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 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 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.
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.
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.
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