Period: from April to June, when favourable sea and weather conditions prevail
Setting out from Port Sudan and sailing 30 miles south, you reach Jumna, a triangular reef in the middle of the sea that plunges from the surface down into the blue. Its eastern side is renowned for sightings of great swirling schools of barracuda, silky sharks, and large shoals of hammerhead sharks; then at 30 metres, on the south-eastern side, there is a cave that serves as a resting place for whitetip pups.
Nine miles from here lies the lagoon of Sha'ab Ambar, a safe overnight anchorage offering two beautiful dives on its northern and southern sides. Continuing on, you arrive at one of the few reefs in the South to enclose a sand island, known as "Turtle Island." This is Seil'Ada Kebir, which offers two dive sites (northern and southern sides) distinguished by the presence of large fans of gorgonians.
Heading further down, in a south-easterly direction, you come upon Keary Reef, a rocky column rising from the depths all the way to the sea surface. Another wonderful dive is the reef of Nakhalat al Qaseer (the Pinnacle), which rises from the deep and just grazes the surface; this site offers walls entirely covered in multicoloured coral, full of caves and crevices, with both migrating and resident big fish passing through.
Then there are Protector Reef and Preserver Reef, two virtually unexplored sites far offshore in Sudan's deep South. An original itinerary through sites that are truly little-visited yet utterly fascinating and remarkably well preserved—far from the usual dive spots and designed for those who, even today, wish to feel like conquerors setting out to discover wild and unusual places.