The Straits of Tiran are the narrow channel between the Sinai coast and Tiran Island, where the Gulf of Aqaba squeezes shut and four great reefs rise almost to the surface right in the shipping lane, named after the nineteenth-century cartographers who charted them: Jackson, Woodhouse, Thomas, and Gordon. They rank among the most celebrated dive and snorkel sites in the Red Sea, with strong currents feeding vivid coral, big schools of fish, frequent turtles and eagle rays, and, at Jackson Reef, a chance of sharks in season plus the rusting wreck of the Lara freighter marooned on the reef top. Because the coral comes so near the surface, the shallower reefs (Gordon especially) are superb for snorkelling from a boat as well as for diving. It is a standard full-day boat trip from Sharm, usually combined with a stop in the sheltered water behind the reefs for lunch and swimming. Conditions can be current-swept, so trips are weather-dependent.
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