---
title: MS Balena
type: Wreck dive site
location: Hurghada, Red Sea, Egypt
coordinates: 27.178199768066406, 33.83209991455078
max_depth_m: 9
published: 2023-12-24T23:07:47.536Z
updated: 2026-09-06T15:02:24.734Z
tags: MS Balena, Wreck, Red Sea, Dive site, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/diving/dive-sites/ms-balena
---

# MS Balena

## Quick facts

- **Type:** Wreck
- **Location:** Hurghada, Red Sea, Egypt
- **Coordinates:** 27.178199768066406, 33.83209991455078
- **Max depth:** 9 m
- **Depth notes:** 2-9 meters
- **Level:** Advanced

## Good to know

- Suitable for beginners
- Best for advanced divers
- Great for macro photography

## Overview

The MS Balena was built in Norway in 1952 as a mail ship, converted into a liveaboard in the 1990s and brought to Egypt. By 1999 she was rusting at her mooring off the Giftun Village Hotel under an operator who was not maintaining her. The hull began to list in early April 2001, and on the night of April 12 a fire broke out and she went down onto sand at 9 m. The cause was never established, which is why the insurance question is still raised.

## Location

A few hundred meters off the Hurghada shoreline, about 5.7 km south-southwest of the marina.

## Conditions

Most of the wreck lies between 2 and 9 m, with parts of her still above the surface. Visibility this close to shore is often reduced. Open to divers at any level, and to snorkelers over the upper deck.

## Dive plan

She rests upright on an even keel, which makes the whole ship legible in a single dive: the decks can be worked from the top down without ever leaving shallow water. The stern repays the closest look, with the propeller and rudder assembly intact.

## What to see

Soft corals cover the railings and superstructure, and the small animals on them are what the wreck is photographed for: pretty hypselodoris and pyjama slugs, whitespotted puffers, yellow boxfish and crested velvetfish. Upside-down jellyfish lie bell-down on the sand alongside, holding their tentacles to the light for the algae living in them. Schools of garfish hang above the wreck with small barracuda among them, and gray morays live in the stern structure.

## Species recorded here (14)

- Abudjubbe Wrasse (*Cheilinus abudjubbe*)
- Banded Tube Dwelling Anemone (*Pachycerianthus maua*)
- Bubble Algae (*Valonia ventricosa*)
- Crested Velvetfish (*Ptarmus gallus*)
- Giant Moray (*Gymnothorax javanicus*)
- Hemprich's Tree Coral (*Dendronephthya hemprichi*)
- Pretty Hypselodoris (*Hypselodoris pulchella*)
- Pyjama Slug (*Chromodoris quadricolor*)
- Red Sea Mimic Blenny (*Ecsenius gravieri*)
- Red Sea Toby (*Canthigaster margaritata*)
- Toxic Finger Sponge (*Negombata magnifica*)
- Upside-down Jellyfish (*Cassiopea andromeda*)
- Whitespotted Puffer (*Arothron hispidus*)
- Yellow Boxfish (*Ostracion cubicum*)

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/diving/dive-sites/ms-balena)*
*Updated: September 6, 2026*