Everything I Saw Scuba Diving Shark & Yolanda Reef

I dove Shark and Yolanda Reef in May 2026 on a week-long Red Sea liveaboard.

This is easily one of the best reef dives I've dove in my entire life.

It sits at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, inside Ras Muhammad National Park, giving you a drift, reef, and shipwreck dive all in one.

At Yolanda Reef, you'll find the wreck of the Yolanda, a sunken Cypriot freighter, carrying various bathroom items like toilets, sinks, and tubs, all now buried under 40 years of coral growth.

At Shark Reef, and Anemone City, you'll find some of the best reef you'll see in your life, endless reef fish, pelagics, turtles, and more.

About the Site

The main hull of the Yolanda slipped to 492 ft (150 m) in a storm in 1985, but a famous section of its cargo, including bathtubs, sinks, and toilets, rests on a shallow plateau fully accessible to recreational divers.

Every piece is now heavily encrusted with coral.

The main hull of the wreck was rediscovered by technical divers Mark Andrews and Leigh Cunningham in 2005.

A sheer vertical drop of over 2,625 ft (800 m), blanketed in anthias, chromis, vibrant soft corals and sea fans from top to bottom.

Ras Muhammad National Park now requires all divers to hold at minimum an Advanced Open Water certification.

In the past, the site was so popular that beginner divers and snorkelers overwhelmed it. The park stepped in to protect it. Open Water divers and snorkelers are no longer permitted here.

How to Dive It

You reach Shark and Yolanda reef via liveaboard or day boat, either from Hurghada on the mainland or Sharm el-Sheikh on the Sinai coast.

The drift is straightforward, but the currents here are real. This is not a beginner friendly site.

The direction of your dive depends entirely on the current.

When the current runs one way, you start at Anemone City, drift through Shark Reef, and finish at the Yolanda wreck.

On my dive, the current had reversed that order.

The zodiacs dropped us at Yolanda and we drifted toward Shark Reef.

What Marine Life I Saw