Sea Dancer Dive Center / Thistlegorm

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This is, quite rightly, the most popular day trip by boat from Sharm The Thistlegorm is one of the most famous wrecks in the world while Ras Mohammed offers some of the best marine life anywhere in the red sea, who wouldn’t want to go!

SS Thistlegorm

Ras Mohammed

Sunk in 1941 the Thistlegorm was “lost” until 1955 when she was rediscovered by Jacques Cousteau on one of his early explorations of the Red Sea. She was then “lost” again and only discovered again in 1992 to become the diving attraction she is today.

Ras Mohamed has many sites which offer fantastic diving but the most popular is Shark to Yolanda reef.

The dive begins at the sheer reef wall, which drops off to 800 meters, watch your depth! You then swim either north or south around the reef depending or the prevailing current. There is actually a very good chance of seeing sharks here, especially in the summer months. Even if there are no sharks on your visit the life here is amazingly abundant with large schools of barracuda, jackfish, batfish and snapper.

Heading across the shallow lagoon there are common sittings of giant morays, turtles, massive Napoleon wrasse and even the occasional whale shark or manta!

Yolanda reef is named after the vessel of the same name which sank here in 1985. While the ship itself has sunk into the depths, the ship’s cargo of toilets and bathtubs remain which add a surreal feel to this site.

A fantastic trip for ‘wreck addicts’ and lovers of marine life.

It’s been said that if you don’t enjoy this trip then you should give up diving and try something else!

The wreck is normally explored over two dives.

The first is around the outside of the wreck where you will see the mighty flanks of the 126 meter ship. The stern was blown off the main body of the wreck and sits at a 45% angle, looking up you can see the unmistakable shape of the ship’s, ultimately useless, guns. The current normally runs bow to stern and large groupers are often to be found near the prop. Venturing over the debris of the impact area look out for the two upturned Bren-gun carriers and lots of Wellington boots. Up to the deck area we find many fish, locomotive rolling stock and the Thistlegorm’s huge winches which dive boats use for tying on to.

On the second dive we explore the inside of the wreck, your guide will take you through the holds to see the Thistlegorm’s cargo of BSA motorcycles, trucks, munitions and assorted spare parts. Back on the deck area lookout for schools of batfish, large Napoleon wrasse and even the occasional shark.

Diving here does not require specialist training but, due to the depth of the dives and the potential for strong currents, divers need to be experienced and hold a minimum of advanced open water certification.