Jackfish Alley

Overview

Jackfish Alley is one of the gems of Ras Mohammed National Park — a gentle drift dive with surprising variety packed into a single descent. It takes its name from the wide sandy "alley" that separates the main reef from a parallel satellite reef, a channel that fills with jackfish and rays. Add a pair of swim-through caves cut into the wall, dramatic shafts of light, and a resident cleaning station, and you have a relaxed dive that punches far above its modest depth.

The Dive

The dive begins at a white mark on the cliff face and drops onto the reef around 5–6m, where the large entrance to the first cave is immediately visible — a cavern that bores into the reef for some 40m, lit by glassfish and shafts of sunlight. Exiting near 9m, you carry on south-west with the reef on your right; at about 14m a second cave runs upward to a wide exit hole back at 6m, again packed with glassfish. The wall then mellows into a broad plateau split from the main reef by the namesake sandy alley, which runs at roughly 18–20m. Further south, a sandy plateau scattered with table corals marks the turnaround.

This is a true drift dive — the current does the work, carrying you along the reef toward the Shark Observatory, so it is dived in one direction and timed to the flow. With good air consumption you can push out onto the satellite reef or follow the bottom of the alley, where whitetip reef sharks sometimes lie resting on the sand. The varied topography — caves, wall, plateau and sandy channel — and the easy depths make it a favourite for divers of most levels, provided they are comfortable being carried by current.

Marine Life

The alley earns its name: jackfish gather here in numbers, alongside batfish, several kinds of stingray, giant moray eels and lyretail hogfish over the densely coralled saddle. The caves shelter dense clouds of glassfish, the cleaning station draws a steady parade of fish queueing to be serviced, and sleeping whitetip reef sharks are a regular find out on the sand.

Good to Know

Best dived spring to autumn for the calmest surface conditions; visibility is typically 10–30m and can be excellent. Jackfish Alley sits within Ras Mohammed National Park and is reached by day boat from Sharm El Sheikh, though the reef itself runs close to shore. The shallow depths suit a wide range of experience, but because it is a one-way drift it is best dived with a guide who can read the current and place the group on the caves and the cleaning station.