Lying some 31 miles from Sharm El Sheikh, the Thistlegorm is a popular site often visited by divers on day trips as well as liveaboard boats. Built in 1940, the Thistlegorm was a sizeable British transport ship. Early one morning in October 1941 while moored at Sha’ab Ali, she was struck by German bombers and sank. She was carrying a cargo of munitions, anti-tank mines, motorcycles, Bedford trucks, spare parts, tyres and medicines amongst other things for the...
The Kingston was a small British cargo ship built in Sunderland in 1871. She ran onto the northern face of the reef, known as Shag Rock, on 22nd February 1881, whilst en route to Aden with a cargo of coal aboard. The intact propeller at the stern of the ship lies at a depth of 15m and the dive usually starts here, after which you can move inside the ship to see the engine room, followed by the boilers. The bow section, lying at around 4m depth, has mostly...
Ras Mohammed is a peninsula of land jutting out into the Red Sea at the southernmost point of the Sinai Peninsula. Most of the Ras Mohammed Peninsula is, in fact, a raised reef plate, indicating that the sea level was once higher than it is today. In 1983 Ras Mohammed was given National Park status, the area the park covers was increased in 1989 to include much of the surrounding seas. There are some 1,000 species of fish and 150 species of coral to be found in the...
Built in Newcastle in 1873, this British steamer met her end in 1876 while bound for Bombay with a cargo of timber and cotton, which were lost in the ship wreck when the ship caught fire. She lies upside-down in 15 – 29.5 metres depth. The dive starts at the stern and takes you inside the hull where yo
Bluff point is a steep wall dive that follows the coastline. There are plenty of small passages and inlets in the rock that hide away life. The reef is full of glassfish, butterflyfish, crocodilefish and a flat-headed scorpionfish. The wreck itself isn't much to look at, but it serves as an attraction for sealife. Keep an eye out for turtles.
The Rosalie Moller is a sister ship of the famous Thistlegorm. It was bombed by a German airplane (Heinkel 111) and sunk in October 1941 . The vessel is 108m long, 16m wide an d sits on the seabed at around 50 meters, hence it is a dive only for experienced divers with a special license. Her masts reach up to 17-18 meters of depths, leading down to the decks at 35 meters. Much of the deck equipment is still in place, as are handrails and ladders. The ship's funnel is broken and...
The Ulysses was en route from London to Penang when she ran into the reef at Small Gubal Island on 16th August 1887. She was carrying an assortment of cargo – much of which was unloaded at the time of her sinking. However, some large cable drums sank with her and remain at the site to this day.
She lies at a depth of 28m and you can swim inside the stern. Glassfish and sweepers populate the wreck. Other reef life to be seen in the vicinity includes...
The shape of Shab Umm Usk is similar to a horseshoe. The lagoon offers good shallow dives on a coral garden. Outside, the southern reef is a wall sloping to 40 mt. Inside the lagoon might be seen bottlenose dolphins, eagle ray, barracuda, and turtles.
The Kimon M was a cargo vessel, built in Germany in 1952. On 12th December 1978, while en route from Turkey to Bombay via Suez with a cargo of lentils, she struck the north-eastern end of Sha’ab Abu Nuhas reef at full speed. For a while the bow of the ship lay visible on the reef while the rest of the ship sank. She lies on her starboard side with the stern at a depth of 32m. However, the propeller and rudder, which are intact, lie at 27m from where your...
Built in Britain in 1862, the Carnatic was a steamship with sails which operated both as a passenger and cargo vessel and plied a route between Suez and Bombay. On the night of 12th September 1869 in strong currents, she ran aground at Sha’ab Abu Nuhas. The following day, the weather deteriorated further and on the 14th September she broke up and sank, with the loss of 31 lives. At the time of her sinking, as well as carrying some 210 passengers and crew...
The Giannis D crashed into the reef at Sha’ab Abu Nuhas in April 1983 and sank with her cargo of timber. Originally built in Japan in 1969 and called the ‘Shoyo Maru’, at the time of her sinking she was owned by a Greek shipping company, Dumarc, hence the ‘D’ in her name
The true identity of the wreck usually referred to as the ‘Chrisoula K’ remains under debate. There are those who believe, in fact, that this wreck is actually that of a cargo ship called the Marcus, while there are others who are convinced that the Chrisoula K has, indeed, been correctly identified. However, what is known to be fact is that the Chrisoula K was built in Germany in 1954 and met her fate when she hit the reef at Abu Nuhas on 31st August 1981...
This is a large horseshoe shaped reef north of Hurghada. It is a sheltered site and excellent for micro reef life such as nudibranch. You are also likely to encounter moray eels and blue-spotted stingrays here. Pods of dolphins also frequent the area.
This Island is surrounded by good diving on all sides. The south end has a shallow plateau with coral heads. The plateau is home to Napoleons, Emperor Angels and free swimming Morays.
