Jackfish Alley - Jackfish Alley

Jackfish Alley (German: Jackfish Alley, Arabic:ممر أسماك جاك‎, Mamarr Asmāk Ǧāk, „Jackfish Passage", Orممر سمك الرأي اللساع‎, Mamarr Samak ar-Raʾī al-Lasāʿ) is a egyptianDiving area between Bureika / Bareika Bay and the southern tip of Cape Raʾs Muḥammad on the east side of the Raʾs Muḥammad National Park. The diving area is 2.2 kilometers south of Raʾs Zaʿtar and north of the Eel Garden (Eel garden). The dive site is usually chosen as an afternoon dive site after doing the in the morning Shark and Jolanda reefs has visited.

background

The name Jackfish Alley is even more young and coincides with the formation of the national park. The name is derived from a sandbank at a depth of 20 meters, in which, among other things, bigeye mackerel can be found.

This place was once called Fisherman’s Bank or Raʾs Kusba. Fishing is now prohibited in the national park.

getting there

Divers usually travel on a day trip boat from the jetty jetty) in the south of the Naʿama Bay from Sharm esch-Sheikh or from the jetty in Old Sharm. The goal is also within the so-called north route Strait of Gūbāl driven by safari boats.

There are no anchorages for the ships.

Tourist Attractions

Due to the lack of anchorages, the dive can only be carried out as a drift dive. The current, sometimes quite strong, runs from north to south. You start the dive in the north of the coral reef.

Right at the beginning you come across a cave, the entrance of which is five to six meters deep. You can dive through the cave. It runs about 40 meters in the reef and ends at a depth of nine meters. Then you dive with your right shoulder to the reef.

You shouldn't be claustrophobic to dive through the cave. It is advisable to swim through the cave in small groups of two to four divers. A diving lamp should be carried. However, the cave hardly offers anything worth seeing. It has only sandy soil and no corals. But you can still linger a little and enjoy the incidence of light from above. The best time is early in the morning.

Then you continue the dive at a depth of about 18 meters. A little later you come across a second, vertically rising cave, the access of which is "blocked" with glass fish. Opposite this bay is a single coral block.

In the further you pass a bay. About 50 meters behind this bay you come to a sand plain at a depth of 17 to 20 meters. But it does not fall into the blue because there is a satellite reef east of the sandbank.

Triggerfish, mackerel, glass fish, tuna and barracudas can be observed in the area of ​​the sand plain. Although rare, it is quite possible to spot blue spotted rays, manta rays (Manta birostris, mostly in winter) or white tip reef sharks.

Kitchen and accommodation

Meals are provided on the day boats. Accommodation can be found in Sharm esch-Sheikh or Dahab.

trips

Visiting the reef can be combined with other reefs in the Raʾs Muḥammad National Park or other local diving areas of Sharm esch-Sheikh connect.

literature

• Siliotti, Alberto: Sinai Diving Guide: Part 1; German edition. Verona: Geodia, 2005, ISBN 978-88-87177-66-4 . Dive site 28.