dive sites & packages
A range of Dahab Diving Packages (recreational and technical) are available, covering all the local sites and throwing in lots of exciting extras such as camel diving safaris, boat safaris and more. We can arrange whichever dive package suits your requirements, please let us know what you are interested in when booking your apartment.
Dahab offers some twenty four fabulous dive sites for you to experience during your holiday. Here we have provided you with a selection to whet your appetite...
Blue Hole/Bells
One of Dahab's most famous dive sites, it is located about twenty minutes jeep ride from the centre of Dahab. It is accessible from the shore with entry into the blue water just a few metres from the rocky shoreline. Bedouin type facilities surround the main entry / exit points, with toilets, seating, food and drinks available. Whilst entry into the Blue Hole pool is one option, quite a nice alternative is to make a short walk to the north, along the rocky coastal path and enter through a gap in the shoreline rocks. This is done one diver at a time. Divers can then drop down an enclosed chimney in the reef exiting at 30 metres or so onto the sheer wall. The reef is near vertical at this point and as you head south (right shoulder to the reef) you'll come around an outcrop which makes for some fantastic silhouette photographs looking up towards the sunlight. The reef wall is home to lots of clownfish anemones and the blue backdrop makes a great viewing point for trevallies, jacks, barracuda and possibly white-tip and grey reef sharks.
As you travel south and ascend you will come to a colourful hard coral slope at around 10 metres, which leads up and over at 6 metres into the blue hole pool. It is best to spend most of the dive on the outside of the reef as the inside pool has little in the way of coral. Use your safety stop to either swim across the pool or around the edge (left shoulder to reef) until you reach the small wooden jetty and exit. Currents can be strong, usually north to south, on the outside of the reef so the northern entry point is often a good option, then drifting down to the pool with the current.
The Canyon
This is one of the most popular dive sites in Dahab and an essential dive for all fanatics of caves and cavern diving. The Canyon is up to 10m deep and virtually closed over at the top. It snakes its way up from the depths, to emerge in a large glassfish-filled coral dome, the Fishbowl. After an easy shore entry, you cross a sandy lagoon that opens onto a gently sloping reef marked with coral heads. The amazing and eerie canyon soon comes into view. It has three main openings. At about 12m is the fishbowl. Below that is another large bowl, opening at about 20m. Deepest of all is a narrow exit at 52m. In between these openings the walls have grown together to virtually close over the top of the canyon, forming a tunnel. From the top it has the appearance of the fluted mouth of a clam shell.
Descend into the Canyon at 20m and drop to the bottom which sits at around 30m. Make sure you stick to a depth well within your ability. Take a minute at bottom and enjoy the magnificent view, the light coming through the crack that forms the entry of the Canyon while you sit in semi-darkness, it is an amazing sight. Finish the dive by swimming through a coral garden at about 8m where there are very good chances of finding the resident octopus.
The Caves
Entry to this dive site is made by walking across the reef top lagoon and then either dropping in over the top of the reef, or entering through one of the holes in the reef and swimming through. There are some lovely coral formations in and amongst the pinnacles. Look for blue spotted rays hiding under the coral whilst you are weaving through the pinnacles. It is also common to see shoals of blackfin barracuda and even the odd lone great barracuda. This is a very scenic site and ideal for a long second or third dive of the day - perfect for photographs.
The Islands offer a wide range of hard and soft coral, combined with outstanding topography. You can explore a maze of coral boulders, alleyways, amphitheatres, valleys and gullies all in less than 18 metres. After the entry follow a wide sandy valley before entering the intricate reef system. You can see plenty of big groupers, glittering anthias, jewel-like schools of glassfish, napoleons, lionfish and a dense shoal of barracudas usually roams the northern section of the reef. The Islands is an all time favourite dive site for everyone who dives there.
