Just came home from Puerto Galera, but didnt manage to stay home for more than 4 days in chilly cloudy Norway... therefore: Dahab!
Spent my week with Big Blue again, this place offers great quality for reasonable prices. Its Ramadan now, which means everyone is a bit grumpy from around 16.00-18.00, before they've had breakfast, but its manageable. Conditions was a bit rough and that limited divesites oppurtunities some days, but I still managed 13 dives including the Deep Speciality in a week.
This time I dived 5 new sites: Gabr el Bint, Napoleon Reef, Umm Sid,
Golden Blocks North and Blue Hole South (or "Right and Left" as they say... who figures.... right=north and left=south(!))
Gabr El Bint
The most southern divesite in the Dahab Area and most often accsessed by boat. I had great expectations for this wall-dive, but was a bit dissapointed. The reason for the lack of "events" was most likely that we had no current at all, leaving the big fishes away. Still some nice gorgonians, crocodile fish, blue spotted stingray (in the lagoon) and stonefish.
The site is dived twice, one deep along the wall, and one shallow in the lagoon. Sharks can be seen here so I would do it again, hopefully with more current.
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Napoleon Reef
This site is just outside the Lagoon in Dahab (near Hilton/The Port). Its not often dived due to its location and can only be accessed by boat. Its therefore dived as a third dive, on the way home after the trip to Gabr el Bint. There are alot of dead corals, but we still managed to see a pepper-moray, a nice swimming blue spotted stingray and a big Napoleon Wrasse in the distance. Watch out for the windsurfers around the shallow area. It wasn't spectacular, but it was nice to "have done it" anyway. A great place to take OW students for their OW Dives 1-2 with loads of shallow sandy areas to perform skills (if youre having them on a boat that is..)
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Umm Sid
We had to cancel this one the first time we tried du to rough surface conditions, but eventually we got a go. An impressive entry with a steep slope taking you down to 32-34 meters suprisingely fast so watch your gauge
Dead coral also here and not as much life as further north at Golden Blocks, but nice soft corals and two stonefish walking along the seabed, one of them 3 meters away from the entry! A nice green one!. Easy accsess point.
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Golden Blocks North
Now this was the biggest suprise and one of the greatest suprises all week. Normally Golden Blocks is dived as a drift from Golden Blocks to Moray Garden (including Moray Garden, so you do 2 sites in one dive), some also do it the other way around, I dont understand why because its much easier to exit the water close to the restaurant without being dependent on transport picking you up at Golden Blocks entry at agreed upon egyptian time... anyway:
Here is the trick: Choose the most northern entrypoint at Golden Blocks (the one with a small s-shaped lagoon), and head straight north. You will soon find a great canyon taking you down 30-40 meters, with a sandy bottom. Head south again and another canyon, with a great gorgonian blocking it, will appear to your south-east. From here you can continiue and do the dive as normal. if you play around the depth you might not have air to include the moray garden, but its a nice twist to the normal Golden Blocks- Moray Garden drift. Crocodile fish and pipefish shallow at the sandy steep slope/grass areas.
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Blue Hole South
I guess most of you have done this dive several times so I'll just post a cool photo of the glassfish schools along the wall...
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The Food
Well I guess you know I am very picky when it comes to food, having worked as a chef for 5 years kinds of ******* up ones head allthough I've becomed more relaxed the last years.
Food is my biggest problem with Egypt, its just not fresh, they cut corners, have no sense for quality, fresh vegetables/herbs are hard to find, and they have no knowlegde about wine.... Service is a nightmare, just leave all expectations behind the sooner the better.
This time I finally managed to find some place that serves "edible" food. The tips following are a result of actually going into the kitchen and talking with the owners/chef and checking out how the run things (kind of Dahab's Gordon Ramsay..)
Thai: Blue House, straight at the promenade, 150 meters after the bridge heading north: Cozy, personal service, ran by a french-thai couple in their twenties... and their cat ("Cat"). Nice flavours. Good Panang curry and pepper-garlic chicken (imporved by yours truely by adding caramelized sugar) Come early to get table at the "balcony", bring beer/wine and maybee some ice-cubes as the restaurant gets very hot. Cheap!! (too cheap)
Indian: Nirvana (at the end of Mashraba) Nice curries, lazy service (Ramadan)
They dont have mango chutney nor pickles, but good selection of vegetarian dishes and authentic lamb/chicken dishes from around India. (Indian chef). They will get you a beer from next door. Kind of pricey.
Italian: Three fishes (opposite end of the promenade than Nirvana, close to Funny Mummie, just a bit more south.) Home made fresh pasta made with love and eye for quality. Perfect Pizzas baked in woden fired oven. Downside: No wine, muslim owner. Nice yoghurt cake with fresh strawberry coullis.
Other Italian: De Pescadori (or something like that) Close to Eel Garden. High ambissions, but not completely up to the task. To much lemon on the carpaccio destroys the wine and boiles the meat. Tagliatelle Funghi, didn't taste mushrooms and seafood tagliatelle needs more flavour. Beatiful Apple cake! Panna Cotta, dissapointing. They serve wine, attentive service.
Egyptian: If you find one, please let me know...
