Makkah Region

Makkah Region encompasses the central Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, with Jeddah as the dominant coastal city and the most significant port on the Saudi Red Sea shore. The coastline through this region is low-lying fringing reef interrupted by the infrastructure of the King Abdulaziz Seaport, the old Balad district's historic coral-built waterfront, and the modern Corniche that stretches north along the shore for roughly 30 kilometres from the port entrance. Offshore, the reef geometry here is typical of the central Red Sea: a shallow fringing shelf of coral, sand, and seagrass meadow extending from the shore to the reef edge, where the bottom drops abruptly toward the deep basin. The Farasan Banks and the offshore reef systems south of Jeddah — including the Abu Madafi and Qita al-Kirsh reef systems — hold some of the richest and most isolated coral communities on the Saudi shore. Access to the offshore reef requires a charter boat out of Jeddah or the smaller fishing harbour at Al-Lith to the south. The tidal regime through Makkah Region's coastline is semidiurnal with a modest range, 0.3 to 0.8 metres in mean conditions, which is characteristic of the central Red Sea basin. The geometry of the Red Sea — a long, narrow body of water with its only open connection to the ocean at the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the south — creates a resonance effect that moderates what would otherwise be a larger tidal signal. The seasonal northerly winds that dominate the Red Sea in summer, and the transitional shamal events in spring and autumn, modulate water level along the Jeddah coast by tens of centimetres independent of the astronomical prediction. For any commercial port operation, dive-charter scheduling, or fishing activity along this coast, the Saudi Ports Authority Jeddah gauge data is the authoritative reference.