Salem Express
Also known as: Salem Express Wreck, Salem Express Safaga, Salem Express from Hurghada
A solemn, beautiful, and demanding dive on a 110 m passenger ferry that sank off Safaga in 1991. A grave site treated with respect — and one of the most evocative wreck dives in the Red Sea, run as a day trip from Hurghada.
- Max depth
- 32 m
- Visibility
- 20 m
- Current
- moderate
- Difficulty
- advanced
- Boat time
- 90 min
- Suitable for
- advanced
Depth profile
Location
If you're prepared to make the longer journey to Safaga and treat the site with the respect it deserves, the Salem Express is one of the most emotionally affecting dives in the Red Sea. The bow rears up almost intact, the lifeboats still hang from their davits, and at depth the soft corals have begun to reclaim the bridge. It is sad and gorgeous in equal measure.
Site highlights
- Massive 110 m ferry wreck
- Lying on her starboard side at 12–32 m
- Funnel, lifeboats and davits still in place
- Twin propellers and the great bow anchors
- Soft coral and glassfish reclaiming the steel
- •Site is a grave — no penetration permitted
- •Depth and current require Advanced certification
- •Long boat ride from Hurghada
Gallery
Marine life on this site
Trips that visit Salem Express
Day-trips and packages where this site is on the itinerary.
Nearby dive sites
El Mina Wreck
A 70 m Egyptian minesweeper sunk during the 1967 war, lying on her port side at 32 m. The most dramatic and accessible wreck in the Hurghada area — and a highlight of any Advanced Open Water course.
Giannis D
The most photogenic of the four Abu Nuhas wrecks — a Greek cargo ship that struck the reef in 1983 and broke into three. Her dramatically tilted stern, with engine room and mast, is one of the Red Sea's best wreck dives.
SS Thistlegorm
The most famous wreck in the Red Sea — a British WWII armed merchant ship sunk in 1941, her holds still packed with motorcycles, trucks, rifles and railway locomotives. A bucket-list dive in the Strait of Gubal.