Ask about wreck diving in Egypt and everyone says Thistlegorm — which sits further north, usually reached from Sharm el-Sheikh or a liveaboard. Hurghada has its own wrecks, closer and less crowded, and one of them is ten minutes from the marina.
El Minya Wreck
17–32 metres · hard · 10 minutes from the harbour. An Egyptian minesweeper sunk by an air attack in 1970, lying on her port side with the top of the hull at 17 metres and the stern down at 32. The blast hole that sank her is still visible, the hull is peppered with machine-gun holes, and the rudder and propeller sit intact below the stern. You can look into the bridge and radio room through the portholes without entering — and you should not enter, or touch anything: live ammunition remains on site, which is exactly why the rule on this wreck is stricter than most.
Reef fish have colonised the hull the way they do every wreck on this coast, but this is a history dive first and a marine-life dive second. Current can run strong this close to the harbour mouth, so it sits at hard difficulty despite the short boat ride.
South Abu Ramada — the shallow wreck
5–35 metres · easy · 80 minutes. A different kind of wreck dive: a safari-boat wreck sitting at just 5 metres, inside an otherwise easy reef dive with garden eels and butterflyfish. Nowhere near the scale of the El Minya, but it is the wreck you can put in front of a newly certified diver without a second thought — and it is one stop on a reef that is worth the visit regardless.
Do you need Advanced Open Water for the El Minya?
Effectively yes. The depth range and the current at the harbour mouth put it outside a straightforward Open Water dive, and centres will generally want to see an Advanced card or a Wreck specialty before booking you on it. If the wreck is the reason for your trip, our Advanced Open Water course in Hurghada (two days, from EUR 243) opens it up properly rather than rushing it on your first deep dive.
How to dive Hurghada's wrecks
Wreck days are sold as part of our general diving schedule rather than as a dedicated wreck-only product — ask your dive centre which wreck a given day trip is heading to, since conditions decide the plan each morning. Our wreck and reef day (one wreck dive, one reef dive, full day on board, from EUR 44) is built exactly for this, with a local guide who knows the sites. For the shipwreck further north that started most people's interest in Egypt in the first place, we cover it separately in the Thistlegorm guide.
Book the wreck day
Browse the full trip catalogue, read the El Minya Wreck site briefing before you commit to the depth, and bring a torch — the interior views through the portholes are worth it.
Are Hurghada wrecks as good as the Thistlegorm?
Different, not lesser. The Thistlegorm is a much larger cargo wreck with WWII vehicles still inside its holds, and it usually needs a longer boat trip or a liveaboard to reach. The El Minya is smaller, ten minutes from the harbour, and just as historically genuine — a warship rather than a supply ship, with its own distinct story and none of the crowds a famous wreck attracts.
