Mashraba

Also known as: Mashraba Reef

Mashraba sits at the south end of the bay of Dahab, a short walk from several dive centres, and is entered over sand that soon turns into a seagrass bed with a small park of underwater statues, seahorses and anemonefish. The sandy slope leads to Roman's Rock, a large coral bommie around 20 m so full of life that some divers spend the whole dive circling it. Heading south, divers pass big coral formations and a group of table corals at about 20 m, then an impressive gorgonian fan, and turn at a pinnacle alive with glassfish and anthias before coming back over the shallow reef. Its deepest feature is a swim-through between pinnacles at roughly 30 to 38 m, open only to divers with a deep qualification. Groupers, Napoleon wrasse, rays, turtles and at times eagle rays and dolphins are seen, and every few years flash floods from the nearby wadi wash sediment into the bay.