| Mooie duik baai Aqiarium
Marsa Shouna (Shouni Kebir)
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 reminiscent of
the more offshore reefs.
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