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PORT SUDAN
The Egyptian and Jordanian Red Sea is a
favourite dive destination for many, especially
for divers from this region, not only due to
the quality of the diving available, but with the
travel proximities being so close by. The Red
Sea can get very, very busy during certain
seasons though and it does not always make
a relaxing getaway. It does of course depend
on what you’re going for. But, imagine diving
the Red Sea completely and utterly alone!
Just you and your 3 or 5 dive companions!
Have you ever thought of diving the Red Sea
within Sudan? There are now direct flights
from Dubai to Port Sudan on Mondays,
making this destination so much easier to
get to. When having received an invitation
to go and discover remote diving locations
from Port Sudan for a week aboard ‘No
Stress’, the sailing livaboard owned by French/
Brazilian Captain, Jérôme Émilio; Simone
and I immediately sent our paperwork off
for our visas, packed up our camera and
dive equipment and took that flight over to
discover it for ourselves and give you the full
lowdown.
THE YACHT & CREW
We were met in Port Sudan’s airport by
Chico, Jérôme’s agent who arranged for our
Sudanese visas and who also scheduled our
bus ride to take us directly to No Stress, our
new home for the week to follow. We were
joined by two other fellow divers, Alexandra
Sapicas and François-Xavier Patijaud who
were great companions for the week to follow.
Jérôme has sailed the Red Sea for the past
three years, building on extensive experience,
resonating the joy of life on a yacht to form the
cornerstones of good and positive seamanship.
You will often find Jérôme catching up on
some z’s while you go out on your dives due
to the fact he has been up most of the night
sailing you to your next destination for your
following day’s venue, weather permitting.
Jérôme’s crew is made up of two other
seamen. Steven Surina who is a CMAS and
PADI Instructor and No Stress’s dive guide for
the duration of the trip. As well as knowing
his dive sites back to front, he is a shark guide
specialist and we couldn’t have done it without
him. He has worked on several publications
on the subject of sharks, and held conferences
regarding this threatened species. He actually
runs www.sharkeducation.com.
Abdallah Yagaop, is the third crew member
and the Chef and Fisherman aboard No
Stress. Abdallah is from Port Sudan and is
accustomed to European cuisine. The man
knows how to prepare a good meal from
scratch! Every morning Abdallah prepared a
stack of freshly made crêpes and there was
always a large jar of Nutella to accompany
them! We have missed those crêpes mornings!
The other great part of Abdallah’s cuisine was
the fresh fish he would catch for our lunch
and dinner. His fresh barracuda dishes were
sumptious. He is also known to prepare a
mean sushi platter and his sashimi rocks!
THE EXPEDITION
Maybe it is best to begin with the fact that we
came to do our trip within the month of June. June
is of course the last month of the season and with
it, the larger fish move on to further depths of
more substantial temperatures. Take note that the
diving season in Sudan starts in October. The best
visibility is from February to May where you can
get viz as good as 60m. Our viz during the month
of June averaged about 30m. Water temperatures
start from 24˚C in February to 32˚C in October.
Ours varied between 27-30˚C. Within this realm
of Red Sea in Sudan, the list of large species that
one can expect to see begins a little something
like this: Gray Reef Sharks, Silky Sharks, White
Tip Sharks, Silver Tip Sharks, Hammerheads, Tiger
Sharks, Dolphins, Dugongs, Manta Rays…4 of
which on this list, we were not to expect during
the month of June at all.
1. SHAAB RUMI (Southern Plateau)
Date: 11.06.13
Depths: 31.9m
Highlight: White Tips & Gray Reef Sharks
What an exciting introduction to Sudan’s
Red Sea. First dive in and we’ve already been
introduced to 2 species of sharks. The White
Tip (Triaenodon obesus) and the Gray Reef
(Carcharhinus amblyrhyncos). The coral reef
health is immaculate and booming with life
and colour.
Shaab Rumi is 23 miles north/northeast of
Port Sudan. Some say that this is one of the
most beautiful dives in the world due to the
great variety of species and colour found here.
2. SHAAB RUMI (Southern Plateau)
Date: 11.06.13
Depths: 23m
Highlight: Gray Reef Sharks, Napoleons, Small
Manta Ray, Groupers, Schools of Bigeye
Trevally, Titan Triggerfish, Moray Eels, Anthias
everywhere. Spinner Dolphins at the surface.
This particular part of Shaab Rumi must
have been my favourite dive of the entire
trip. I have never seen as much ambience
and colour all rolled in to one dive. The site
itself was very beautiful and the parade of
fish on display was mind blowing. It was so
surreal that you imagined actually being in a
man made aquarium to actually get the mix
and size of species that were found in this
vicinity. The Groupers, Napoleons (Cheilinus
undulatus) and the Titan triggerfish (Balistoides
viridescens) of enormous size and not far off
from the proportions of the 7 Gray Reefs
(Carcharhinus amblyrhyncos) that circled us. It
was very difficult to keep up with all that was
going on. Every other inch of reef was covered
in splatters of orange coloured Anthias – Jewel
fairy basslet (Pseudanthias squamipinnis) like
little fire crackers bursting out as far as the
eye could see.
44 DIVERS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, SEPTEMBER 2013
SEPTEMBER 2013, DIVERS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT 45