sudan dive site project

  For average divers, Sudan is a relatively unknown and not a very popular destination. Sadly, the media mostly focuses on amplified stories and rarely highlights the beauty of the country, the lives of its people, and all it has to offer. Perhaps, when it comes to Sudan’s sights, the best-known fact may be that it has more pyramids than Egypt, though fewer have been excavated.

When it comes to divers, Sudan is one of those destinations where you simply must dive, if only once in your lifetime. The marine life beneath the Sudanese Red Sea blows away even the most travelled and experienced divers! These waters amaze even hammerhead, reef shark, barracuda, and wreck lovers. Anyone who has dived in Sudan, never left disappointed. This is an awesome dive spot in the lesser-known areas of the Red Sea. While in Egypt hundreds of dive boats coast the waters, this number in Sudan is close to only ten. This in turn promises sailing when for days there would be no other boats in sight.

Sudan is famous for its sharks. Scuba diving in Sudan is one of the most beautiful and adventurous in the world. Dive sites in the Sudanese waters are untouched. The pristine sea in Sudan hides some of the most amazing coral formations and underwater life in the world.

Colorful, reefs, uncrowded dive sites, unforgettable wrecks, healthy shark populations, and big schools of fish can be seen in Sudan Red Sea. Sudan usually attracts more experienced divers and those who might have dived the Red Sea before.  But it diving trips also available to beginners 

, the wildest variety of marine life make diving so exhilarating here. Sharks are a definite drawing force for scuba divers.

Marine life: Hammerhead sharks, reef sharks, schools of barracuda, turtles, countless soft and hard corals, large schools of fish in the form of colorful giant balls, mantas, dolphins, and the list just goes on…

You can expect to see delightful coral gardens and schools of fish, a variety of sharks (including hammerhead sharks), barracuda, manta rays, dolphins (bottlenose dolphin, the common dolphin and the spinner dolphin), humpback whales, pilot whales, green turtles and hawksbill turtles.

We have far more to offer than meets the eye, with crystal clear water, exciting drift dives, World War II era shipwrecks, and remote coral reefs that rank among the planet’s most pristine. Divers can encounter schooling hammerheads by the hundreds and playful pods of dolphins, visit Jacques Cousteau’s underwater laboratory, and cruise coral gardens swarmed by colourful reef fish all in one day - and that’s before you head out for the night dive!

This tour will take you to the best dive sites of the Red Sea off Sudan. A highlight for wreck diving fans is the historic, 155 meter longwreck of the Umbria, which is located at 38 meters depth in front of Port Sudan. The Italian troopship, which was built in Hamburg in 1911, was sunk in 1940 by its own captain. While diving at the Umbria you can discover a huge amount of war material on board and wonderful vegetation.

Umbria has been built in Hamburg, launched in 1911 under the name of Bahia Blanca and designed to work in Argentina.
155 metreslong, 18 metreswide, able to hold 2.400 people, in 1935 it’s been purchased by the Italian Government, turned into a cargo ship, renamed Umbria and aimed at landing ship.

In 1940 Umbria, heading for Massaua with its cargo, has been stopped by the English and anchored in the Win Gate area, 3 miles facing Port Sudan. On the 10th of June the Italian captain gained knowledge by radio of the entry into the war of Italy and therefore has decided to scuttling rather than leaving the ship to the “enemy” with all its precious cargo. A drill maneuver has been simulated, while in reality the thru-hull fittings have been opened, the boat has shipped water quickly and sunk. Seabed was at about 36 metres, Umbria leaned on it by reclining on the left bulwark.
Its cargo, consisted of bombs, detonators, explosives, concrete, three beautiful Fiat cars.

The first scuba diver who dived there has been Hans Hass in 1949, during his first solitary expedition. He put to sea with a felucca and two fishermen and he dived, furtively, before obtaining from the authorities the permit to do that. We can imagine what emotion it must have been that first time for him, alone and first.
We read some pieces of his book “Manta”, published a few years later. “I had the feeling to be a knight of past times who, once arrived to the threshold of a magic castle, gets ready to force the gateway, feeling both fascinated and hesitant……It was the first scuba dive I’ve done over the last seven years and, when I was in Wien, I’d never dreamed it could ever be overlooking a sunken ship.

26 miles from Port Sudan, 12 miles from the lighthouse of Sanganeb, we find Sha’abRumi, one of the most extraordinary and famous coral barriers of the world. A beautiful lagoon offers a safe berth to boats and a shelter from all winds, whereas in order to reach the diving spots you can use a dinghy.
The most famous dive by far is at the South plateau, it follows the dive at the North West, then the wall on the North East side and lastly the well-known dive Precontinente-II, by Cousteau, near the entry of the lagoon on the external side

Precontinent 2 - In 1963, six oceanauts lived 10 metres down in the Red Sea, at Sha’ab Rumi off Sudan, in a starfish-shaped house for 30 days. The undersea living experiment also had two other structures, one a submarine hangar that housed a small, two man submarine referred to as the "diving saucer" for its resemblance to a science fiction flying saucer, and a smaller "deep cabin" where two oceanauts lived at a depth of 30 metres for a week. The undersea colony was supported with air, water, food, power, and all other essentials of life, from a large support team above. Men on the bottom performed a number of experiments intended to determine the practicality of working on the sea floor and were subjected to continual medical examinations.
Conshelf Two is documented in Jacques Cousteau's 1964 documentary film World Without Sun. 

The wreck of Conshelf II provides a fascinating window into this unique chapter of diving history