We spent 9-15 June 2019 in Dahab, Egypt. We stayed at the Red Sea Relax resort in the center of the Lighthouse area in Dahab. Our technical diving was supported by Team Blue Immersion which is associated with Dahab Divers.
One of the owners Andy was our primary point of contact. Khaled was our shore supervisor. Saleh was the gas blender, and the drivers / shore assistants were Akmed (Tarek Omar’s driver / shore support) and Mansour.
Team Blue Immersions location is not obvious. You must travel thru the Dahab Divers courtyard and then up a short driveway. Despite the fact that they are located in the same building and on the floor above Dahab Divers, no one at Dahab Divers would acknowledge who or where Team Blue Immersion was.
There is a classroom inside. There are lockers on the patio with small crates. Wetsuits and divegear bags are stored in a locked room below the patio. We used the same backgas and deco tanks each day.
Our first day of diving was designed as a debugging dive day at Lighthouse. It took a few hours to get set up including adjusting the stud lengths to get the twinsets to fit our plates. You walk down the driveway and thru the courtyard to access the water. You enter the water thru one of the many waterside restaurants.
The shore support person generally handles your deco tanks from the time you leave the shop to when you don them in the water. They then monitor you while you are in the water and assist you exiting and returning to the shop.
The next four days were spent at the legendary Blue Hole. We met at the shop each morning at 8 and analyzed and marked our tanks. The driver / shore support person loads the gear in the truck and you are off by 0830. The ride to the blue hole is approximately 20 minutes. You go past the Canyon area on the way to the Blue Hole.
The Blue Hole is ringed by open air restaurants. Our truck pulled up right next to the entrance point. Typically, we would stake out an area at the Aqua Marina restaurant, drink a water, and preorder our lunch. After that we did the equipment setup.
It is a little bit difficult getting in the water due to the small rocks on the path and underwater. A bigger problem is the numerous snorkelers and waders who sometimes block the narrow path to the deeper water for no apparent reason. Frequently, they leave their flip flops on the path to the water while they are in the water. It is also sometimes difficult getting out of the water due to the same traffic. Tripping on a flip flop and falling down or falling on top of one of the snorkelers was certainly the greatest danger that I encountered diving the blue hole arch. Fortunately, we frequently beat the snorkels to the Blue Hole in the mornings.
Since two of the divers were taking the remainder of a PADI trimix course, our dives were planned around the skill and depth requirements of each dive. Typically, we would enter the Blue Hole and descend on either the inside or outside depending on what we were doing that day.
Day one, two dives, primarily skill dives and recon of the arch, deco on the outside of the hole
Day two, pass thru the top of the arch and deco on the outside of the hole
Day three, pass thru the middle of the arch, pass thru back to the inside, deco on the inside of the hole
Day four, pass thru the near the bottom, pass back thru to the inside, deco on the inside.
We used, tmx 21/20, tmx 18/30, tmx 16/40, and tmx 14/50 as our bottom gasses. X32 and x100 as our deco gasses, and tmx 21/20 as a travel gas on the deeper dives.
After we put away our equipment we would go back to the restaurant for lunch. I had the chicken kebab every day which was so good, I would eat it every day if I could.
We would then return to the shop where Team Blue Immersion would rinse off our tanks and put in the next days fills.
All of the dives were fantastic. The support provided by Andy, Khaled, Saleh, Akmed, and Mansour was more than you could ask for.
We did make one serious mistake one day. One of the divers only had a yellow dsmb. There a yellow dsmb means emergency. Andy swam out to see what the problem was. Apparently is is especially serious if you launch one after an Orange dsmb, like we did, during the course skill.
We had such a good time on this trip that our once in a lifetime trip has now become an annual event. Dahab’s recognition as a prime technical diving site is well deserved. It is very easy to obtain the depths needed for full hypoxic trimix courses. Unfortunately, we did not have a chance to technical dive at other sites such as the Canyon area.
One of the owners Andy was our primary point of contact. Khaled was our shore supervisor. Saleh was the gas blender, and the drivers / shore assistants were Akmed (Tarek Omar’s driver / shore support) and Mansour.
Team Blue Immersions location is not obvious. You must travel thru the Dahab Divers courtyard and then up a short driveway. Despite the fact that they are located in the same building and on the floor above Dahab Divers, no one at Dahab Divers would acknowledge who or where Team Blue Immersion was.
There is a classroom inside. There are lockers on the patio with small crates. Wetsuits and divegear bags are stored in a locked room below the patio. We used the same backgas and deco tanks each day.
Our first day of diving was designed as a debugging dive day at Lighthouse. It took a few hours to get set up including adjusting the stud lengths to get the twinsets to fit our plates. You walk down the driveway and thru the courtyard to access the water. You enter the water thru one of the many waterside restaurants.
The shore support person generally handles your deco tanks from the time you leave the shop to when you don them in the water. They then monitor you while you are in the water and assist you exiting and returning to the shop.
The next four days were spent at the legendary Blue Hole. We met at the shop each morning at 8 and analyzed and marked our tanks. The driver / shore support person loads the gear in the truck and you are off by 0830. The ride to the blue hole is approximately 20 minutes. You go past the Canyon area on the way to the Blue Hole.
The Blue Hole is ringed by open air restaurants. Our truck pulled up right next to the entrance point. Typically, we would stake out an area at the Aqua Marina restaurant, drink a water, and preorder our lunch. After that we did the equipment setup.
It is a little bit difficult getting in the water due to the small rocks on the path and underwater. A bigger problem is the numerous snorkelers and waders who sometimes block the narrow path to the deeper water for no apparent reason. Frequently, they leave their flip flops on the path to the water while they are in the water. It is also sometimes difficult getting out of the water due to the same traffic. Tripping on a flip flop and falling down or falling on top of one of the snorkelers was certainly the greatest danger that I encountered diving the blue hole arch. Fortunately, we frequently beat the snorkels to the Blue Hole in the mornings.
Since two of the divers were taking the remainder of a PADI trimix course, our dives were planned around the skill and depth requirements of each dive. Typically, we would enter the Blue Hole and descend on either the inside or outside depending on what we were doing that day.
Day one, two dives, primarily skill dives and recon of the arch, deco on the outside of the hole
Day two, pass thru the top of the arch and deco on the outside of the hole
Day three, pass thru the middle of the arch, pass thru back to the inside, deco on the inside of the hole
Day four, pass thru the near the bottom, pass back thru to the inside, deco on the inside.
We used, tmx 21/20, tmx 18/30, tmx 16/40, and tmx 14/50 as our bottom gasses. X32 and x100 as our deco gasses, and tmx 21/20 as a travel gas on the deeper dives.
After we put away our equipment we would go back to the restaurant for lunch. I had the chicken kebab every day which was so good, I would eat it every day if I could.
We would then return to the shop where Team Blue Immersion would rinse off our tanks and put in the next days fills.
All of the dives were fantastic. The support provided by Andy, Khaled, Saleh, Akmed, and Mansour was more than you could ask for.
We did make one serious mistake one day. One of the divers only had a yellow dsmb. There a yellow dsmb means emergency. Andy swam out to see what the problem was. Apparently is is especially serious if you launch one after an Orange dsmb, like we did, during the course skill.
We had such a good time on this trip that our once in a lifetime trip has now become an annual event. Dahab’s recognition as a prime technical diving site is well deserved. It is very easy to obtain the depths needed for full hypoxic trimix courses. Unfortunately, we did not have a chance to technical dive at other sites such as the Canyon area.
