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Location - Just east of Hurghada harbour,El Mina is an Egyptian minesweeper sunk around 1969 by Israeli fighter planes. She rests on a rocky seabed sloping from 25m under the bow to 32m at the stern. The wreck lies on a northwest-southeast axis on her portside.There has been an attempt in the past to rename her "The Israeli Torpedo Boat" but it should be obvious that her starboard anchor and a hundred metres of chain are paid out,hardly a fighting manoeuvre. Also there is no hardware for the firing of the alleged torpedoes. |
Sea Conditions -Current comes from the north and is usually mild. The south end and east side are protected from northerly or northwesterly winds (most of the time). Dive Plan - The drop-off is naturally sandy, devoid of coral and fairly depressing. Don't waste your time here, you should be shallow, heading out at 12-15m and returning at 3-4m. In fact, the shallower the better. There is a small but very photogenic coral block at 14m and just north of the islets. It has glassfish, cardinal fish, soft corals, etc. and usually a resident stonefish. 100m north of here are some impressive gorgonians. Marine Life - This place is crawling with pipefish. They must provide food for the stonefish, scorpionnsh and hump-back scorpionfish which abound. If you had to choose any one site to look for stonefish, this should be it. Near the surface is teeming with silversides and occasionally small packs of tuna and jacks cruise by hunting them. Other residents include snowflake morays, yellow mouth morays, octopus and lots of lionfish. There have also been reports of frogfish, guitar sharks, mantas, and even a hammerhead at this site.
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