This year's dive holiday went to Dahab. The must for every diver. This is one of those places you would like to visit... and more of you start doing that. Dahab has great things to offer scubadivers.
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.. underwaterlife .. diving does not need to go deep here. this was taken in just 2 ft water.
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Dahab is one of those Arabic cities that does not really have any beauty... above the waterline. You will find rubbish, goats, camels, car wrecks on almost every street corner. As I am told this is the way the Egyptians live. But: you do not go there for the great cities. You go there to see the immaculate underwater life. Dahab and the coastlines here offer a lot or even more. You get to see an abundance of wildlife nearly extinct in other places. (some of which are nearly extinct here too). Because Dahab is located in the gulf of aqaba, a dead end piece of sea, you do not see the bigger animals like sharks (2 sightings a year), whales or dolphins. Instead you will see lots and lots of small life.
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| Favourite spots: |
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Eel Garden and me... and eels off course
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- Lighthouse; one of the best, easy access, divespots around Dahab. Right in the tourist center part. Great for nightdives and spotting Seahorses or Spanish Dancers.
- Canyon; one of those other great places to go! Easy access and lots to see. It can be a bit crowded over here but thats what you get at these places. Good for nightdives too.
- Eel Garden; not really appreciated by a lot of divers. (so: it is relatively quiet here!) Access is a bit hazardous when there is wind or current about (had both at the same time.. it sucks) You have to walk some 50 to 100 meter on the sandy reefroof to be able to enter a sadle in the coral. You get to see Garden Eels fields as far as you can see, coral and if you are lucky a turtle...
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| What's really great: |
Nightdives around Lighthouse was one of the best things I did here! We spotted some Seahorses and Spanish Dances here.
Besides that I can advice you to go on a camel trip to Ras Abu Galum and dive there. (camel trip is rather touristic... I know but still doing 2 dives here is worth it.)
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| Sights: |
All underwater sights ... but Eel garden is the best panorama.
I am told the Blue Hole is nice and special... but I don't think so. It is not really the nicest place to be, especially if you know many divers died there. Mind you; it is favored by the techdivers because the blue hole has this tunnel to the open sea at 60m depth. Access is easy.
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| Accommodations: |
Daniela hotel; great hotel... NO ACCESS TO HOUSEREEF THOUGH!
oh, and if you are lucky you will get the guys from the American Embassy to visit this resort too... (you will have to leave... you are a security risk.) oh: great cook, we did not get sick.
The other place we stayed was Amanda hotel. It is cheaper, but not as nice. It is located at the promenade and has seaview. I would recomend the place.. if only they would have served warm food for once. We traveled in a group and used to have desert served before our french fries... due to lack of timing.
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| Restaurants: |
El Teatre. On our last day in Dahab we had lunch here... I wish we had done it earlier. The food was extremely good and not expensive.... and the toilets, they were clean!
Also it is located at the promenade, overlooking Lighthouse, where we did the majority of our dives.
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| Other recommendations: |
The only thing we did was diving, smoking waterpipes and riding camels (to and from divesites). We traveled and dove in group(s).
Answers to the comments:
Eire: Where would I fly into to get there?
A: Sharm El Sheikh and then you spend an hour in a taxi.
Gloriajames: Nice but short report
A: not any more... it now is not so nice and long. ;-]
Rangutan: Adding tech stuff like temperatures, proceedures, costs etc would add a *star, also perhaps more on nightlife and what non-divers (family?) can do. Great anyway, well done and thanks very much!
A: eh well, yes.. I could paste an export from my divecomputer if you like... temperatures are pretty good (I dive in Holland too, so I am not really spoiled) 25 to 28 Celcius when I was in Dahab. I can fill books on procedures and costs... but it is Egypt: all is nagotiable.
And about nightlife: doing 4 dives a day does not leave time for nightlife.
Non-divers... eh well... nothing to do here...
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Published on Wednesday October 12th, 2005
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Sat, Apr 29 2006 - 01:46 PM
 by marianne
Maurice,
well-written and very informative. You gave a clear idea of what to expect when diving in Dahab. I especially like the eel garden photo.
Marianne |
Wed, Feb 22 2006 - 09:08 PM
by ehs1193
| It seems like a very nice diving spot. I like the part "Non-divers... eh well... nothing to do here... ". Cracks me up. |
Wed, Oct 12 2005 - 05:59 PM
 by miguelmarchi
Wed, Oct 12 2005 - 03:55 PM
by eirekay
Maurice, tell me more! This is a nice report - I like the idea of riding a camel followed by a couple of dives! Where would I fly into to get there?
Eire |
Wed, Oct 12 2005 - 08:34 AM
by gloriajames
Nice but short report, though there are couple of nice shots.
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Wed, Oct 12 2005 - 08:06 AM
by rangutan
| Fantastic "hot-tip" for divers. Adding tech stuff like temperatures, proceedures, costs etc would add a *star, also perhaps more on nightlife and what non-divers (family?) can do. Great anyway, well done and thanks very much! |
Wed, Oct 12 2005 - 07:45 AM
by jorgesanchez
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