To anyone
standing on its shore and
gazing out across its
heavenly waters, the Red Sea
may seem to be a
mislabeling. Its blueness is
eternal and anything less
red cannot be fantasized.
The Red Sea, where the
desert meets the ocean, is
truly one of the planet’s
most exotic and fascinating
natural seascape
environments. The Red Sea is
located between Asia and
Africa. At its most
northerly point forms the
Sinai Peninsula and
stretches over 1000 miles
south to join the Indian
Ocean, between Ethiopia and
Yemen.
In
the north and west are desert
plains, while in the south a
mountainous region (2642 meters
high), which is part of the mountain
range stretching from deep in Saudi
Arabia, across the Sinai and then
into Nubia of the African continent.
The Red Sea holds beneath its
crystal blue surface an oasis of
living creatures, reefs, and coral
formation. Its use as a highway
between East and West has attracted
man since the beginning of time.
The Red Sea was created by
the movement of plates in the
Earth’s surface about 30 million
years ago. In that time, the Arab
peninsula started to part from
Africa along a thin break line which
was filled by the ocean’s water.
However, "Mother Nature" did not
stop there. Twenty million years ago
another geological movement started.
The Arab peninsula which parted from
Africa, started to move to the
north. That movement struck
resistance in Turkey and swung to
the east, and another break line was
formed. This one stretching all the
way from the northern part of
Israel, through the Jordan valley to
the Dead Sea, and finally through
the Gulf of Aqaba to Ras Mohamed at
the southern point of the Sinai. The
young age of the Gulf of Aqaba is
what makes it so deep, 100 meters in
Dahab and 1800 meters north of the
Straits of Tiran. On the other hand,
the old Gulf of Suez is relatively
shallow, with a 85 meters maximum
depth. The Red Sea is still widening
at about one-half inch per year, the
rift is the youngest region of
continental breakup on the planet,
allowing geologists to learn about
processes that occurred in the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans hundreds
of millions of years earlier.
Water
temperatures in the Red
Sea remain unusually
constant year round,
averaging 22^ C in the
summer. Low pressure systems
develop in the Sahara Desert
and draw hot dry east winds
from Asia which cause the
temperature to rise
frequently along with sand
storms. At the same time,
lows develop over the Red
Sea, bringing moist cold air
from the south and creating
clouds, haze, and more often
rain.
The northern land mass is the
primary influence over temperature
in the gulf, but this decreases to
the south the closer you get to open
sea. The open sea’s cooling effect
creates an interesting temperature
pattern: maximum summer temperatures
are lower in the south while minimum
temperatures are higher in the north
with the opposite occurring during
the winter. In any case, the coldest
moth of the year is January and the
warmest months are July and August.
The Red Sea is notorious among
seafarers for its high speed surface
winds and aggressively short
irregular motion. It may be calm on
the inward shore, but journeys to
exposed sites like The Brothers
islands, a remote off-shore site
east of El Quseir, can be perilous
and boats have been seen literally
to fall apart under the force of the
journey.
Cargo vessels, oil tankers,
fishing boats, and passenger liners
all move their trade across this
great waterway, but for many, the
true enchantment of the Red Sea is
hidden just below its surface. There
are over 1000 species of
invertebrates and around 200
recorded coral types to be found.
Moreover, the Red Sea boasts over a
thousand species of fish, more
species than any other proportional
body of water. Not surprisingly,
therefore, the Red Sea is considered
by many to offer the very best
diving available in the marine
world. The Red Sea attracts divers,
photographers, marine scientists,
and leisure seekers from all over
the world, hoping to experience and
explore the incalculable wonders of
the colorful, abounding marine life
and the Red Sea’s lavish coral
reefs. In places, the exceptional
living reef stretches way out to
sea, forming a elaborate system of
caves, lagoons, gardens, and
plateaus. Some of these coral
summits plunge dramatically
thousands of feet to the ocean
floor. The Red Sea is not all a
delight however, as it has its
troubles which you will have to stay
away from. There is minimal danger
from marine animals in the Red Sea,
and with a little common sense, even
these dangers can be eliminated.
Some of the marine animals are
dangerous to touch, others dangerous
to eat, and some are dangerous to
come face to face with. There are
fire corals and stinging hydroids
which can be extremely painful if
accidentally touched as well.
Snorkeling
is a popular way to view the
edge of the reef, especially
for those with limited
confidence in their swimming
ability. Sharks, manta rays,
turtles, and eels will take
pieces of bread from your
hand, and brilliantly
colored schools of fish team
all around in bewildering
color. However, most divers
will tell you that there is
nothing to beat the thrill
of experiencing the depth of
the reef and the abounding
marine life to be found in
the Red Sea.
The lure of the reef is such that
many novice divers become totally
"hooked" and cannot imagine why they
have never joined in the fun before.
Furthermore, when asked to compare
their local diving conditions with
those in the Red Sea, they find it a
"paradise" with clear visibility,
little wave action, and warm
temperatures all year long.
Fishing is an art which still
preserves time-honored methods,
mostly due to the difficulties
imposed by the dangers of the reef.
The hook-and-line method of fishing
has been in use for more than four
thousand years and is still going
strong. Conservation of certain
species of fish and the dangers of
over-fishing are both important
issues for the government. The
fisherman land a total of 8,000
metric tons of fish per year, which,
although eight times as much as the
Sudan, is less than half Egypt’s
total catch.
The water of the Red Sea is
also a vital asset. Surrounding
cities are totally dependent on it
for household and industrial
supplies, and tremendous
desalination plants are in
operation. These supply drinking
water which has been purified to a
high standard, as well as
non-potable domestic water. Sea
water is also used in large
quantities by oil refineries and
cement works situated along the
coastline. The danger of pollution
is always present in the Red Sea,
particularly from oil spillage. A
Royal Decree forbids the discharge
of any pollutant substances,
including oil, within 100 miles of
the Saudi Arabian coastline.
Currently, the areas of the Eastern
Desert and around the Red Sea have
received a great deal of overdue
attention. A joint expedition from
the University of Delaware and
Leiden University and Leiden
University has been working at the
ancient Red Sea port of Berinike.
The past season the Delaware-Leiden
team excavated in two areas, opened
a total of seven trenches, and found
four public buildings. One of the
sites contained offering tables, an
incense burner, a stela stand and an
almost life-size bronze figure of a
cloaked woman clasping a snake.
Scraps of colorful textile from the
Fourth and Fifth centuries A.D. have
also been found. In addition,
evidence of trade appears in the
form of imported coconuts, pepper,
and rice. So, while the edges of the
Red Sea are being explored, the sea
itself is being plunged in a survey
of sunken wrecks. The Institute for
Nautical Archaeology in Egypt, is
continuing the underwater survey
started last season, plotting the
locations of shipwrecks along the
Red Sea coast.
For swimmers, divers, traders,
industrialists, fishermen,
archaeologists, and tourists, the
Red Sea has its own kind of
incomparability. And even the
leisured gazer, speculating the
inaccessible blue/red abnormality,
can be said to have been given
something to think about. The
underwater amazement of the Red Sea
remains a living tapestry of
resounding corals and exotic fish,
waiting for you to discover its
secrets.
