Dunraven

Bow first, at around 15 metres. The forward section is intact enough to peer into from multiple angles, though there is no penetration here. Follow the hull south toward deeper water. The wreck's upside-down geometry becomes apparent as you fin along the coral-encrusted keel, now the topmost feature of the wreck.

At 28 metres, the stern section opens up. Enter through one of three large gaps in the hull. Inside, the space inverts your expectations. What was the ceiling is now the floor. Enormous boilers loom overhead, and an emergency stop valve, a broken mast, and a ladder to the engine room mark the route through. Hessian ropes and wooden cargo boxes have survived since 1876. Light pours through the portholes in wide beams.

The exit is the payoff. Where the hull broke in half, thousands of glassfish hang in a shimmering curtain. Fin through them and out onto the surrounding reef, where the safety stop at 5-9 metres doubles as a second dive on Beacon Rock's own coral wall.

The Dunraven is the wreck that put Sharm El Sheikh on the diving map. Howard Rosenstein found it in 1977 following a Bedouin fisherman's directions involving three cigarettes and the setting sun. A BBC documentary two years later gave it international fame. Before that, Rosenstein and graphic artist Shlomo Cohen had invented a story about Lawrence of Arabia transporting gold on a lost ship to lure divers to an unknown Sinai coast. The real wreck turned out to be 60 years older than their fiction.

No other Red Sea wreck offers this combination. The Thistlegorm is a military museum. Shark and Yolanda is a current-driven adrenaline ride. The Dunraven is neither. It is atmospheric and slow, a place where 150 years of coral growth have turned a Victorian steamship into something closer to a natural cavern than a dive on steel and rivets.

The boat ride takes one to two hours past Ras Mohammed, and the site is weather-dependent. Rough seas can cancel the trip entirely, and even with Sha'ab Mahmoud's reef protection the surface can be choppy. Book it early in your trip so you have backup days.

A dive light is essential for the interior. A cutting tool is sensible for emergencies. Nitrox extends your bottom time at the stern's 28-30 metre depth. Buoyancy control matters inside the wreck. Disturbing silt reduces visibility fast, and touching the coral-encrusted hull damages growth that has been building since the 1870s.