From September to November we sail to Mesharifa, the "One Way" on Autumn 2014

                                                    
                                 “Where the manta rays fly…”

October -November
"One way Itinerary" 
with Blu Sudan Team

Mesharifa, Shambaia, Abington, Angarosh, Merlo, Qita el Banna, Sha'ab Rumi, Sanganeb, Umbria wreck 
 

Mohamed Qol is a small fishing village located 130 km north of P.Sudan. In fact, apart from P.Sudan, it is the only port of embarkation 

on the whole Sudanese coast before the border with Eygpt. The landscape, framed in the west by an imposing mountain chain, consists of a handful of wooden shacks, some in use, some abandoned, and a small “marsa” or natural bay that houses the port of  Mohamed Qol. Overlooking the harbour’s only landing stage is an old Turkish fort where Hans Hass stayed during his first expedition in 1949 that included a dive at the legendary Angarosh “Mother of Sharks” reef.

Off the island of Mesharifa, just a few miles from Mohamed Qol, lie a series of large sheltered lagoons spangled with islands of fine, pearly white sand, caressed by green blue and turquoise waves and crowned in the North by the gulf of Dungonab and Dungonab Bay, an area marked as “Unsurveyed” on nautical charts. 
This unexplored, unspoiled paradise is home to the mantas. It is a vast area, but in the summer the mantas group together in the lagoons to reproduce, gliding through the water, just above the reef and following the currents to reach the largest blooms of plankton. The mantas are often seen by the two beacons that mark the entry to the channel that leads to the island of Mesharifa and along the reefs that surround both the north and south of the island. 

The ideal conditions for spotting these splendid creatures, and swimming with or around them are good weather and a light wind as the mantas swim just under the surface of the water with their black and white wings cleaving the waves. Often the blooms of plankton attract schools of sardines too, and above them clouds of white terns that together create a spectacular, noisy show and a sight you will never forget!

No comprehensive study has yet been made on the presence and concentration of the mantas, but a number of different projects, one of which includes the Cousteau team, that start on the Autumn 2012.
They start to make accurate analysis of when the mantas reproduce, if they are semi or non-migratory, where they go in the winter and when and if they come back.

The Sudan cruising season that lasts from the end of September to the beginning of November offers the perfect chance to enjoy this amazing experience enhanced by the mystery and fascination of locations with no real frontiers. Here you can enjoy the emotion  and illusion of being on your own and feeling a bit like a pioneer.