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Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Shaab Rumi location page.
Overview
Coral plateau jutting into the Sudanese Red Sea at the southern tip of Shaab Rumi atoll. Hammerhead schools cruise the drop-off in deeper water; grey reef and silvertip sharks patrol the reef edge. Cousteau ran his Conshelf II experiment in the lagoon — remnants still visible.
Briefing note
Remote — liveaboard access only. Departures from Port Sudan.
What you'll see
4 species curated- seasonalScalloped hammerheadPeak: Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul
- year-roundGrey reef shark
- year-roundSilvertip shark
- year-roundSchooling barracuda
Sightings evidence
1 record on file- medium confidenceScalloped hammerhead
- Last confirmed
- May 2026
- Recent records
- 45 within 50 km
- Cluster months
- Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul
Sources & methodology
How we summarise this
We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.
Sources
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
- Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
- Wildbook (Sharkbook, Whale Shark, Manta Matcher) — Wild Me
- OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
- iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
- WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
- FishBase — FishBase Consortium
- Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
- REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation
Conditions
| Month | Water | Visibility | Current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 25–27 °C | 25–40 m | moderate |
| Feb | 25–27 °C | 25–40 m | moderate |
| Mar | 26–28 °C | 25–40 m | moderate |
| Apr | 26–28 °C | 25–40 m | moderate |
| May | 27–29 °C | 25–40 m | moderate |
| Jun | 28–30 °C | 20–35 m | moderate |
| Jul | 29–31 °C | 20–30 m | moderate |
| Aug | 29–31 °C | 20–30 m | moderate |
| Sep | 28–30 °C | 20–35 m | moderate |
| Oct | 27–29 °C | 25–40 m | moderate |
| Nov | 26–28 °C | 25–40 m | moderate |
| Dec | 25–27 °C | 25–40 m | moderate |
Season calendar
Peak season highlighted · current month outlined
Gear for this site
Beyond the basic kit- Dive computer — Repeated deep multi-level dives — wrist computer mandatory.
- SMB — Currents push divers off the plateau into open water.
Next step
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