The Sinkers is a large mooring buoy held fully under water by heavy chains, a shore dive near the MFO camp at Nuweiba. Left behind after the Israeli occupation of the 1970s, the buoy and its chains are now overgrown with soft corals and ringed by schooling fish.
Also known as Sinkers, MFO Sinkers.
Where it is and how deep
No published position for this site — the map shows Nuweiba and its other sites; operators know the mooring.
The dive
The buoy floats at 8 to 12 m (25 to 40 ft), and both it and the chain are thickly encrusted with colourful soft corals. Banded boxer shrimps hide in the growth, while schools of fusiliers, damselfish and glassfish crowd around the structure. Below the buoy the site reaches 35 m (115 ft). Barracuda, jacks and snappers patrol it, cruising for a meal.
Marine life and season
- Reef fish swarms
- Barracuda
- Trevally & jacks
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good |
Season follows Nuweiba: Diving runs all year; May-June and September-November are the best months, though July to October is very hot ashore.
Sources
- Scuba Diving Nuweiba, Egypt — My Scuba Diving Gear Guide
- Nuweiba — X-Ray Mag
More dive sites in Nuweiba
Green turtles grazing the seagrass above a reef of cleaning stations
Artificial reef
Large jacks and snappers queueing at cleaning stations on the pipe ends
Reef
Enormous boulders scattered among broad table corals
Reef
Narrow valleys and deep chasms cut through the reef
Similar dives elsewhere
A scuttled army tank on sand in 7 m of water
Coral-encrusted pillars off a beach opened in 2017
A closed 1995 underwater restaurant on a shallow reef
Hulls left when the Soviet Navy abandoned its base in 1991