• Dive Level:

  Intermediate

• Best Months:

  January-December

• Accessed By:

  Shore

• Maximum Depth:

  100m

• Water Temperature:

  26°C - 28°C

• Currents:

  Weak

Description

The Jolanda and Shark Reef dive site is the area where two reefs rising just outside of the coast of Ras Mohamed with only a shallow channel and a smaller reef formation separating it from the main land.

The Jolanda Reef is named after the 72meters long Cypriot Merchant Ship Jolanda, previously owned by the Sea Brother Marine Shipping Company, but which during a storm the 1st of April 1981 caught on to the reef and sunk after some time. She landed on the bottom with the stern hanging over the edge of a drop off with only the abyss underneath. She remained there for several years, slowly tipping over. Then one day in 1985 the wire that kept her from falling snapped and she felled down on a sloping ledge down below where most parts of her is resting at a depth between 145-160meters. Since these depths are too deep for most divers to ever see, the only trace of there ever been a wreck here are the remaining part that Jolanda left where it rested the first years as a wreck. There are cargo left including toilets, wash basins and bath tubs and broken containers next to the reef.
Considering the reef, it is the bigger of the ones and have a lot of small caves and colourful coral growing on it. At the top of it there is a hollow cave formation that you can swim through.

The Shark Reef is placed right on top of the ledge dropping into the abyss down to 750 meters and has a lot of colourful coral and is cramped with fish, especially during the spawning seasons. As the name implies, sharks can be seen here.

The small reef is called Satellite Reef and is close to the Jolanda containers, but there's often poor visibility here.