The Admiralty Chart shows Sha'ab Anbar as a very long, slightly bent line of coral just below the surface. In reality, it is a very long slightly bent collection of broken reefs with a sheltered lagoon in the north. It has a north point, west and east walls, a south wall and a south eastern plateau. Some of it has been dived before, but the majority of this five mile long obstruction to shipping is virgin territory. The wind blew out diving on the north side unfortunately, but with so much else to discover it wasn't a problem.
The west wall was our starting point. The swell effect disappeared around five metres down and we started down the wall, which wasn't as sheer as I imagined it would be. Small shelves and gentle slopes were more usual than vertical drops which made for an interesting topography.
Again, the corals were outstanding. Hard formations that are usually so delicate and consequently so often broken were commonplace and with orchestral precision constructed a pretty wall.
Our first shark of the trip appeared here. A decrepit white-tip reef shark with the wrinkled face of a 90 year old women ambled through the reef, as if she were carrying two heavy Sainsbury's bags, and trying to catch the number 47 bus home to feed the 67 cats. It was quite pitiful really, but in another way quite heartening to know this creature had reached such an age without loosing her fins and life to fishermen.
As with most coral reefs, the shallower parts exhibited the larger concentration of life. From 10 metres to almost the surface, the west wall was superb and improved by the topography, which turned from steps and slopes to indentations and small pinnacles. Each indent in the reef face became it's own small bay with resident small fish and regular larger visitors.
Large groupers patrolled the edges awaiting for a small wrasse or fusilier to make a mistake and fall foul of its large dental attributes; soldier fish hid in any recess they could find that was dark enough; and, at one point, the coral itself became obscured by a massive and densely packed shoal of Naso Lituratus.
The west wall was our starting point. The swell effect disappeared around five metres down and we started down the wall, which wasn't as sheer as I imagined it would be. Small shelves and gentle slopes were more usual than vertical drops which made for an interesting topography.
Again, the corals were outstanding. Hard formations that are usually so delicate and consequently so often broken were commonplace and with orchestral precision constructed a pretty wall.
Our first shark of the trip appeared here. A decrepit white-tip reef shark with the wrinkled face of a 90 year old women ambled through the reef, as if she were carrying two heavy Sainsbury's bags, and trying to catch the number 47 bus home to feed the 67 cats. It was quite pitiful really, but in another way quite heartening to know this creature had reached such an age without loosing her fins and life to fishermen.
As with most coral reefs, the shallower parts exhibited the larger concentration of life. From 10 metres to almost the surface, the west wall was superb and improved by the topography, which turned from steps and slopes to indentations and small pinnacles. Each indent in the reef face became it's own small bay with resident small fish and regular larger visitors.
Large groupers patrolled the edges awaiting for a small wrasse or fusilier to make a mistake and fall foul of its large dental attributes; soldier fish hid in any recess they could find that was dark enough; and, at one point, the coral itself became obscured by a massive and densely packed shoal of Naso Lituratus.
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