There hasn’t been heaps on here recently about Dahab, so I decided to jot down some things from my recent visit (Jun 23 – 29).
I had been in Jerusalem for a conference, so flew down to Eilat on Arkia (23kg luggage limit for tourists) and caught a taxi from the airport to the Taba border crossing (40 – 60 NIS). It cost 106 NIS to cross out of Israel and LE 400 on the Egyptian side. There is a money changer in the immigration building and you don’t pay up until you reach the bus station about 500 metres past Egyptian immigration.
I dived with H20 and they arranged for a van to pick me up. It is a two hour drive from the Taba to Dahab.
I stayed at the Dahab Coachhouse Guesthouse, which was just behind the dive centre and about 20 or so metres from the waterfront strip through a little alley. Clean, good wifi, no breakfast (but the German bakery was less than five minutes away and did great breakfast).
I found H20 to be great. I am just barely an intermediate diver (I logged my 200th dive on this trip) and they grouped me with some holidaying Swiss instructors and another English couple about to start instructor training, all with thousands of dives under their belt. They gave me a 15 litre tank and I was able to dive as long as the others. I dived Nitrox 32, consistently without any drama. Alex (a Pom) who runs the place is friendly and organised and Trisha our dive guide for most of it (an American) was great fun and good at spotting stuff.
I dived Light House, The Islands and needles reefs on the first day.
I did The Bells to Blue Hole, Blue Hole South and Mashraba on the second day.
On day three, we drove to the Blue Hole and then rode camels for an hour to get to Ras Abu Gallum where we did two dives.
Day 4 I left at 4am for Sharm and did a trip to the SS Thistlegorm. This is a LONG day from Dahab and the guys I dived with were not nearly as fun as the H2O crew, but we had great viz and no current on the wreck itself, so I am glad that I did it.
My final day diving was a boat trip to Gabr el Bint. We did two dives there and then another on the way back at a spot they don’t normally dive, which I think translated as Sair’s Reef. It was actually one of the most spectacular dives of the trip.
The diving at Dahab was mostly about coral; some very beautiful and impressive coral walls, forests and gardens. Lots of little reef fish. We did see a couple of turtles and octopus twice and some saw a grey reef shark down in the deep at Gabr el Bint. There was also a big napoleon wrasse at Mashraba. I really enjoyed my time; it was all easy and fun diving with a safe and friendly shop.
Air temp was 38 – 40 degrees centigrade and it was consistently 26 in the water. I dived my 5mm wetsuit. The only hassle was catching flights with my dive gear (including backplate and wing) and knowing that Israeli security was going to want to open my bags every time. I discovered they even unzipped me wing to examine the bladder inside; thankfully without mucking anything up.
I crossed back over the border the same way I’d come down.
I had been in Jerusalem for a conference, so flew down to Eilat on Arkia (23kg luggage limit for tourists) and caught a taxi from the airport to the Taba border crossing (40 – 60 NIS). It cost 106 NIS to cross out of Israel and LE 400 on the Egyptian side. There is a money changer in the immigration building and you don’t pay up until you reach the bus station about 500 metres past Egyptian immigration.
I dived with H20 and they arranged for a van to pick me up. It is a two hour drive from the Taba to Dahab.
I stayed at the Dahab Coachhouse Guesthouse, which was just behind the dive centre and about 20 or so metres from the waterfront strip through a little alley. Clean, good wifi, no breakfast (but the German bakery was less than five minutes away and did great breakfast).
I found H20 to be great. I am just barely an intermediate diver (I logged my 200th dive on this trip) and they grouped me with some holidaying Swiss instructors and another English couple about to start instructor training, all with thousands of dives under their belt. They gave me a 15 litre tank and I was able to dive as long as the others. I dived Nitrox 32, consistently without any drama. Alex (a Pom) who runs the place is friendly and organised and Trisha our dive guide for most of it (an American) was great fun and good at spotting stuff.
I dived Light House, The Islands and needles reefs on the first day.
I did The Bells to Blue Hole, Blue Hole South and Mashraba on the second day.
On day three, we drove to the Blue Hole and then rode camels for an hour to get to Ras Abu Gallum where we did two dives.
Day 4 I left at 4am for Sharm and did a trip to the SS Thistlegorm. This is a LONG day from Dahab and the guys I dived with were not nearly as fun as the H2O crew, but we had great viz and no current on the wreck itself, so I am glad that I did it.
My final day diving was a boat trip to Gabr el Bint. We did two dives there and then another on the way back at a spot they don’t normally dive, which I think translated as Sair’s Reef. It was actually one of the most spectacular dives of the trip.
The diving at Dahab was mostly about coral; some very beautiful and impressive coral walls, forests and gardens. Lots of little reef fish. We did see a couple of turtles and octopus twice and some saw a grey reef shark down in the deep at Gabr el Bint. There was also a big napoleon wrasse at Mashraba. I really enjoyed my time; it was all easy and fun diving with a safe and friendly shop.
Air temp was 38 – 40 degrees centigrade and it was consistently 26 in the water. I dived my 5mm wetsuit. The only hassle was catching flights with my dive gear (including backplate and wing) and knowing that Israeli security was going to want to open my bags every time. I discovered they even unzipped me wing to examine the bladder inside; thankfully without mucking anything up.
I crossed back over the border the same way I’d come down.
