Hurghada & El Gouna · Egypt · Wreck
Excalibur
A dive boat lost to fire in 1996, on the seabed just past 20 m
Area photo: Tanya Dedyukhina · CC BY 3.0
A dive boat that sank off Hurghada in 1996 after an electrical fire, the Excalibur is also logged under the name Susana. The floor under the wreck is just over 20 metres, which keeps the whole hull inside a standard recreational profile, and the site listing describes it as suitable for Open Water divers.
Also known as Susana.
Where it is and how deep
27.2250° N, 33.8467° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The dive is a single circuit rather than a staged descent. The floor under the wreck is just over 20 metres, so you can drop to the seabed, work around the outside of the hull, and then come back up onto the structure for the shallower half of the dive without ever leaving a normal recreational profile. Keeping the deepest part at the start and finishing higher on the wreck is the obvious way to run it.
What is left of the fittings is not documented in any published description of the site, and no source itemises the marine life that has moved onto the hull since 1996, so treat the boat itself as the dive and ask the guide what is currently worth looking at. No source describes a penetration route or the vessel's dimensions either, so plan an external circuit that finishes shallow rather than anything inside her.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Excalibur (also known as Susana)
- Type
- Dive boat
- Sunk
- 1996
- Cause
- Electrical fire on board
- Lies
- On the seabed at a floor depth of just over 20 m
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Fair |
Season follows Hurghada & El Gouna: Diving runs all year; the seas settle from March to November and are calmest in summer, while February brings the coolest water.
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Excalibur wreck?+
The seabed under the wreck is just over 20 metres. That puts the whole boat inside a single recreational profile, and the site listing describes it as suitable for Open Water divers.
Sources
- Excalibur dive site — Scubago (SSI MyDiveGuide)
More dive sites in Hurghada & El Gouna
A resident pod of 100-plus spinner dolphins rests here each morning
The stern lies canted 45 degrees to port at 24 metres
An 1869 P&O steamer rotted back to her iron ribs at 24 m
A minesweeper on her port side, 25 minutes from the marina
Wall
A chimney at the northeast corner of the erg
Reef
A gigantic green lettuce coral almost right under the boat
Drift
A coral garden cascading from the reef top to the sand
A table-coral channel from the lagoon out to a pelagic drop-off
Similar dives elsewhere
A cargo ship that hit the reef carrying frozen chicken
An Israeli missile boat upright at 24 m, reached from the beach
A plastic skeleton in the pilot's seat of a sunken Hercules
.jpg){kind=link}
A 175 m bulk carrier aground off Nabq since 1996