Sha'ab Rumi West

Sha'ab Rumi West is an advanced dive site on the western face of the legendary Sha'ab Rumi reef system in the Sudanese Red Sea, where Cousteau's historic underwater legacy meets contemporary diving in waters of extraordinary marine richness. The western face offers different conditions and encounters than the famous south point, providing a complementary perspective on this iconic reef. The western wall of Sha'ab Rumi presents a dramatic reef face that descends into the deep Red Sea. The wall's orientation means it receives different current patterns than the southern face, creating its own distinctive marine community while sharing the overall health and abundance that make the reef system world-renowned. The remains of Cousteau's Conshelf II experiment are accessible from this section of the reef, with the underwater garage and other structures from the 1963 expedition still visible on the seabed. These historic artifacts have been colonized by marine life, transforming the pioneering underwater habitat into an artificial reef that bridges the gap between diving history and marine biology. Shark encounters along the western wall are regular, with grey reef sharks patrolling the wall face in impressive numbers. The current patterns on this face occasionally concentrate hammerhead sharks at the reef edges, adding the possibility of encounters with these magnificent animals to every dive. The wall's coral growth is spectacular, with the western exposure supporting dense gorgonian forests and soft coral displays that reach their most vivid in the reduced light of the deeper wall face. Hard coral coverage on the upper reef is vigorous, maintaining the structural integrity that supports the entire ecosystem. Sha'ab Rumi West adds historical significance to the already extraordinary natural marine encounters, creating a dive that connects the modern diver to the pioneers who first revealed the Red Sea's underwater wonders to the world.