Dive Sites of Dahab and Nuweiba in the Egyptian Red Sea

1 March 2013
The Red Sea has some of the best diving in the world, including Dahab and Nuweiba whose dives are detailed here. See also Diving centres in Dahab and Nuweiba and Dahab Practicalities for hotels, getting there, etc.

Dive Sites in Dahab • Dive Sites in Nuweiba • Further Reading

Dive Sites in Dahab

Dahab means "Gold", and it was named by the Bedouin for its golden sands Some divers consider Dahab to be a bit out of the way, but if you like relaxed diving with just short walk into the water, then Dahab is well worth a visit. Dahab is very popular with Russian, German, Dutch, French and Italian divers. The dives are listed from North to South.

Diving generally involves a short drive up or down the coast to a Bedouin cafe where you have a cup of tea before getting changed and walking into the water. After the dive you return to the cafe for lunch. If you have older children they can remain in the cafe whilst you dive; or go horse or camel riding along the beach.

Whilst once the exception, boat diving is becoming popular in Dahab. It is replacing the camel safaris down the coast to dive sites inaccessible by road. To be cost-effective the boats need to be full meaning that several groups of divers are in the water, on the same dive, at the same time.

Diving in Dahab Video by David Collins, Bright Rain Photographics
Includes dives at The Caves, Canyon, El Shugiarat and Moray Garden

"All amazing dive sites, especially Islands, Eel Garden and the Canyon. Crystal clear water, excellent vis, beautiful fish and coral etc. Regarding accomodation, Oasis Fighting Kangaroo had some brilliant rooms for about £1 a night. "
Rachael King

"Good shore diving with amazing corals. Loads of fish including Napoleon (Maori) wrasse. Good for all levels, some difficult dives with fierce currents. "
Matthew Moore

"Look out for the Red Sea Walkman when diving in Dahab. I have dived a lot in the Red sea but have only found it there. "
Nickyh
Note: The Red Sea Walkman or Two-Stick Stingfish (Inimicus filamentosus) is a scorpion fish that can use its front fins to walk over the sea bed.

El Bells to the Blue Hole

Depth: >24 m

Rating: (4)

El Bells is a short walk north of the Blue Hole. Enter down a narrow crevace to a chimney which is open at one side. At 26 m you can pop under an arch and out to a wall dive. An excellent entrance. Alternatively you can carry on down to 30 m before exiting the chimney.

Keep the wall on your right and look out into the blue on your left. A lovely dive. Follow the wall, with its overhangs, until you reach the Blue Hole. You can enter the Blue Hole at 7 m. The hard coral is splendid outside the Blue Hole: a carpet of colours and textures. Inside the Blue Hole, though, the coral is disappointing. Swim round the Blue Hole and exit onto the shore and to the Bedouin cafes.

Rate:

The Blue Hole

Depth: 80 m

The Blue Hole is the dark patch
of water near to the shore

Rating: (6)

The Blue Hole is just that - a very large hole over 200 m in diameter and dropping to over 80 m. You can enter the water at the Bells, which is just of the northern edge of the car park and Bedouin cafés area. The entry is a gully and tube that drops straight from the shore via an arch to a depth of 200 m. We exited at 30m and turned south along the reef back to the Blue Hole. Traverse around the side of the hole back to shore.

We previously dived the Blue Hole in 1990 and were somewhat taken aback by the change to the on-shore environment. When we visited then, we were the only divers there, and it was at the end of a track which went for miles through unpopulated desert and felt like it was at the end of the world. Now there were about 50 vehicles there (in summer the number rises to 200+), and either side of what is still a track are Bedouin tents acting as cafes and rest areas for the divers. The Canyon too, seems overdived; worth doing, but probably best as a privately organised dive either before or after the commercially organised groups fill it up.

