Some 25 miles North East from Port Sudan the reef here has a plateau at 9 metres and a steep drop-off.
This is where Jacques Cousteau and his team mounted an underwater base in order to study the effects of long term underwater stays of a diver once he was fully saturated with all the gases in his body. Hence the underwater expedition called ‘Precontinent II’ was set up in 1963.
The incredible outcome of this expedition was that once fully saturated, the diver could conceivably stay down forever given enough air to breath but what is truly incredible is that this experiment took place in 1963, by scientists who obviously had knowledge well beyond their years.
The remains of his expedition are still at this site and it is well worth a dive to take a look at the equipment which was left behind.
South of Sha’ab Rumi is a plateau which is about 23m deep. Here you will find numerous sharks, barracudas, jack fish, humphead parrot fish and almost anything else that you can imagine!
Sha’ab Rumi is a ‘must‘ for all visitors!