Dive sites in Egypt

The British steam-sail vessel SS Dunraven struck Beacon Rock in 1876 while en route from Mumbai to Newcastle, coming to rest upside down along the Sha'ab Mahmud reef slope. The hull has split over time, allowing divers to navigate the interior past inverted boilers, drive shafts, and soft-coral-covered engine parts. Outer reef currents draw glassfish inside the hold while groupers and lionfish patrol shadowed openings. Above, hard coral gardens climb the reef wall toward the surface.

German bombers sunk the SS Thistlegorm in October 1941. Today, the 128-meter British armed freighter sits on a sandy seabed at 30 meters near Sha'ab Ali in the Gulf of Suez, its wartime cargo preserved inside. Holds contain BSA motorcycles, Bedford trucks, Lee Enfield rifles, and stacks of munitions. At the split stern, tilted slightly upright, a 4.7-inch anti-aircraft gun points into open water. Regular tidal currents sweep the wreck, bringing jacks, barracuda, and resident giant morays that shelter within the twisted iron.