"Lovely dive, coral wall, sea bottom over 800 m below, just a blue expanse below hence name. Several plaques to divers who died here at entry point. A bit scary to see but no need to be (apparently a tempting underwater arch at 55 m has caught a few over adventurous divers out) no danger to well behaved divers and well worth a visit. Lots of fish life: parrot fish, trigger fish, lovely coral, exciting water entry!"
Gordon

"fantastic diving! Great for deep dives along coral wall. Not too touristy either."
Tal

"Done as a full moon night dive without torches, stunning! "
Bridget Ball, February 2011

"Unbelievable! Plenty of life, beautiful corals, lion fish, turtles, (too many things to remember) excellent vis, no words can describe! "
Shanna Small

"The Blue Hole has it's own magic - we are not sure how a 70 - 105 m deep crater (about 40 - 60 m in diameter) in a shore reef 5 m from the beach came into existance. That's not all. It has a washed out arch starting at 53 m below the surface, best dived around 60 to 65 m, just magic diving through on your back, like looking at a large bridge from underneath! The deep blue due to less sunlight, the sheer straight walls down, then the arch! Great! "
Wolfgang, 2008

"One of the best sites in the Red Sea "
Hesham Atia, 2009

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Ricks Reef

Depth: 16 m

North of the Canyon. An extremely gentle drift dive. Reef goes down to around 14 m then small coral outcrops on sand. Look out for large Napoleon wrasse and, at the tiny end of the spectrum, the Red Sea Chelidonura. Just few centimeters long, this is a kind of nudibranch which looks dark red in natural light or dark blue if you shine a torch on it. It has two yellow head lobes which look just like sticky-out eyes. Only found in the Red Sea.

The Canyon

Depth: 50 m

Rating: (4)

One of the renowned dives of Dahab is the Canyon which starts at a round coral bowl - the fish bowl, with lots of glass fish, and descends as a tube down to around 50 m. The tube is has openings in the top at which provide access and escape at various depths. We dropped in through the top at a depth of 18-20 m into the canyon where the bottom was 30 m and progressed back up to the fish bowl. (Note, the fish bowl is currently closed to preserve the coral.)

"Done as a full moon night dive without torches, stunning! "
Bridget Ball, February 2011

"Amazing life, rays, lion fish, stone fish, eels etc etc. Cleaner fish swim into your mounth clean your teeth, great experience! "
Shanna Small

"Nice underwater structure descending to 30 m with big mad fishball lurking inside. Enjoyable dive for AOW. "
Gordon

Eel Garden

Rating: (1)

Named after the colony of eels that populates its sandy slopes. A gentle, shallow dive with schools of Barracuda and many hard and soft corals.

"Very surreal. Hundreds of eels standing vertical out of the sand slowly retreat back into their holes as you swim closer. Looks amazing with an awesome blue background! "
Shanna Small

"Wonderful eels on a sandy floor. As you go forward on your dive they start to dive in the sand - words cannot describe the beauty. "
Hazem Hashem

Lighthouse Reef

Dive at the end of Masbat, to which you can walk from many of the dive centres. It is a lovely little reef from the surface to 10 m or more. A man-made underwater playground is nearby. Look out for the Ghost Pipe Fish, Solenastomus cyanopteris. This little fish looks exactly like a stray piece of old sea grass or seaweed. Also the Pharaoh Cuttlefish which is very pretty with beautiful blue edging.

The Islands

Depth: 18 m

Rating: (3)

The Islands are just south of the town and are formed by a coral table criss-crossed by gullies producing a very confused topography, and ideal for a shallow dive (17-18 m). Dolphins come close to shore and transit up and down the coast for week or two each year when the temperature drops in the winter. If not dolphins then you'll see schools of Yellowtail Barracuda and Twinspot Snapper. The entry is marked by a noticeboard on the beach. Best to enter the sea at high tide.

Moray Garden

Moray Gardens and Golden Blocks are close together, about 10 km south of Dahab.

Look immediately you start the dive in the sandy shallows for some very interesting fish. At around 2 m for example you may find a Short Dragonfish, Eurypegasus draconis. This is the only place in the Red Sea that I have seen one of these small, boxy, armoured fish walking along the sand propelled by its pectoral fins. Another interesting dweller of the shallows are pairs of ghost pipe fish. These red cryptic fish look more like old bits of seagrass than fish. You might also see a moray as indicated in the name.

Rating: (1)

Golden Blocks

From the Bedouin cafe walk along the beach to the left, past the sunbathers in front of the Happy Life Village Hotel until you reach a sign showing a map of the dive site. Look out for the long double-ended pipe fish at the sandy start of the dive - which I have only seen in Dahab - and the flatfish Moses sole, which secretes a skin toxin which has been successfully used as a shark deterrent. You may also be lucky enough to see a turtle and a large Napoleon wrasse cruises the area. A large fan coral lives at around 20 m.

