Aqaba · Jordan · Wreck · Artificial reef
Underwater Military Museum
Tanks, troop carriers and a sunken TriStar airliner
Area photo: Arian Zwegers · CC BY 2.0
Jordan's underwater military museum: a spread of scuttled military vehicles, including tanks and troop carriers, laid out on the seabed off Aqaba and unveiled in July 2019. A retired Lockheed L-1011 TriStar airliner was added the following month, and the whole site is dived to a maximum of 30 m from a boat or from the beach.
Where it is and how deep
29.4462° N, 34.9670° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
This is not a single wreck but a collection. A large number of military vehicles have been scuttled here, laid out on the seabed so that divers move between them rather than working around one hull, and the site runs to a maximum of 30 m. That layout is what shapes the dive: the plan is a route across the exhibits at depth first, then progressively shallower ones on the way back.
One of the exhibits is a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, an airframe that flew for Royal Jordanian as JY-AGJ and later for Luzair as CS-TMP before being moved here on 26 August 2019 as a dive attraction. Everything on the seabed was placed deliberately, and the museum is intended to form an artificial reef over time, so the machinery is at different stages of being colonised depending on how long it has been down.
Because the exhibits are scattered, gas and depth planning matter more than they do on Aqaba's compact shore sites: agree the order of the vehicles you want to see before you get in rather than swimming from one to the next until the dive is over. Eels and turtles are among the animals listed for the site, so the machinery is worth searching as structure rather than simply swum past.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Scuttled military vehicles and a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar
- Type
- Military vehicles and a wide-body airliner
- Sunk
- 2019
- Cause
- Deliberately scuttled to create an underwater military museum and artificial reef
- Lies
- Laid out across the seabed off Aqaba, to a maximum of 30 m
Jordan unveiled its first underwater military museum off the coast of Aqaba in July 2019, scuttling several military vehicles, including tanks and troop carriers, on the seabed. The vehicles were placed as a dive attraction and are intended to form an artificial reef over time. A Lockheed L-1011-385-3 TriStar 500, formerly JY-AGJ with Royal Jordanian and later CS-TMP with Luzair, was moved to the site on 26 August 2019 for use as an additional dive attraction.
Marine life and season
- Sea turtles
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair |
Season follows Aqaba: Conditions stay calm and diveable year-round; water is coolest January–March.
Know before you go
- Scuttled vehicles have openings, hatches and confined interiors. Treat anything with an overhead as an enclosed space and stay outside your training.
- The exhibits are spread across the seabed at up to 30 m, so it is easy to extend the dive chasing the next one. Fix a turn pressure before entry.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Aqaba's underwater military museum?+
The site runs to a maximum of 30 m. The exhibits are spread across the seabed rather than concentrated in one place, so the depth you actually dive depends on which vehicles you visit and in what order.
When was the underwater military museum opened?+
Jordan unveiled it off the coast of Aqaba in July 2019, with tanks, troop carriers and other military vehicles scuttled on the seabed. The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar airliner was moved to the site on 26 August 2019.
Can you dive the military museum from shore?+
Yes. Both boat and shore entries are listed for the site, in keeping with the rest of Aqaba's diving, where centres drive tanks down the coast road and divers walk in from the beach.
Sources
More dive sites in Aqaba
A plastic skeleton in the pilot's seat of a sunken Hercules
An air pocket in the rear cargo hold big enough to surface in
Reef
Black coral below 20 m on a slope you walk into from the beach
A gorgonian forest at 21 m and fusiliers packing the shallows
Wall
A sheer wall falling from 12 m into 200 m of water
Reef
An easily navigated reef that comes alive after dark
A scuttled army tank on sand in 7 m of water
Similar dives elsewhere
An Israeli missile boat upright at 24 m, reached from the beach
A 100 m cable layer with a 40 m cable corridor through her hull
A 133 m destroyer on sand at 28 m, dived outside only
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A wooden minesweeper reduced to her metal ribs