Dive Sites
The city of Aqaba is the largest on the gulf of the Red Sea.
Like the coastal waters of the Red Sea, the gulf is one of the world’s premier sites for diving. The area is especially rich in coral and other marine biodiversity and has accidental shipwrecks and vessels deliberately sunk in an effort to provide a habitat for marine organisms and bolster the local dive tourism industry.
Where there are more than 20 diving sites in Aqaba , almost every dive site in Aqaba can be accessed either from shore (they’re very close) or by boat, as you prefer.
The Red Sea has excellent visibility and clarity all year round thanks to the surrounding desert climate in Jordan. Water temperatures in Aqaba range from about 20°C in winter to about 26°C in summer, at least down to the depths of recreational diving.
1.Lockheed Tristar
The TriStar plane is a non-Jordanian commercial that has been out of service and parked at King Hussein International Airport for several years. ASEZA recently purchased it to sink it and was transferred to the main port in preparation for that purpose to join its military aircraft companion; Hercules C130 which was sunken November 2017. Today the C130 became a stop for diving enthusiasts and a home for the fish schools, corals, and marine organisms.
Since then, ASEZA has started all required preparations through the national expertise and cadres in Aqaba to make this eco-tourism project happen. A national company was assigned to dismantle the aircraft, transport it to Aqaba port and re-assemble it there.
The technical teams in ASEZA uncovered more than seven proposed sites along the Jordanian coast to sink the plane and conducted scanning of these proposed sites.
It has been agreed with the concerned parties represented in the project committee on scuttling the aircraft near the old port of phosphate at a depth of (15-28) meters.
The site currently is completely free of coral reefs, with relatively wide and flat sandy areas, and some presence of seagrass meadows. The presence of the aircraft will allow the creation of artificial coral reefs, habitat for fish and other marine organisms and thus an attractive location for divers in that area.
2.Power Station
The power station does not boast an elegant name but it is a spectacular wall dive, conducted as drift from north to south. Sharks and other large pelagic creatures are often spotted here. There are several Humphead Wrasses and some large moray Eels. The wall and drop-off are spectacular and there is an abundance of life to entertain you on the reef slop and the shallows. If conducting a technical dive requiring decompression, this makes the required stops a bonus rather than a chore.
3.First Bay North
The dive at the north end of first bay has a sandy plain with coral patches and a sloping reef from 12m down to 30m.
Features of note are fantastic coral pinnacles covered in red soft corals at the north end of the site- to find this, look for the big table coral and head north past the old fish cage (now covered in sponges). Keep on the straight line and you cannot miss it. There is a pinnacle at 15cm which is a long narrow pinnacle sticking up from the reef at slight angle, this can be used as a navigation aid if you are approaching the site from the shore, you will find it due west of the gap in the fringing reef.
4.First Bay South
Diving south from the mooring, you will find the cabbage- looking coral at 18m on the corner of the reef.
Follow the wall back to the north, and then follow the counter of the reef, you will pass over wide expanse of coral bushes and arrive to sandy gulley. Follow this back up to 12m and work your way back across the reefs to the mooring. In this area, you will find lots of cornet fish changing in waves of color as you watch them hunt the smaller fish. Watch out here for the eight-lined wrasse. You can also find lots of parrotfish. This dive is a nice colorful dive with a lot to see for those who want it.
5.Eel Garden
With easy shore access, the El Garden offers a number of surprises. As well as the obligatory garden eels, this site is home to an assortment of other interesting critters. Crossing the sand and hiding place for many young fish and eels, but keep an eye open for the numerous scorpionfish and lionfish that can be found here. However, the most outstanding feature is the pinnacle at just 7 m. This is truly a photographer’s paradise. Look carefully, because a galaxy of creatures can be seen here including frogfish. if you dive into this site at night, you are likely to see resident toadfish and the red swimming crabs that hide within the pinnacle’s recesses during the day.
6.Underwater Military Museum
The Underwater Military Museum is a new and unique dive site in Aqaba with a great potential for the coming years. It will captivate divers far beyond the military enthusiast, due to the rich marine life growing on the former war machines.
Despite the name, we would not describe this dive site as a military museum, at least not in the traditional sense of word. The scuttling of military vehicles is building a bridge between Jordan’s turbulent past and the peaceful future, creating new life in the ocean.
Several Jordanian authorities worked close together for the project, after a month of planning and a week of sinking all vehicles we can visit now 21 wrecks in one dive – a new record for your logbooks! The location was chosen in a sandy patch to attract snorkelers, divers of different levels and of course corals and reef fish alike.
