God’s Waters—the Red Sea
When God led Israelis to freedom opening a path
through the Red Sea, nobody imagined that this single miracle would create so
many questions for many years thereafter. Naturally, the magnificence of the
mentioned body of water encourages our minds to raise concerns on how they made
it.
The Red Sea has a surface area of roughly
438,000 km² (169,100 mi²). It is about 2250 km (1398 mi) long and, at its
widest point, 355 km (220.6 mi) wide. It has a maximum depth of 2211 m (7254
ft) in the central median trench, and an average depth of 490 m (1,608 ft).
So, the question is, how could the people of
Israel walk 355 km through the Red Sea, while God kept the water apart from
their path? Only they had the answer. Anyway, today the Red Sea is also glorious
with an increasing tourism industry thanks to several factors like the marine
biodiversity, the salinity, and the water temperature. Actually, very high surface
temperatures and high salinities make this place one of the warmest and
saltiest bodies of seawater in the world.
The average surface water temperature of the Red
Sea during the summer is about 26 °C (79 °F) in the north and 30 °C (86 °F) in
the south, with only about 2 °C (3.6°F) variation during the winter months. The
overall average water temperature is 22 °C (72°F).
The Red Sea is a rich and diverse ecosystem.
More than 1200 species of fish have been recorded in the Red Sea, and around
10% of these are found nowhere else. This also includes 42 species of deepwater
fish. The rich diversity is in part due to the 2,000 km (1,240 mi) of coral
reef extending along its coastline; these fringing reefs are 5000–7000 years
old and are largely formed of stony acropora and porites corals. The reefs form
platforms and sometimes lagoons along the coast and occasional other features
such as cylinders (such as the Blue Hole (Red Sea) at Dahab). These coastal
reefs are also visited by pelagic species of red sea fish, including some of
the 44 species of shark. The Red Sea also contains many offshore reefs
including several true atolls. Many of the unusual offshore reef formations
defy classic (i.e., Darwinian) coral reef classification schemes, and are
generally attributed to the high levels of tectonic activity that characterize
the area.
Now, let’s take a look at the recreational
sites.
The sea is known for its spectacular diving
places, such as Ras Mohammed, SS Thistlegorm (shipwreck), Elphinstone Reef, The
Brothers, Daedalus Reef, St.John’s Reef, Rocky Island in Egypt and less known sites
in Sudan such as Sanganeb, Abington, Angarosh and Shaab Rumi.
The Red Sea became a sought-after diving
destination with the expeditions of Hans Hass in the 1950s, and later by Jacques-Yves
Cousteau. Popular tourist resorts include El Gouna, Hurghada, Safaga, Marsa
Alam, on the west shore of the Red Sea, and Sharm-El-Sheikh, Dahab, and Taba on
the Egyptian side of Sinaï, as well as Aqaba in Jordan and Eilat in Israel in
an area known as the Red Sea Riviera.
The popular tourist beach of Sharm el-Sheikh was
closed to all swimming in December 2010 due to several serious shark attacks,
including a fatality. As of December 2010, scientists are investigating the
attacks and have identified, but not verified, several possible causes
including over-fishing which causes large sharks to hunt closer to shore,
tourist boat operators who chum offshore for shark-photo opportunities, and
reports of ships throwing dead livestock overboard. The sea’s narrowness,
significant depth, and sharp drop-offs, all combine to form a geography where
large deep-water sharks can roam in hundreds of meters of water, yet be within
a hundred meters of swimming areas.
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