Eel Garden
This site takes its name from the countless garden eels that carpet the sea floor not far from the entry point of the dive. After walking over the reef plate to the entry spot which is a nine metre canyon, it then broadens into a large sandy area that slopes down gradually. After diving along a jutting reef that lies perpendicular to the main reef the eels slowly come into view, waving to and fro in the current like synchronized swimmers who vanish back into the sand as you approach.
Descend to about 20m where you will find a nearly flat section of reef with coral boulders and several table corals. It is quite common to find a thick congregation of barracudas regularly patrolling the area. On your way back at around 5 and 10m you will see healthy, wide range variety of both soft and hard corals and look out here for the rare seagrass ghost pipefish.
The Lighthouse
This very popular dive site in Dahab is perfect for teaching all levels, from Open Water to technical. As the Lighthouse is a site which has one of the easiest entries and exits and it is always sheltered from the wind, diving here is always possible. As you step in the water you will find a shallow sandy area that slowly drops off into a large grassy slope. Look out for seahorses and pegasus seamoths that generally occur in pairs. There is also a good chance to find the rare anglerfish.
On the left site the reef begins. The reef wall is similar to many that you will find in Dahab, it is common to see unicornfish and a small school or two of bar seabream. The reef wall is scattered over numerous sandy patches with enormous pinnacles rising from all directions, which disappear into the deep. Follow the reef wall and cruise over and between these pinnacles until you reach the saddle. Here you can always find some scorpion and crocodilefish and if you are lucky you might meet a stonefish.
Cross the saddle and enter a coral garden that will end with a very large gorgonian fan coral. Swim around the last pinnacle and come back towards the reef wall where you will slowly ascend to the small sandy lagoon at around 5m. At night you will find Spanish dancers, anemone crabs, nudibranchs, octopus and moray eels.
Shoe Stump Reef
This is located just north of Dahab, the first dive site after the northern checkpoint. Named Shoe Stump because a long time ago to make it easier for the dive guides to locate the entrance point, there was an old shoe nailed to a wooden stump. The Bedouins call this site 'Bbachhacha' which means 'Spray Water' in Arabic. As you can guess by the name this site can only be dived in good conditions, as in high winds the site is exposed to very choppy waves.
The entry is the best part, descend through a hole in the reef table and dive down through a little 7 metre long tunnel, exit at approximately 6 metres on the outer reef. Watch out for lionfish, which inhabit this area. Divers who are not really confident in narrow spaces should avoid this dive. Turn left and descend further to approximately 20 metres and dive over the reef which is covered with table corals, giving shelter to copious fish species. Here you can find anthias, parrotfish, yellow tailed barracudas, black spotted sweetlips as well as giant napoleons, which are often sighted.
Once you reach 100 bar of air ascend to 10 metres and turn back and follow the same path to the entry point. Complete your safety stop right in front of the exit, as this is the nicest section of the reef. You may want to extend your safety stop if you have enough air to at least 10 minutes and spend your time looking around at the magnificent marine life. This dive is perfect for a second or third dive of the day as the best corals are located at approximately 5 metres.
Moray Garden
This is one of the beautiful dive sites in the south between Three Pools and Golden Blocks. At the entry and exit point you have a sandy slope from where you can go either right or left or do drift dives from Golden Blocks or to Three Pools. On the right side you will find a fascinating coral garden with a small wall dropping off to 50m. It is a great place to look into holes and cracks for interesting things like morays, nudibranchs and scorpionfish. Following the coral slope you will pass a nice glassfish pinnacle at 22m. As you come up to the shallow reef at the top of the coral garden you will find a sandy area at 7m where you can see a big school of yellow tail barracudas. At the left side of Moray Garden you have a coral slope with sand alleys streaming down at the deeper part. At the shallower part you have beautiful table corals and coral blocks. It is a great place to find nudibranchs, morays and blue spotted stingrays. Moray Garden can be enjoyed by all divers regardless of level. It has a lot of small things to see but sightings of guitar sharks, whitetip reef sharks and whale sharks have been known.