Diving in Dahab, Red Sea, Egypt

Road trip: approaching Dahab by road All photos: Jane Morgan Classic appearance: the diminutive anemonefish is a guaranteed sighting on Red Sea reefs The camel – an Egyptian icon Macro power: a colourful pyjama nudibranch at Gabr el Bint provides an interesting photographic subject All good: Charlotte enjoys a relaxing break in the blue waters of Dahab Fighting fit: healthy reefs characterise Dahabian diving Anthias swim above a reef of hard and soft corals at the Islands site Blue view: looking across Dahab to the Red Sea

Perched on the back of the rickety dive jeep and wearing flip-flops, sunnies and half-donned wetsuits, we cruised through the small, dusty market town, our driver expertly dodging the camels, goats and potholes. We parked close to shore and kitted up; local families took no notice of us as we walked through to the shallows to the edge of the coral reef. As we descended, the intense heat was replaced by the cooler temperatures of the Red Sea and the gold desert views by red anthias, blue water, soft and hard corals, and a sea bed peppered with sand eels. Just a typical summer day’s shore diving off Dahab.

Sitting between the golden granite mountains of the Sinai desert and the Egyptian Red Sea, the Bedouin town of Dahab is 53 miles north of the busy tourist resort of Sharm El Sheikh. In the late 1980s, the former fishing town was settled by Western backpackers exploring the Sinai travel trail and by divers flocking to the home of the famous Blue Hole and Canyon.

Despite a rapid growth in the number of hotels and tourist facilities, Dahab has managed to maintain its small-town charm, which is a bizarre but warm mix of Bedouin culture, watersport tourism, hippy vibes and well-managed chaos. Thankfully, building is naturally restricted here, as mountains and the sea enclose the area.

The main area of Assalah is where you will find the hub of activity, with seafront restaurants, bars and shops. But despite the introduction of a few plastic neon ‘Sharm Palms’ in the town, everything remains low-key and very relaxed. To the far north and south of Dahab – where you find the best of the dive sites – there is little in the way of buildings, just small, floor-cushioned Bedouin cafés.

It’s rare to see the big underwater life that’s attracted by more high-energy dive sites further south in Sharm, but Dahab’s diving offers a good mix of walls, arches, canyons, caves and rich hard and soft corals. The conditions here are also good for underwater photographers. All the sites are accessed by shore, which means most can be dived any time of the day, depending on the winds. Natural dive entry points are marked along the entire length of Dahab – all reachable by jeep.

Free-divers and technical divers have always flocked here for the depth at sites such as the Blue Hole. For others, the low-cost, flexible, hassle-free, current-free diving – combined with the chilled-out vibe topside – is the major attraction. Divers, however, are no longer in the majority.

While traditionally marked out as diving and windsurfing holiday destination, the windswept resort is now attracting a rapidly growing band of visitors in search of a mind, body and spirit getaway without the hefty price tag. Last year, an estimated 3,000 people arrived here on yoga holidays, with many hundreds of others flocking in search of themselves and to recharge in the Sinai desert. Everywhere you go, there are any number of alternative activities on offer, from holistic massages and spa and detox treatments, to desert meditation and energy healing.

Dahab was one of the first places to introduce the concept of yoga diving, where divers basically attend yoga lessons before heading out for a day underwater. The stretching postures counterbalance the strain put on the body by diving, and the breathing exercises can dramatically reduce air consumption and overall stress. Both diving and yoga also lend themselves to solo travel, which could explain the big jump in the number of people arriving on their own.

Just out of town at the Bedouin Moon Hotel, which is also the site of Reef 2000, there are special rates for solo travellers. Dave Elgin, the hotel’s manager and owner of the dive centre, says there has been a significant increase in the number of lone travellers in the region over the last few years, particularly women. He says women seem happy to travel on their own in Dahab because they can meet up with like-minded people in a relaxed environment. It’s also a safe place to stay – I always felt perfectly comfortable wandering around town at night on my own. This was echoed by first-time solo travellers Ellie McAree and Ivano Rubino, who I joined for the week’s diving.

