Page 69 - AlertDiver_Winter2013

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most regions, the Red Sea’s shark populations are not what
they once were, but on remote reefs sightings are usually
reliable with an impressive variety of species: grey reef
sharks, reef whitetips, leopards, tigers, oceanic whitetips,
hammerheads and even thresher sharks.
Offshore reefs such as Brothers, Elphinstone and Daedalus
are the most sharky and tend to be the exclusive domain of
liveaboards. The liveaboard-versus-shore-based debate is waged
as hotly in Egypt as in many destinations. In addition to the
usual arguments, Egyptian liveaboards allow you to escape the
heat of the land and avoid the tourist traps, but you miss out
on the available après-dive options. While anchorages are well
protected, the open Red Sea can be rough. For comfort, most of
the best liveaboards today are big boats that accommodate 20
divers or even more. This helps passengers avoid seasickness,
but it makes solitude underwater harder to come by.
It’s mid-November at Elphinstone Reef, and I am hoping
to see another Red Sea icon: the oceanic whitetip shark. This
species was once widespread throughout the warm parts of
the world’s oceans, but it has been fished near the point of
extinction. Elphinstone is one of the few remaining places to
see them. Here and now, at the peak of the season, you can
see more than 20 individuals in a day. The reef is pretty, too,
and shaped a bit like a loaf of bread, with vertical walls, soft
corals and schools of fish. But I am distracted, scanning the
blue for those unmistakable silhouettes.
With a desert climate, you are
guaranteed to have the sunshine
from dawn til dusk, but being
relatively northerly the water
temperature and marine life
vary through the year.