Med Sea, Dead Sea, RED SEA

By: Jason

In more than one posting I have described some of my adventures in both the Med Sea (the Mediterranean Sea that is) and the Dead Sea.  Both are so opposite, but beautiful in their own right.  However, this is my first posting for the Red Sea – Israel’s third, yet relatively unknown Sea.  The Red Sea sits snugly at the extreme southern tip of the country bounded on one side by Egypt and the Sinai and on the other side by the Kingdom of Jordan.  The city of Eilat sits right in the middle and is generally described as a miniature version of Miami.  This seems to be about true with the wall of hotels, resorts, and boardwalks. 

Eilat at night

The Red Sea is unbelievably gorgeous – what makes it even more beautiful is its setting among the mountain ranges of the Sinai and in Jordan which give it an amazing and starkly dramatic contrast.  I knew that I would have to go south and see this place, and, as luck would have it, my good friend from Paris was in Israel for a family event and decided he too wanted an opportunity to experience the Red Sea and do some diving.

A stark view of the fortress once belonging to
Salah-El-Din on Coral Island.  In the background
stand the mountains of the Sinai.  Our
last dive of the day was at this site.

We had two fantastic, but completely different days of diving! The Red Sea is known prominently for its diversity, color and wealth of corals, and it did not disappoint.  The lack of precipitation (hence, low run-off), stable but optimal water temperatures, and clear waters, give all that coral abundant sunshine to grow and flourish.  The fish and other sea life were equally as amazing: moray eels, octopus, stone fish, lion fish, schools of snapper, giant clams, and much more.  

A beautiful and shallow patch reef. This is about 10 feet
from shore and about 5 feet in depth. Shot this
picture while snorkeling.

Nemo, or maybe his friend. The Anemone fish
aggressively guards its nest and takes refuge in
this anemone colony. We just wanted to say 'hi'.

Our first day of diving focused on sites in the Eilat Nature Reserve while the second and much more challenging day were dives in the Sinai where the relative lack of divers, coastal development, and beach-goers make for a stunning landscape and endless healthy reefs.

Underwater coral reef ‘forest’ stretches as far as
 you can see.  A variety of fish swim between
communities of hard and soft corals.

As a marine ecologist, I feel extremely lucky to have been able to have experienced this.  My eyes were trying to soak it all in, while my brain was recording an endless list of research projects that were at my fingertips.   

see a few more photos here