Ras Muhammad and Sha'ab Mahmud

Ras Muhammad is the southern tip of Sinai, where the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba meet the Red Sea proper. It was declared Egypt's first national park in 1983, largely to stop the building that was starting at Sharm el-Sheikh from reaching it.

The geography is dramatic: the peninsula is a raised fossil reef, and its seaward edge falls away in walls that go past 700 m. Deep water, two converging gulfs and a permanent current make it one of the richest places in the northern Red Sea.

West of the point, the reef system of Sha'ab Mahmud runs out into the mouth of the Gulf of Suez. Its eastern end carries a navigation beacon, which is why divers call it Beacon Rock, and the beacon is there for a reason: the reef caught the Dunraven in 1876 and she is still lying upside down under it.