After starting the dive in the north we reach the sea grass, where the first sunken vehicles are placed in 7 meters depth, reachable for snorkelers and beginners. The Willis MB Jeep was the first off-road car and used around the world, becoming a trademark for a four-wheel drive car and copied many times for military and civilian purposes.
In a depth of 15 meters we approach a carefully arranged line of military vehicles simulating a battle lineup. The bottom slopes gentle to the south and we follow the line of sunken relics. Which kind of army hardware you can see? Most of it was built in the UK, USA or South Africa and were used by the Jordanian army until 2000.
After crossing the FV701 Ferrets, five reconnaissance armoured cars, you reach two FV101 Scorpion Light Tanks followed by a FV103 Spartan personal carrier. Now you can see the heavy stuff, the famous Chieftain tanks, well-known in the Middle East as Khalid Shir tanks.
Passing the Ratel-20 Infantry Carrier for 12 soldiers you will find something familiar, when you dove “The Tank” before, another two M42 Duster self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. Before you enter the deepest part of the dive, check out the FV104 Samaritan armored ambulance and the Chieftain armored recovery vehicle “The Crane” which was special built for the Chieftain tanks in case of damage or recovery of the tanks.
A Field Gun MI 155 mm and two Bell AH-IF Cobra attack helicopters awaiting the advanced diver on a depth of 25-28 meters. Keep in mind for a safe dive plan that the monitoring of your air consumption is crucial when you would spend 1-2 minutes for each item on display!
7.King Abdullah Reef
Named after king Abdullah II, this is a popular reef for divers, there is a beautiful on coral on top of the reef and here you get larges shoals of pennant fish, and Torpedo Rays are also common here. You usually start the dive exploring the reef with the fan coral, then cross over the gulley, and make your way south along the reef. Turn north when the air supply is dwindling and come back to the shallows where you will find shoals of fusiliers ending up at the mooning. In addition, hawksbill Turtles are often spotted in this site.
8.Black Rock
From the mooring buoy, swim past the pinnacle to the reef about 18m then turn north crossing the sandy gulley and picking up the reef slope. Here you can pick your depth from 15-30m. it is best at about 25m on the way out. Follow the reef north at this depth then come up the reef to about 12m, you will be somewhere near the cabbage coral at 14m, you can then work our way back between 9 and 12m. there are some nice pinnacles close to the fringing reef, you will pass plates put down for coral growth research, then you know you are nearly back, watch out for turtles on this dive. Current can be up to I knot.
9.Rainbow reef
Named because the reef is shaped like rainbow, it starts at around 6m and drops down to 18m on the top of the reef. A deeper gulley runs down the north side of the reef forming a nice wall along the side of the reef. There is a telecommunication all cable that runs over to Egypt running down this gulley. This reef makes a particularly good night dive where you will find Spanish dancers, lots of lobsters and Moray Eels of all the rainbow colors. So if you want to dive “Rainbow Reef” then do it at night.
10.Cedar Pride shipwreck
The cedar Pride was scuttled for divers on November 16th 1985. The ship now lies on her port side across two reefs; the soft coral growth on the masts is fantastic. Those with experience can explore its interior, as it still is very stable. for a nice profile descend by the mooring and work your way along the bottom of the wreck, come around under the bow, then along the keel to the swim through, then ascend to the main mast and accommodation area, stay at this depth and work your way to the bow again, then return along the top edge wreck and complete a safety stop on the mooring chain.
11.Tarmac Five wreck
This wreck was scuttled in 1996 after Alcatel had finished laying the electrical cables to Egypt. Its lies not far from the cedar pride and when it went. It landed over the corner of an old sunken fishing boat that has been there since the 71`s. Although the wreck itself is not much to look at, it is a host to a good variety of marine life, blue spotted stingrays, frogfish and a good deal more. The inside is full of banded coral shrimps!
Take a tour around here when you dive the cedar pride. Do these at the beginning of your dive as it deeper than the cedar pride.
12.Japanese Garden
Its name reflect that it would be all rocks and stones –nothing could be further from truth, This place has amazing flora and fauna and all at shallow depths.
It is very popular with snorkelers and is known as one of the prettiest areas in Aqaba. It is a good dive for all, as it has Hawksbill Turtles, shoaling Barracuda, shoals of sergeant majors and fusiliers plus wonderful coral formations.
13.Gorgone One
This site is an excellent shallow dive in an area covered in coral. There are 3 pinnacles, each with its own ecosystem. The central pinnacle boasts a busy cleaning station. Down the coral slope, there is a large Gorgonian fan coral the site is named after, and to the north you will find a series of table corals, and you can also enjoy the Hawksbill Turtles that frequent the area. Around the northern pinnacle are a shoal of Big Eye Emperors and a large shoal of sergeant Major Fish. Here a deep gulley full of Fusiliers drops off towards the Japanese Garden. The mooring is to the south in a sandy patch at 15m. The North West of the fan coral is currently under survey using a down line of the marine park boundary buoy in 24m.