All in all Dahab still stands as the #1 place to visit in Egypt for me, after one has done Sharm and El Gouna, the atmosphere is laid back, the diving is cheap and its less crowdy. They still offer great diving and you always meet nice people.:blinking:
Spent my week with Big Blue again, this place offers great quality for reasonable prices. Its Ramadan now, which means everyone is a bit grumpy from around 16.00-18.00, before they've had breakfast, but its manageable. Conditions was a bit rough and that limited divesites oppurtunities some days, but I still managed 13 dives including the Deep Speciality in a week.
This time I dived 5 new sites: Gabr el Bint, Napoleon Reef, Umm Sid,
Golden Blocks North and Blue Hole South (or "Right and Left" as they say... who figures.... right=north and left=south(!))
Gabr El Bint
The most southern divesite in the Dahab Area and most often accsessed by boat. I had great expectations for this wall-dive, but was a bit dissapointed. The reason for the lack of "events" was most likely that we had no current at all, leaving the big fishes away. Still some nice gorgonians, crocodile fish, blue spotted stingray (in the lagoon) and stonefish.
The site is dived twice, one deep along the wall, and one shallow in the lagoon. Sharks can be seen here so I would do it again, hopefully with more current.
Napoleon Reef
This site is just outside the Lagoon in Dahab (near Hilton/The Port). Its not often dived due to its location and can only be accessed by boat. Its therefore dived as a third dive, on the way home after the trip to Gabr el Bint. There are alot of dead corals, but we still managed to see a pepper-moray, a nice swimming blue spotted stingray and a big Napoleon Wrasse in the distance. Watch out for the windsurfers around the shallow area. It wasn't spectacular, but it was nice to "have done it" anyway. A great place to take OW students for their OW Dives 1-2 with loads of shallow sandy areas to perform skills (if youre having them on a boat that is..)
Umm Sid
We had to cancel this one the first time we tried du to rough surface conditions, but eventually we got a go. An impressive entry with a steep slope taking you down to 32-34 meters suprisingely fast so watch your gauge
Dead coral also here and not as much life as further north at Golden Blocks, but nice soft corals and two stonefish walking along the seabed, one of them 3 meters away from the entry! A nice green one!. Easy accsess point.
Golden Blocks North
Now this was the biggest suprise and one of the greatest suprises all week. Normally Golden Blocks is dived as a drift from Golden Blocks to Moray Garden (including Moray Garden, so you do 2 sites in one dive), some also do it the other way around, I dont understand why because its much easier to exit the water close to the restaurant without being dependent on transport picking you up at Golden Blocks entry at agreed upon egyptian time... anyway:
Here is the trick: Choose the most northern entrypoint at Golden Blocks (the one with a small s-shaped lagoon), and head straight north. You will soon find a great canyon taking you down 30-40 meters, with a sandy bottom. Head south again and another canyon, with a great gorgonian blocking it, will appear to your south-east. From here you can continiue and do the dive as normal. if you play around the depth you might not have air to include the moray garden, but its a nice twist to the normal Golden Blocks- Moray Garden drift. Crocodile fish and pipefish shallow at the sandy steep slope/grass areas.
Blue Hole South
I guess most of you have done this dive several times so I'll just post a cool photo of the glassfish schools along the wall...
The Food
Well I guess you know I am very picky when it comes to food, having worked as a chef for 5 years kinds of ******* up ones head allthough I've becomed more relaxed the last years.
Food is my biggest problem with Egypt, its just not fresh, they cut corners, have no sense for quality, fresh vegetables/herbs are hard to find, and they have no knowlegde about wine.... Service is a nightmare, just leave all expectations behind the sooner the better.
This time I finally managed to find some place that serves "edible" food. The tips following are a result of actually going into the kitchen and talking with the owners/chef and checking out how the run things (kind of Dahab's Gordon Ramsay..)
Thai: Blue House, straight at the promenade, 150 meters after the bridge heading north: Cozy, personal service, ran by a french-thai couple in their twenties... and their cat ("Cat"). Nice flavours. Good Panang curry and pepper-garlic chicken (imporved by yours truely by adding caramelized sugar) Come early to get table at the "balcony", bring beer/wine and maybee some ice-cubes as the restaurant gets very hot. Cheap!! (too cheap)
Indian: Nirvana (at the end of Mashraba) Nice curries, lazy service (Ramadan)
They dont have mango chutney nor pickles, but good selection of vegetarian dishes and authentic lamb/chicken dishes from around India. (Indian chef). They will get you a beer from next door. Kind of pricey.
Italian: Three fishes (opposite end of the promenade than Nirvana, close to Funny Mummie, just a bit more south.) Home made fresh pasta made with love and eye for quality. Perfect Pizzas baked in woden fired oven. Downside: No wine, muslim owner. Nice yoghurt cake with fresh strawberry coullis.
Other Italian: De Pescadori (or something like that) Close to Eel Garden. High ambissions, but not completely up to the task. To much lemon on the carpaccio destroys the wine and boiles the meat. Tagliatelle Funghi, didn't taste mushrooms and seafood tagliatelle needs more flavour. Beatiful Apple cake! Panna Cotta, dissapointing. They serve wine, attentive service.
Egyptian: If you find one, please let me know...
All in all Dahab still stands as the #1 place to visit in Egypt for me, after one has done Sharm and El Gouna, the atmosphere is laid back, the diving is cheap and its less crowdy. They still offer great diving and you always meet nice people.:blinking:
