is a viewpoint on a high promontory from where, years ago, visitors could view large shoals of milkfish with their dorsal fins breaking the surface. Milkfish were often known in those days as the "tourists' sharks". The so-called grey reef shark of the Red Sea is different to that found in the Indian Ocean. It is often argued that the Red Sea species is in fact the short-nosed black-tip shark. The world's press has recently reported an attack by a great white shark in the Red Sea. Although the shark attack on a visiting diver who was surface swimming among a school of dolphin actually happened, we can assure readers that there are no great white sharks in the Red Sea. However, we do advise against swimming with dolphins in blue-water conditions, as schools are invariably shadowed by predatory sharks, such as tiger sharks, looking for ill or distressed animals. Another fish armed with poisonous spines is the lionfish (above). This flamboyant and exotic-looking animal is quite a common sight in the Red Sea and there appear to be several different sub-species. They cruise lazily but can burst into action when hunting their normal prey glassfish and sweepers. Glassfish (top, on the ss Dunraven), and sweepers congregate in large groups usually in caves and recesses of wrecks or other shaded areas. Watch out for lionfish stalking nearby! |
| Eel diablo: Moray eels may look aggressive but that is because they need to gulp water continuously to force it through their gills. They have exceedingly poor eyesight and hunt their prey by smell. The small yellow-mouth moray is believed to be indigenous to the northern part of the Red Sea. |  |
DOWN SOUTH
Sharks and elephants: In the Sudan, Sangeneb Reef, an oval-shaped coral atoll marked by a spectacular lighthouse, is a favourite dive site for shark-watchers, (above). The remains of the wreck of the White Elephant, said to have been operated by a notorious Israeli smuggler, lie in its lagoon. A little further south is the reef of Sha'ab Rumi, site of Cousteau's Conshelf 2 experiment. Remains of some of the structures can still be seen.
China crisis: Levanzo may be an island in the Mediterranean but it is also the name of a freighter, the ss Levanzo, wrecked at Elba Reef in the northern waters of Sudan. The so-called "Porcelain Wreck"(below), in the Hanish Islands of the Yemen did not carry porcelain, despite the wishful thinking of Alex Double, who discovered it in 1989. When some pristine examples of its cargo were taken to Sotheby's for valuation, they were revealed to be cheap mass-produced 19th-century china.
