Cedar Pride Wreck

Lebanese cargo ship scuttled in 1985 as an artificial reef

The wreck of the Cedar Pride lies on her port side in 25 to 30 metres of water about a hundred metres off the Marine Park coast, deliberately scuttled in 1985 as an artificial reef. The ship is intact: cargo holds, bridge, masts, and the original anchor chains are all in place, and divers can swim through the wheelhouse and engine room with care.

The wreck has become a richly populated ecosystem — schools of glassfish in the holds, lionfish hovering in the rigging, groupers and barracuda in the surrounding water. Boats from Aqaba and shore parties from the Marine Park beaches both reach her easily; advanced open-water certification is recommended for the deeper sections. One of the best wreck dives in the Red Sea.

things to do sight
A story
The Cedar Pride was a 74-metre Lebanese cargo vessel that caught fire in Aqaba harbour in 1985. Salvage was uneconomic; the Jordanian Royal Ecological Diving Society persuaded the authorities to sink her in deep water off the Marine Park as an artificial reef. Two and a half decades on she is fully encrusted with hard and soft corals and is one of the most-dived wrecks in the Red Sea.