Underwater Military Museum

In 2019 Jordan sank nineteen retired military vehicles - battle tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery pieces, an ambulance, and helicopters among them - in a deliberate battle-formation arrangement down a sand slope, creating the most unusual purpose-built dive attraction in the Red Sea. Diving it feels like touring a war memorial drained of war: turrets angled as if advancing, rotor blades feathered with algae, gun barrels becoming perches for lionfish. The formation spans a comfortable depth band from about 15 to 28 meters, so a single dive can zigzag most of the collection. Coral colonization is young but visibly under way, and each visit reads differently as the sea claims more. Photographers should bring wide lenses and expect other groups; the museum has become a headline act.

The moment you come for: Helicopters and tanks in deliberate formation; a surreal, highly photogenic layout; measurable year-on-year reef growth.

Topography: Nineteen military vehicles arranged in formation on a sand slope

Entry: Buoyed site a short boat hop down the coast; also reachable as a committed shore dive with a guide.

Hazards: Entanglement points around rotors and barrels; depth adds up while touring the formation.

Conservation: The vehicles were stripped and cleaned before sinking; treat the growing coral as the exhibit it is becoming.

Nitrox: Worth it here — profiles sit in the range where enriched air meaningfully extends no-stop time (with the training to use it).