Sharm El Sheikh, South Sinai, Egypt

Yolanda Reef

Yolanda Reef is the western half of the Ras Mohammed wall, named after the Cypriot cargo ship MV Yolanda which struck the reef in April 1980 carrying a cargo of toilets, bathtubs, sinks and a BMW car. The vessel slid along the wall for years before slipping into the abyss during a 1987 storm; the cargo, however, remains scattered between 16 and 25 metres on a sandy plateau, making for one of the strangest underwater photo subjects in diving. The reef itself supports table corals, gorgonians and the same large pelagic action as Shark Reef — blue trigger­fish, jacks, snappers and Napoleon wrasses are reliable, and grey reef sharks patrol the deep edge. Yolanda is normally combined with Shark Reef as a continuous drift dive, with the toilet cargo as the dramatic finale. Visibility regularly exceeds 30 metres, water temperature 21–28 °C. Mooring buoys only; the site is inside Ras Mohammed Marine National Park.