What struck me when talking to visitors to Dahab is that it is very much a love-it-or-leave-it destination. Some find it hard to look past the chaos and, most notably, the rubbish found dumped around the desert town – a downside to a place that is surrounded by such natural beauty. However, Dahabians are making a real effort to clear the area’s reefs and beach areas of rubbish – particularly plastic bags and bottles, which seriously threaten the marine environment.

Local Bedouin entrepreneur Gomaa (known by many as ‘Friday’) has plans to start a full-time cleaning operation around Dahab, up to and including Ras Abu Galoum, ten miles to the north. Cleanups in 2008 have made a huge difference, and Gomaa is asking the area’s 50 dive centres to together donate 150 Egyptian pounds (about £18) to employ 15 Bedouins to clean up the beaches every ten days.

‘All the rubbish will be brought to Dahab by camel or car, and then taken to the garbage wadi [valley] after the checkpoint where it can be disposed of properly,’ he says. ‘I should say that it is almost impossible to keep the beach completely free of rubbish all the time, but we can keep the level of trash at a minimum.’ Dahab is as mellow above the water at it is below, and you’d have to fight hard not to give in to its laidback approach to life and feel the warmth of such a vibrant community. And if you are not particularly into an alternative lifestyle, mafeesh mushkella (Arabic for ‘no worries’): there are more mainstream topside activities on offer, as well as various bars, restaurants and cafés to chill out or party at.

After a week in Dahab, any thoughts of financial doom and gloom dominating the news in the UK were forgotten. A world away from talk of bank bail-outs and falling house prices, local expats were more interested in the news of a Thai restaurant opening near the main seafront than the latest share prices. Here, the global credit crunch sounds more like a bad snack than something to seriously panic about.



Dive sites

Gabr El Bint
This current-fuelled site is 19 miles south of Dahab and can be accessed by dayboat or jeep and camel. The sheer wall here starts at a depth of 10–20m and descends to beyond 50m. When the current allows, the dive starts at the wall at 10m, from where divers can descend to see the huge gorgonian fans and forests of soft corals. On the return to the boat, swim over the reef wall to the wide sandy lagoon, where you find a variety of macro life as well as rays and crocodilefish.

Eel garden
A good site suitable for most levels. Start on the sandy bottom, and move slowly forward to see hundreds of sand eels peering up from the sea bed. The last part of the dive is on a shallow section of reef, where you can check out the local macro inhabitants.

Blue Hole
For recreational divers, there is not much to see in the blue itself other than tank-heavy tekkies and mono-finned free-divers. The best of the reef is outside the Blue Hole. Start at the Bells site 100m north, where you descend down an 18m-long narrow chimney, which takes you out to the blue at 28m. From here, there is a long section of reef wall, where you are most likely to find schools of barracuda. The final part of the dive takes you across a coral encrusted 6m-deep saddle on the reef, which marks the entrance to the Blue Hole.

The Canyon
Named after the long, narrow canyon that runs north to south from the reef to depths of around 50m, this site can get very crowded – but if you catch it for a quiet hour, it is a fantastic dive through the canyon from the entrance at around 12m and is enclosed to 50m.

The Islands
The maximum depth on this site is only 8m, but it is a terrific dive. The area is densely covered in hard and soft corals and there is an excellent variety of macro life, as well as passing barracuda, wrasse and potato grouper. An excellent site for underwater photographers.


Need to know
Charlotte travelled to Dahab with Scuba Travel Worldwide Holidays. A seven-night stay at the Bedouin Moon Hotel costs from £615, which includes flights, transfers, bed and breakfast, and a five-day dive package with Reef 2000. For more information, phone 0800 072 8221, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit http://www.scuba.co.uk.