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The
Red Sea is a branch of the Indian Ocean, beginning at the straits of Bab
El Mandab, between Yemen and Ethiopia, and then climbing northwest to the
point where the Sinai Peninsula divides it into two long narrow gulfs:
Eilat and Suez. The Sinai itself is about 400 km long and about 250 km
wide with an area of 61,000 sq km. Ten years ago, Sharm El Sheikh was barely big enough to qualify as a sleepy fishing village. Today, it is one of the more popular resorts in the Middle East. Scuba transformed Sharm, and most people still come to marvel at life below the surface.
The morphology of Sharm El Sheikh's coastline is unique. At Ras Nasrani, opposite Gordon Reef the level beaches typical of this part of the Sinai are suddenly transformed into a belt of sheer, flat-topped cliffs extending vertically out of the sea. At various points along these cliffs, particularly at Ras Mohammed, traces of fossilized coral can still be found a tell tale indication of their genealogy. The entire reef at this point was forced above the waves during a period of marked geological shift. The line of cliffs starting at Ras Nasrani, continues virtually unbroken until the western side of Ras Mohammed, where flat terrain predominates once more from The Quay onwards. The 80 m (260 feet) wall at Ras Mohammed is a supreme example of this phenomenon. |
Situated
on the tip of the Sinai peninsular, Sharm El Sheikh is where the Granite
Mountains meet the coral reef and the desert backdrop gives way to the
Red Sea.
