Anyone need Info on Dahab, Red Sea

[Red Sea Shadow]

yes , I agree
staying in Swissinn and other stars hotels will keep you away from the center of Dahab where you can enjoy the unique atmosphere of Dahab and other things Dahab Diver has mentioned.

I agree with that. Staying at Swiss Inn, Hilton, Novotel Coralia, or other luxurious hotels won't give you the real Dahab.

 

[Marek K]

make sure you go up to the main village to experience the chilled out atmosphere

yes , I agree staying in Swissinn and other stars hotels will keep you away from the center of Dahab where you can enjoy the unique atmosphere of Dahab

I agree with that. Staying at Swiss Inn, Hilton, Novotel Coralia, or other luxurious hotels won't give you the real Dahab.

I hear you guys... but traveling with wife and two kids, we're interested in significant luxury in addition to the diving. Adventure is all relative.

Dahab Diver, you say the the lagoon where the Swiss Inn is located has "no coral or fish." "No" is such a funny word... I assume you mean no large coral reefs, right? And that numbers of fish can't compare to the large reefs?

The web site of the dive operation where we're going, Extra Divers, says (my translation from German): "Swiss Inn Beach is the house reef of the EXTRA DIVERS dive operation in Dahab. Directly in from of the base, in a wide bay, is a dive site that makes the hearts of photographers beat faster. [Hey, I'm just translating here; I didn't write the stuff.] Individual coral blocks, scattered across a wide meadow of sea grass, offer room for countless sea creatures. From grey morays to lion fish to sea horses, you can find everything that the Red Sea has to offer... With a maximum depth of 16 meters, the dive site lets you take your time."

OK, that bit about all the fish is certainly exaggerated. But there does appear to be tolerable shore diving right there, though that's not the reason we'd be going there. I do understand that you have to drive to the good shore dive sites -- and the big reefs -- but it's also nice to be able to walk down whenever you want to (from your luxury hotel ), and take a tank out for a casual shore dive with one of your kids.

--Marek

 

[mania]

Marek
If the Swiss Inn is next to Hilton - as it was said (I don't know this hotel) then there may be no reef. Hilton doesn't have one. I think they wrote literally about SINGLE corals not small reefs....
Mania

 

[Marek K]

Marek
If the Swiss Inn is next to Hilton - as it was said (I don't know this hotel) then there may be no reef. Hilton doesn't have one. I think they wrote literally about SINGLE corals not small reefs....
Mania

Hi Mania--

I finally researched that the dive operation at the Hilton (which I remember you recommended highly) is Sinai Divers. I've been sifting through the web site of Sinai Divers, and they've got some very nice satellite maps there -- one shows that the Hilton and the Swiss Inn are indeed right next-door to one another, inside the tip of a sand cape south of Dahab town.

Sinai Divers are a little more expensive than Easy Divers, plus I get a 10% "Stammgast" discount with Easy Divers now. But the Hilton and Sinai Divers are now a very real possibility! I need to talk with you more about that.

Sinai Divers also describe the "Hilton House Reef" as having a "small reef formation" where smaller creatures like sea horses, lionfish, morays, nudi's, and clownfish can be seen. I suspect "house reef" may be an optimistic description, though... meaning just shore diving in general...

I think "small reef formation" may be what Easy Divers describe as an individual coral block -- I'd picture it as being anything from a meter to several meters in diameter, and maybe a meter or two high off the sand -- much larger than a single coral, which in any case would have to have a substrate to anchor on to. Lots of stuff can be seen on one of these coral blocks -- kind of a reef microcosm!

--Marek

 

[Dahab Diver]

Hi to all if you want to get the real feel for Dahab you got to move into the center of town staying in the big hotels you don't get the same feel you need to be at ground zero..

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