The Secret Wilderness of the RED SEA

has probably logged more dives in the Red Sea than any other diving

pair. They have also explored a much greater portion of it than

most since they have spent many years involved in diving tourism,

operating several diving vessels from the Red Sea’s southern approaches

to its northern limits. In all their years’ diving they have collected

a few special places where they never tire of returning. Among

these favoured locations, the offshore waters of south-western

Arabia, south of the Farasans, are near the top of their list.

We asked Tamara Double, who is presently writing a complete diving

guide to the Red Sea, to share her secret with readers of Arabian

slope of stark, black boulders as far as the eye can see. Dotted

amongst the white are brilliant, sulphur-yellow bushes which glow

as if electric. Rising through the canopy in wild disarray are

clusters of red whip corals, gently swaying in the emerald green

water like loosely coiled springs. Dense swarms of yellow fish

weave their way through the forest, among them snappers, sweetlips,

goatfish and butterflies – all are yellow. In perfect harmony

with this colour scheme thousands of pennant fish swirl around,

weaving in a mesmeric pattern of spiralling black and white stripes.

A leopard ray snakes across a white sand clearing and slips between

the black and jagged branches of a massive Tubastrea coral, while

a pair of Moorish idols dash by in single file. Overhead, in silhouette,

beyond dense schools of batfish and ocean triggers, a squadron

of mobulae flies by with bird-like grace. From somewhere in the

distance, deep, resonating booms herald the presence of giants,

as a colossal jewfish lurches into the depths with a mighty swipe

from the familiar blue water and towering coral reefs which typify

the Red Sea that it is hard to believe it is part of the same

body of water. The location is the south-western quarter of the

Red Sea belonging to Yemen, an area unknown to most and explored

by very few. The coast here is flanked by many inshore and offshore

islands, volcanic in origin, and ranging in size from mountainous

islands, several miles long, to the merest speck of rock, barely

kilometres from Jabal at Tair, a solitary lighthouse island lying

80 kms out to sea, at the southern end of the Farasan Bank. From

here the chain is split into three main island groups called the

Zubair, Zuqar and Hanish. These are barren, uninhabited islands,

black and scarred by volcanic eruption and aeons of weather erosion,

boiling cauldron of marine life that is outstanding in its abundance

and in its unique concoction of species. Because of its proximity

to the Indian Ocean this area is undoubtedly influenced by its

weather patterns, as well as by the interchange of water between

the two seas through the Straits of Bab el Mandeb. Numerous Indo-Pacific

species have apparently drifted into the Red Sea with the current

and established themselves in this south-western region, among

them the Moorish idol, Zanclus canescens, the leopard moray Gymnothorax

in Yemeni waters, though with some notable exceptions. For instance,

one of the most potent symbols of the central and northern Red

Sea – ubiquitous clouds of Anthias hovering above the reef, feeding

in the current, appears to be totally absent, at least from the

offshore islands. But if this rocky underwater environment lacks

some of the diversity of the living coral reef, it more than makes

up for it with the sheer numbers of fish and the glorious colours

of the encrusting algae, sponges and other invertebrates that

are crammed on to every square centimetre of available rock. It

is an area full of surprises and unusual events. here, some normally

solitary species of fish, such as the half-moon angelfish Pomacanthus

maculosus, can be found in large schools. Huge aggregations of

grazing fishes in a feeding-frenzy are also a common sight, as

is found in the southern Red Sea lies in the cold, nutrient-rich

deep water upwellings that occur in this area. The most extreme

manifestation of this is during late summer when the upper twenty

or so metres are around 33°C and dark brown with phytoplankton.

A distinct thermocline occurs at around the 20m. mark, below which

the sea is about 10°C cooler and dark but gin-clear. Masses of

fish mill around in this soup, engaged in feverish feeding activity.

Several unusual fish species, mostly snappers, are seasonal visitors

to this scene, often joined by manta-rays and sometimes by whale

over-fishing, or mass tourism, these southern reaches are one

of the Red Sea’s best kept secrets. One can only hope that any

plans for the development of this area will include the recognition