14.Gorgone Two
There is an interesting reef to explore in every direction. Huge shoals of Fusiliers are common here and the occasional Hawksbill Turtles. If you look into the reef creases you will find many Moray Eels. Just above the fan coral there is a pinnacle on the reef that can be used to locate the fan coral which sits on a small coral outcrop on the sand away from the reef. Lionfish a bound in this site as do Blue Tang and other Surgeon Fish.
15. 7 Sisters
This is a wonderful shallow dive that you can do in a little over an hour while observing the marine life or taking pictures of it. There are two sets of pinnacles, which are the Seven Sister and the Fairy Ring, each has its Own unique ambience. You will find shoals of Fusiliers everywhere. You can also travel another 60m south form the fairy jetty or take a boat dive form the mooring at Olivers Canyon, Excellent for novice divers and also for the experienced ones who have been to many deep divers.
16.Tank Duster M42
This dive can be made with a circular route with a tour around the table corals (once referred to as a walk through the “grannies” garden), and then you can work your way back to the 40m tank wreck at 6m to do your safety stop. The area around the various pinnacles is busy with marine life, you find lots of Scorpion Fish here, and if you look carefully in the sand gulley’s you will find many Triton Shellfish which keep the Crown of Thorns Starfish at bay.
17.Hercules wreck (Oliver Canyon)
The Marine Park’s latest attraction was scuttled on 16th of November 2017 and has already become the divers’ favorite. After a major ceremony organized by ASEZA and attended from international media and visitors the aircraft’s final resting place lies close to the well-known Tank.
All hazardous materials like fuel, oil and paint were removed before the sinking 300 meters from shoreline in a depth of 17 meters. The plain structure will become an artificial reef and attract marine life from fish to corals to add a new habitat for Aqaba’s diversity of species.
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft and donated from the Royal Jordanian Air Force. The plane serves as the main tactical airlifter for many military forces in more than 70 nations worldwide since the 1950s. Over time it will draw divers within all levels as premier dive location of Aqaba.
The Hercules is an impressive sight with a length of 30 meters and a wingspan of 40 meters.
We can see the aircraft resting in the sand, schooling reef fish are visiting now the future artificial reef and you can compare over the years the benefit for the entire marine system in the Gulf of Aqaba. Together with more than 20 different dive sites here you can spend a whole diving holiday exploring pristine coral reefs and thrilling wrecks in recreational depths and moderate conditions.
18.Yellowstone reef
This was named after the famous Yellow Stone park in the USA, also because there is a pinnacle which looks yellow from the surface in the shallow area of the reef and because there is a unique yellow rock sticking up in the desert about 500m inland from the dive site. You will also find there two nice pinnacles with lots of red sponges and nudibranches. Swimming over the deeper reef, you will encounter some huge healthy black coral bushes and lots of Lunar Tailed Groupers. This site is now only accessible by boat.
19.Al Shorouk shipwreck
Deep off the Eel Canyon dive site, to the West of Kirk’s Forest in 38 – 58m lies the Shorouk ship wreck. It was scuttled by the Aqaba Marine Park on 18th June 2008 to create an amazing site for technical divers. due to its depth, coral growth happens more slowly than in the sunny waters above, she almost looks like she could’ve sunk yesterday.
20.Blue coral
This site is named after the abundance of blue corals in the area. The topography consists of three spurs of coral starting at around 10m and extending out to 50m with sandy gullies in between. A grass plain is found to the shoreward side and this grass extends down the center of the gullies to 30m. At the south reef there is a circular reef sporting some nice black coral bushes. There are numerous small pinnacles at the top end of each super, and this area abounds with a variety of nudibranches.
21.Aquarium
A new mooring in place now opens up this site for boat diving. This dive site is known as the Aquarium because on the North East side of the central reef the dive guides used to take bread down and feed the fish (this is no longer allowed as it is against the Aqaba Marine Park rules). The fish still gather in great numbers here. You will see barracuda over the deeper reefs lots of unicorn fish and fantastic displays of red soft corals that catch the currents between the reefs.
22.Kiwi Reef
Kiwi reef is named after a diver from New Zealand who discovered this amazing place. At the bottom of grass slope there are numerous small pinnacles which form a breeding ground for juvenile fish. Each time you dive there, something new is discovered. This is a favorite dive with underwater photographers.