Ras Muhammad National Park

Listen first. A dry wind moves across bare rock and pale sand. Somewhere below, water slaps against a wall of old coral. The light here is very hard and very white, and it bounces off everything: the limestone, the salt crust, the sea. You are standing near the very southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. Ahead of you, the land simply runs out, and the desert ends in water.

This is Ras Muhammad. In Arabic, the word ras means head, or cape, the point where land meets sea. And this point is a meeting place in a larger sense too. To the west lies the Gulf of Suez. To the east lies the Gulf of Aqaba. Here, at this tip of rock, the two gulfs join and open south into the main body of the Red Sea. Two arms of water, one cape.

Where does the name Muhammad come from? Nobody can say for certain. One popular tale says that sailors saw a rock formation here with the profile of a bearded man's face, and they named the cape after him. Treat that as folklore, not documented history. But it is a nice thing to keep in mind as you look along the cliffs. You might see a face of your own.

Now look down at the ground under your feet. Much of this rock is not ordinary desert stone. It is fossil reef. Long ago, the sea level was different, and living coral grew where you are now standing. Over time, the sea retreated and the coral turned to limestone. If you kneel and look closely, you can often see the branching shapes and small round cells of ancient coral, now dry and grey, high above the waterline.

That is the first surprise of this place. The old reef is up here, on land, baking in the sun. The living reef is just a few steps away, under the water. You can stand on one and look at the other. Very few places in the world let you see the past and present of a coral reef side by side so clearly.

The living reefs are the reason most people come. Along this coast, the coral grows right up to the shore, then drops away in steep walls into very deep blue water. Divers and snorkellers know names like Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef, two of the best-known sites in the park. Strong currents sweep around the cape, and these currents carry food. That is why the marine life here is so dense.

Under the surface, expect colour and movement. Clouds of small orange fish called anthias hover over the coral. Parrotfish scrape at the reef with beak-like teeth, and you can sometimes hear the faint crunch underwater. Large, slow Napoleon wrasse, with their blue-green skin and humped foreheads, may pass by. With luck, a sea turtle appears. Nothing is guaranteed, of course. This is the open sea, not an aquarium.

Here is the second surprise, and it is a strange one. Around Yolanda Reef, the seabed holds a scattered cargo from a freighter called the Yolanda, which ran aground on the reef. The ship itself later slipped into deeper water, but much of what it carried stayed behind. That cargo included bathroom fittings. So divers here can swim past toilets and bathtubs, slowly being covered by coral and visited by fish. It is one of the odder sights in the Red Sea.

Egypt gave this area legal protection in the early 1980s, and it became the country's first national park. The idea was simple. The reefs near Sharm el-Sheikh were drawing more and more visitors, and they needed limits. Today, rangers manage the park, and there are clear rules. You should not touch or stand on coral, feed fish, or take shells or stones. Small actions, repeated by thousands of visitors, decide whether a reef survives.

The park is not only about coral. Look for the dark green line of mangroves along a sheltered channel. Mangroves are trees that grow with their roots in salt water, which is rare among plants. They are unusual this far north, and they act as a nursery. Young fish shelter among the roots before they move out to the open reef. Herons and other wading birds often stand very still at the edge of this water, waiting.

There are also cracks in the land here. In places, the ground is split by long, narrow fissures. These are linked to the restless geology of the region. The Red Sea itself sits in a rift, a place where the Earth's crust is slowly pulling apart. Some of the fissures hold water, clear and still. Standing beside them, you get a small sense of the large forces that shaped this whole coastline.

A few practical thoughts as you explore. The sun here is strong for most of the year, and there is very little shade. Carry plenty of water, wear a hat, and use reef-safe sunscreen if you plan to swim. Reef shoes help if you enter the water from the shore. And always follow the marked paths and the guidance of the rangers. The currents around the cape can be strong, even on a calm-looking day.

Before you leave, find a high point and look south. On one side, the water of one gulf. On the other side, the water of the other. In front of you, the open Red Sea, darker blue where the depth falls away. Watch the colour change from turquoise near the shore to deep navy just a short swim out. That line marks the edge of the reef wall.

Now take one more moment. Feel the fossil coral under your shoes, warm from the sun. Hear the wind, and the small slap of water against living reef. This cape has been sea, and then land, and is now a careful border between the two. As you walk back toward the car or the boat, look down once more. The old reef is still there... quietly holding the shape of the sea that made it.