Northern Egyptian Red Sea

The youngest of the seven seas, the Northern Egyptian Red Sea has some of the most developed reef systems in the world. It is surrounded by deserts and bounded by the Sinai Peninsula and Saudi Arabia. Reef building corals require warm clear water with a minimum of sedimentation. A desert climate helps attain these conditions. The lack of sedimentation allows substantial light to penetrate to great epochs which is needed for the growth of coral reefs systems. Large storms, hurricanes and typhoons are very damaging to coral reefs and the lack of such activity in the Red Sea promotes a sustained coral reef growth. The Red Sea is a somewhat enclosed system which has resulted in a number of species of marine life being endemic to the Red Sea. The Egyptian Red Sea provides some of the finest diving sites in the world. Much of the diving around the southern Sinai Peninsula is wall diving while the reefs off Ras Muhammed and the islands of the Tiran Strait are descending reefs.

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