Jordan's only coastline — about 27 km on the calm Gulf of Aqaba — offers warm, clear, year-round shore diving on unusually heat-tolerant reefs, plus a deliberately sunk fleet of attractions: the Cedar Pride wreck, a C-130 Hercules, a TriStar airliner, and a 21-vehicle underwater military museum.
Destination info
Conditions, highlights, and the resident marine life.
Conditions
Water and air temperature across the year.
WaterAirDry
Description
Aqaba is Jordan's entire window on the sea: roughly 27 km of Gulf of Aqaba coastline with more than 20 dive sites strung along a fringing reef south of town, most of them easy shore entries inside the ASEZA-managed Aqaba Marine Reserve (a marine park since 1997, reclassified as a reserve in 2020 and added to the IUCN Green List in 2024). The honest pitch: this is the Red Sea at its calmest and lowest-key. Water runs about 20–22°C in winter to 27–28°C in summer with 15–30 m visibility and little current — superb for training, relaxed reef dives, night dives, and macro, but you trade away Egypt's offshore walls and big pelagic action. Aqaba's signature is instead a deliberately built collection of artificial attractions: the 74 m Cedar Pride freighter (1985), a C-130 Hercules (2017), a 21-vehicle underwater military museum (2019), and a 50 m TriStar airliner (2019) — a dive-tourism strategy that also diverts pressure from natural reefs like the Japanese Garden and the Power Station wall. Gulf of Aqaba corals are unusually heat-tolerant and have so far shrugged off record marine heatwaves, though urban and port pressure on the short coastline are real.
Highlights
What makes this dive worth the trip.
Jordan's short coast is formally protected: the Aqaba Marine Park (1997) was reclassified as the Aqaba Marine Reserve in 2020 — 2.8 km² covering about 7 km, or 27%, of the Jordanian coastline — and in 2024 became the region's first marine site on the IUCN Green List, with 157 hard coral species, around 120 soft corals, and 507 recorded fish species.
Gulf of Aqaba corals are a documented thermal refuge: a 2025 peer-reviewed study found they withstood four consecutive, intensifying marine heatwaves — including the record 2024 event — without mass bleaching, though sporadic shallow bleaching suggests even this refuge has limits.
The Cedar Pride, a 74 m Lebanese freighter gutted by fire in 1982, was scuttled on 16 November 1985 at the request of then-Prince (now King) Abdullah II — a keen diver — and lies on her port side in up to 28 m, spanning two reefs about 200 m off the beach: one of the Red Sea's very few signature wrecks you can reach from shore.
Marine life
36 species you’re likely to encounter on a dive here.
Dive sites
7 signature sites at this destination.
Cedar Pride
Jordan's flagship dive: a 74 m Lebanese freighter that burned at anchor in 1982 (killing two crew) and was scuttled as an artificial reef on 16 November 1985 at the initiative of then-Prince Abdullah II. She lies on her port side across two reefs about 200 m offshore, hull topping out around 10–12 m and the seabed at roughly 27 m, with the coral-encrusted crow's nest a famous photo subject. Reached by an easy surface swim over sand from the beach, she is heavily colonized by soft corals and patrolled by lionfish, morays, snapper schools, and the occasional hawksbill. Penetration of the holds is possible for trained wreck divers; most divers tour the seaward side.
10–27 mintermediateShoreLightVisibility 15–30 m
Power Station
Aqaba's best wall dive, at the north end of the dive coast in front of the electricity plant. A shallow reef of small hard corals slopes gently before dropping away around 30 m into a sheer ancient coral wall with huge soft-coral outcroppings that continues far beyond recreational limits. Nutrient-rich flow makes this one of the fishiest sites on the coast — large groupers and bigger predators are more common here than almost anywhere else in the area, and shark sightings, while rare for Aqaba, are most often reported here. Boat access and strict depth discipline are required; the wall invites you deeper than planned.
5–40 madvancedDay boatLightVisibility 20–30 m
C-130 Hercules
A 30 m Royal Jordanian Air Force transport aircraft with a 40 m wingspan, sunk on 16 November 2017 about 300 m off South Beach in 17 m of water as part of the kingdom's artificial-reef programme. Doors were removed so divers can swim the well-lit fuselage and cockpit. A fierce storm in March 2020 tore the aluminium airframe into several large sections — main body, tail, and wings now lie apart, which many divers feel makes it look more like a genuine wreck. Shallow, bright, and current-free, it suits beginners and even snorkellers can make out its outline; dived from shore or combined with nearby sites by boat.
12–17 mbeginnerShoreLightVisibility 20–30 m
Underwater Military Museum
Twenty-one decommissioned Jordanian Armed Forces vehicles — two Chieftain main battle tanks, FV101 Scorpion light tanks, Ferret armoured cars, a Samaritan ambulance, field guns, jeeps, and two Bell AH-1F Cobra attack helicopters — sunk in July 2019 in battle tactical formation along the sand beside the reef. Most pieces sit between 15 and 28 m, the jeeps shallower and the helicopters anchoring the deep end, so the full circuit suits advanced divers while the shallower rows work for fresh Open Water certs. Vehicles were stripped of hazardous materials before sinking and penetration is not permitted. Colonization is honest work-in-progress: garden eels, scorpionfish, bannerfish schools, and young coral and sponge growth rather than a mature reef.
15–28 mintermediateDay boatLightVisibility 10–30 m
Seven Sisters & The Tank
Seven coral pinnacles rising to within 8–9 m of the surface, swarming with anthias, damselfish, lionfish, scorpionfish, and well-camouflaged stonefish — shallow enough for long, relaxed dives and good snorkelling. On the sand nearby sits an M42 Duster anti-aircraft tank, scuttled in 1999 by the Royal Ecological Diving Society at about 6 m only 20 m from shore: Jordan's first artificial-reef experiment, now coral-crusted and a favourite training platform, photo stop, and safety-stop attraction. An easy shore entry makes this the classic first dive in Aqaba.
5–12 mbeginnerShoreLightVisibility 10–25 m
Lockheed L-1011 TriStar
A 50 m wide-body trijet airliner with a matching 50 m wingspan, left derelict at King Hussein International Airport for years before ASEZA sank it on 26 August 2019 near the old phosphate port. It rests upright on sand and seagrass in roughly 15–28 m, the cockpit shallowest and facing the beach; middle seat rows were removed so divers can swim the length of the cabin, which is otherwise surprisingly intact. This is the exception on Aqaba's shore-diving coast — boat access only — and operators recommend Advanced Open Water (ideally wreck training) for the deeper sections. As a 2019 sinking it is a young artificial reef: expect bare aluminium with early growth, plus eagle rays and hawksbills on the surrounding sand.
15–28 mintermediateDay boatLightVisibility 15–30 m
Japanese Garden
A gentle fringing reef just south of the Cedar Pride and one of Aqaba's prettiest natural sites, named for coral heads said to resemble pagodas. A pinnacle rises to about 10 m and a large gorgonian fan stands at 23 m at the head of a gully, with dense clouds of anthias and butterflyfish over the shallows. The reef starts within snorkelling depth and slopes gently, making it the standard easy second dive and arguably the best snorkel site on the coast. Shore entry over sand keeps it accessible to beginners.
3–25 mbeginnerShoreLightVisibility 15–30 m
Where to dive & stay
Local dive centers, resorts, and hotels.
Featured operators coming soon
Verified dive centers, resorts, and hotels around Aqaba will list here — pricing, photos, and direct contact.