Rating: (1)

"Lots of nice fish life: turtles, lovely pipefish, cornet, trevally, lionfish, even a few squid. Nice snorkelling between dives. "
Gordon

The Caves

Depth: 25 m

The furthest south dive on the stretch of shore giving access to the Moray Gardens and the Golden Blocks. Entry is in front of what looks to be an unused Bedouin cafe. A sign points to the Caves. At high tide it is easy to drop straight into the water by the road. Swim south east into the first, shallow, cave. Further north there is a canyon leading up to the surface. From here you can swim back south along a drop off, finally visiting a final cave at 10-15 m, just south of the first one. The woman surfacing in the video at the top of the page is almost at the surface and about to exit the Caves dive site.

Umm Sid

Reef dive. Good coral formations.

Gabr El Bint

Reached by boat or by camel: about an hour south of Dahab. Gabr El Bint, or Tomb of the Girl, is a wall dive at the north end of a bay. Dive down a sloping reef until you reach the wall between 8 and 20 m. Following the coastline, the wall drops to depths well past 50 m (164ft). There are some lovely corals here, especially on the edge of the lagoon where they are spectactularly unspoilt.

Rating: (1)

"Great dive, lovely grassy area on top of the reef then a drop about 5 metres to a sort of ledge where you can see into the blue and then you can swim round the wall a bit and swim back up onto the grassy areas where then you almost freefall further to another ledge then back the way you came again! Great dive saw loads of fish, turtles and massive fan corals. Really clear water about 30 metres visibility literally! I recommend! "
Angus Whitney, UK, 2012

El Shugiarat

An hour south of Dahab by boat, El Shugiarat means "branch of a tree". From a boat you drop in off the reef then swim to the top of a canyon. This great crack starts at 18 m and carries on to 60. When you reach your maximum depth pull out to a forest of fan coral (Anella mollis). You can then zig zag up the sloping reef looking for the shy Longnose Hawkfish (Oxycirrhites typus). Even if you don't see this pretty hawkfish, there are swarms of anthias, both Lyretail and Red Sea (Pseudanthias squamipinnis and Pseudanthias taeniatus). Adding to the beauty of the lower reef are bundles of Red Cluster Whip, Ellisella juncea.

Rating: (1)

Diving in Nuweiba

"Reflects the best the Red Sea is famous for. You can find everything Sharm El-Sheikh is famous for without the hassle, cost and being one of 500 divers in the water! Excellent experience! Would strongly recommend! "
Christian Vohl, Germany, 2006

Ras Shaitan

15 m

Rating:

"There is a stunning reef wall to 15 m, with a sandy slope and coral garden. Can find hundreds of nudibranches, rays ... and a guitar shark! "
Christian Vohl, Germany, 2006

Ras Mumlah

15 m

Rating:

"One of the most stunning dives in my experience. A stunning coral garden with a spectacular drop off from 20 m to deeper than I have ventured! Many ravines, caves and chimneys, and hundreds of fish! "
Christian Vohl, Germany, 2006

"These were incredible wall dives with beautiful gorgonians and so many different corals, and a dropoff into the deep blue. I often saw turtles and families of Napoleon wrasses as well as many big fish passing by in the blue. "
Noelle Rucinski, USA, 2006

Ras Abu Galum

15 m

Rating:

"Made 2 dives here, the first on a straight wall, with large groupers, snapper and jackfish, and large, colourful corals, and the second on a sandy plateau where we found 4 scorpion fish, amongst the corals, and saw a large, friendly turtle, One of my favorite dive sites! "
Christian Vohl, Germany, 2006

African Divers Housereef & Pipeline

15 m

Rating:

"Only a quick drive from the diving center, these are two of the most beautiful dives in Nuweiba. Housereef is a stunning coral garden with octopus and pegasus and clouds of anthias and basslets. Pipeline has an amazing amount of soft corals, lionfish, scorpionfish , and hidden treasures to be found in every crevice! There were also schools of large jacks and batfish that I'd never seen so close to shore. "
Noelle Rucinski, USA, 2006

Al Ma'agana

15 m

Rating:

"This site begins with a seagrass bed with many funny little pipefish, and where a careful eye can spot beautiful, shy seahorses! There are several different dives to do at this one site, including exploring coral pinnacles where I saw over 30 nudibranches in one dive. On the reefs, there were huge zoanthids and we spotted octopuses and nudibranches, including spanish dancers, hidden amongst the coral. "
Noelle Rucinski, USA, 2006

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