Outside
Marsa Shouna (Shouni Kebir) North
A favourite spot of liveaboards and daily boats alike, Shouna is one of those areas
where you can have magic encounters. Sites include:
• Ras Shouna - The corner and outside north of Shouna is unique for its sprawling
sand plateau. Littered in table corals of all shapes and sizes, pick your depth on the
gradual slope and see what's hiding beneath each one. Of course blue spot rays are
abundant, but certain times of year bring in breeding guitar rays and other surprises.
• Aquarium - The name says it all - this is the site to come to for that fish-tank feel.
Cleaning stations up and down the reef serve the resident schools of snappers, batfish,
goatfish and fusiliers. Crocodilefish, lionfish and scorpionfish lay in wait for the meals
to come to them and the keen eye will spot more camouflaged critters on this site than
any other. This is a dive you could do again and again...
• Shouna Seagrass - The fine sand of Shouna supports a lush seagrass bed that runs
down the middle of the bay and around two shallow pinnacles. This is a classic dive
where you won't have to go far to see large whiptail rays and green turtles. Ghost
pipefish, snake eels and shrimpfish are regularly seen but one of the greatest sights is
the large school of golden trevallies that hunt in the seagrass like a pack of dogs.
Interested in divers, these large fish come very close - but beware the sand trail the
leave behind! For the lucky ones also, Dyson our local dugong is spotted here.
• Sha’ab Sireer - The 'bed reef' could be named after the lazy speed we find works
best to take in the scenery - but actually it's so called for the fact that more often than
not we encounter sleeping green turtles at about 20mt. Massive male George and cute
female Tracy are the most regularly spotted, but there are plenty of others that make
cameo appearances. Posing for pictures, you'd be forgiven for not noticing the massive
schools of snapper and bream cruising amongst the stunning corals above.
• Sha’ab Abu Khaled - Named after one of our captains, this reef is characterised by
steep sloping reef tongues extending down from the reef wall, separated by sandy
areas. These sandy areas reflect the sun, lighting up the profuse colourful soft corals
and giving another opportunity to see big sleeping green turtles. Large shoals of
unicornfish, fuseliers and red snappers congregate next to the reef wall, and you may
even be lucky to see something a little bigger out in the blue. The reef tongues are
teeming with anthias |
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