Fury Shoal - Fury Shoal

Fury Shoal or Fury Shoals, engl. For angry shoal, is a egyptian Reef group in Red sea with about 20 reefs north of the cape 1 Raʾs Banās, Arabic:رأس بناس, Which is also named because of its shape Raʾs el-Anf, Arabic:رأس الأنف‎, „the nose cap“Is known. There are numerous on these reefs Diving opportunities.

background

Fury Shoal site map

The reef group Fury Shoal (s) is in the south of the egyptian Part of the Red sea about the width of the village Ḥamāṭa north of the cape Raʾs Banās.

The group of reefs consists of about twenty platform reefs or groups of reefs standing free in the open sea, which extend from west to east over a length of 30 kilometers and from north to south over 9 kilometers. Strictly speaking, the reefs in the extreme northwest belong to the Wādī-Laḥmī group[1], which in the southeast from the Farewell Reef to the actual Fury Shoal group. The top of these reefs is about half a meter below the water surface and can hardly be seen from a distance. The reefs are marked on nautical charts because they pose a threat to shipping. The reefs vary in height, ranging from twenty to one hundred meters.

Only a part of the reefs is suitable as a diving destination because some reefs have hardly any vegetation or are used by fishermen. There are both easy diving spots like that Shaāb Claudio, but also challenging reefs with steep walls like that Shaāb Maksūr. Even if the reef group is not considered a wreck diving area, there is the wreck of the Tien Hsing at the Abū Galāwa Kabīra, the wreck of the Adamantia K. between the Camilla and the Farewell Reef and in the lagoon from Shāʿāb Saṭāyaḥ the remains of a Roman amphora load, with nothing to be seen of the ship itself.

There are numerous hard and soft corals on the reefs, including sea fans, table corals and anemones. The animal world includes, among others. Groupers, blue spotted rays, puffer fish, parrot fish, stone fish, anemonefish, glass fish in the wrecks, lobsters, shrimps and snails. With a little luck you will meet turtles, napole fish, moray eels, reef sharks and dolphins.

The diving areas in the south are not visited as often as those in Gulf of Aqaba, in the Gulf of Suez and in the range of Hurghada. That is why the underwater world is much more intact here.

Terms

The naming of the reefs is mostly based on the specific reef shape:

  • Shaāb (Plural) or Sheep (Singular), too Shaab, Sha'ab, Sha'b, Arabic:شعابOrشعب- extensive reef that reaches to the surface of the water. Their shape is indeterminate, but they are usually rather elongated. The reef top has no corals.
  • Gūṭa, also Gota - round or oval reef.
  • Ḥabīlī, ‏حبيلي- Reef, which is literally in the period of pregnancy, i.e. is still unborn. These reefs have not yet reached the surface of the water. The reef roof is mostly three to five meters deep and overgrown with corals.
  • ʿIrq, also erg, ‏عرق, Plural: ʿUrūq or ʿArūq, also Arouk, ‏عروق- Tower-like coral rock that does not necessarily have to reach the water surface.

The names of the reefs or dive sites can be given further specifications or numbers at the end:

  • Ganūb, also Ganoub, Arabic:جنوب‎, Ǧanūb, engl. south - south,
  • Shimal, also Shimal, Shemal, ‏شمال, Engl. north - north,
  • Kabīr (a), also Kebir (a), ‏كبير (ة), Engl. big - large (the bracketed a is used in the female form),
  • Ṣaghīr (a) or Ṣugheir (a), also Sogheir (a), Soghayr (a), ‏صغير (ة), Engl. small - small.

getting there

The journey can only be made by ship. This is on day trips from 1 Ḥamāṭa from or on diving safaris possible. The journey from Ḥamāṭa takes about one to two hours.

Since the current usually comes from the northeast, the ships anchor on the south or southwest side of the reefs.

Reefs and wrecks

The reefs that are important for recreational divers are listed below. The larger reefs can have several dive sites, which are then differentiated with numbers or cardinal points.

Wādī-Laḥmī group

Fury Shoal (s)

activities

Activities are mainly limited to diving and snorkeling, as well as sunbathing and reading on the ships.

Kitchen and accommodation

Accommodation and meals are provided on the day trip and safari boats.

trips

Liveaboards to the Fury Shoal group can be booked at St. John's Reefs, at the Daedalus Reef or on Elphinstone Reef be continued.

literature

  • Krejca, Martin; Minihuber, Hubert: Diver’s Atlas Southern Red Sea: Dive site descriptions for liveaboards and day trips. Vienna: Seainsight, 2011, ISBN 978-3-9503160-0-1 . Dive sites 1-4-1 to 1-4-9.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑Named after the eponymous 20 Desert valley on the continental shelf south of Ḥamāṭa.
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