Thistlegorm
In spite of being privately owned and operated, the HMS Thistlegorm was nevertheless fitted with a 4" anti-aircraft gun and a heavy calibre machine gun when she was drafted for war duty. Diving is allowed in designated areas only and visitors must leave the park by sunset. Surrounded by fringing coral reefs that emerged after a change in the coastline 70,000 years ago, the park is characterised by vertical overhangs at least 100m deep. A long list of inventory includes tanks, aircraft, armoured vehicles, Jeeps and Bedford trucks. Her last voyage commenced on the 2nd of June 1941 as she sailed to Alexandria and was loaded with wartime supplies during World War II. The Thistlegorm, on the west coast of the Sinai Peninsula and 40 km from Sharm El Sheikh, is the best known and most popular wreck dive in the Red Sea.
Ras Mohammed
Because of its exceptional beauty and scientific significance, the Egyptian government declared Ras Mohammed a protected area in 1983, at the time with an area of only 97 km². The park
has since been extended to 480 km² and is a success today because of local awareness and the rangers who patrol the grounds and surrounding seas. If Ras Mohamed is the most spectacular diving area near Sharm El Sheikh, then Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef are the prized scuba spots of Ras Mohammed. About 20 km south of Sharm El Sheikh, on a slim peninsula towards the most southern tip of Sinai, lies Ras Mohammed, the first and best kept national park in Egypt. Due to its location on the Sinai Peninsula at the juncture of the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba, the combining waters of varying salinity from each gulf has resulted in a spectacular array of reef and pelagic fish, diverse coral reef and luxuriant sea walls; These reefs offers an opportunity to spy every single species of fish of the Red Sea, right here in the Sinai Peninsula. Ras Mohammed is ideal for some unforgettable Red Sea scuba diving on the Sinai Peninsula. It is believed to be one of only a few popular tourist areas in the world that has no
effluent discharge into its waters.