The east and west side have a magnificent coral garden but is only accessible in very good weather. Big groupers and lots of sweepers live in the multiple caves found along the eastern and western walls and drop offs of this tiny island's fringing reef.
Carless Reef is a famous coral reef located one hour from Hurghada. Is a reef plateau pushing up from the Abyss reach the surface with some pinnacles.
El Mina wreck, or harbor wreck, was an Egyptian minesweeper, built by the Soviet, 570 tons, and approximately 60mt long. It was bombed by the Israelis during the 6 Days war in 1969. The ship lies between 26 and 30 mt.
The wreck is fully intact and complete with all anti-aircraft guns except for the main deck gun. You can see the damage cause by the blast.
Small Giftun Island has been a marine reserve for a few years now and it makes a big difference as this is one of the best dives in the area. The wall drops away to about 100m so pick your depth and gradually work your way back up as you drift along in the current. There are some picturesque coral formations sticking out from the main wall to explore, often decorated with soft corals. Tunas & barracuda are some of the inhabitant of this reef.
Abu Ramada is a wall dive ending in sandy bottom at about 60m. At the north of the reef there is a plateau , at which divers are often dropped for the dive. The current here can get quite strong and the blue sea along the wall is full with jackfish. Thanks to the soft corals and huge fan corals this is a very scenic wall.
Abu Hashish is a shallow dive. The site is made up of a sloping wall that is topped by a sandy plateau between 10 and 20 metres. On the plateau there is another coral ridge from 10m to the surface. There is also an area of seagrass which gives the site its name.
Current is often strong.
Panorama is a very large coral formation, with walls dropping off to more than 100m. You will be dropped off by the zodiac to explore this reef with its profusion of corals including gorgonians. Jackfish, Barracuda and sharks frequent the area. There are also a huge number of anemones here with their resident clownfish.
Sha'ab Sheer reef is located SE from Safaga. It's a large reef where boats can stay for the night during cruises.
Coral Paradise is located on the west side of the reef.
This is a large elongated reef with walls dropping steeply to over 400m. Frequent currents mean dives at this site are recommended only for experienced divers and great care must be taken with keeping an eye on your depth and air consumption. However, at either end of the reef, the north and south, there are plateaus which can be explored before the main drop off.
The Salem Express was returning from the port of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia with a party of pilgrims aboard who had visited Mecca when she struck the Hyndman Reef with full force on 15th December 1991. A large hole was torn in the hull just under the bow door and the bow door was forced upward and open, which let in gallons of water resulting in a very fast sinking of around 10 minutes. This meant that was little or no time to launch the lifeboats. According to official...
This island is the smaller of the two as the name implies. At the northern end is a long tongue of reef that extends seaward and in good weather it is possible to drop in here and drift. The current runs from east to west and here sharks may be seen cruising. On the south east side is a superb fan coral forest but it is deep and starts at 35m, there are also plenty of caves, overhangs, black coral, and lots of pelagics including sharks, tuna, barracuda, turtles and schools of reef...
The northerly of the two islands and has a small lighthouse. It has two wrecks laying on its walls. At the northern most tip of the island lays a large freighter named the Namibia, the other is the Aida II, an Egyptian supply vessel that struck at night. There is excellent wall diving all along the southern side of the reef with strong currents promoting the growth of a spectacular forest of soft corals. Frequent sightings of big pelagics and an astonishing variety of marine life.
Abu Dabab is a cluster of seven shallow reefs at depths ranging from 15m to 25m, with many caves and colourful coral gardens to explore. You can expect to see plenty of red anemones with their ever-present clownfish in this area, Blue-spotted stingrays, and Napoleon wrasse. There are frequent dolphin sightings here, too. Night dives in the vicinity are interesting, as well, as Spanish dancers are often seen here. On the southern outer reefs shark encounters are likely.
Elphinstone Reef is a long thin reef formation with stepped plateaus at both the north and south ends and sheer vertical drop-offs to the east and west. Beautiful pink and purple soft corals can be found here as well as Gorgonian fans at between 20 – 30m depth. The site is excellent for encountering large marine life including White and Grey Tip Reef Sharks, Hammerheads, Thresher sharks and Oceanic White Tips.
Deadalus Reef is an isolated coral reef some 96 km offshore from Marsa Alam. It is marked only by its lighthouse. The reef table here is submerged and made up of pristine hard corals with abundant soft coral growth. The table drops off at around 30-40m depth with steep walls descending to depths of over 500m. There is a huge variety of reef life here and, as ever, with the remote southern sites, the increased opportunity for encounters with Hammerheads, Grey...
Shaab Sharm, or Gota Sharm is a large, kidney-shaped reef with steep sloping wall on its east and south sides. The crescent of reef around the reef’s southern tip offers the best diving, with rich coral growth from the surface shallows down. There are numerous soft coral and hard corals. There is also some black coral on the wall’s deeper sections.
Groupers, barracudas, snappers and unicorns can be seen here. Currents here can be quite strong.
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