Conor
Guest
Dahab Trip Report
Just got back from two blissful weeks in Dahab, during which my GF got her AOW, and we both managed our EFR and Rescue certs.
The Holiday
______________
I don't know where to start really, there is just too much to say. The centre was fantastic, Dive-Urge(www.dive-urge.com), they only have 4 chalets, sleeping 2 each and have one full time instructor and a couple of others available (all dives are guided by instructors), the groups are never more than 4 and the skill levels are kept similar in setting the groups. They were incredibly laid back and arranged everything on a very easy going basis, we had our EFR in the evenings before dinner over a couple of days and Rescue over a series of mornings. Art the instructor was class (a quite hyper petite Aussie who can spot and interesting nudibranch at 100yds in 10M vis and has a strangely explicit set of gestures to indicate 'a huge Stonefish') and we had a lot of fun in all of the courses and Dives. The other peron who guided us was Saed, was cool too, very laid back with a great attitude and an amazing ability to read while riding a camel. Everything was flexible, our general arrangement was to stroll in around 10ish and figure out what we wanted to do over breakfast, then jump in a jeep and dive our little hearts out. Lynne and Halel, the owners were around the centre everyday, occsasionally with their 4 year old daughter Nadia, and went out of their way to make everyone feel at home and part of 'the family'. We had a fantastic couple of dives with Lynne and her digital camera. The other guests we met were all great people and ended up all getting along quite well. Everyone we met from the guys who ran the centre/chalets behind the scenes to the bedouin drivers were great people. We were met at the airport by Art, which was agreat start (not getting thrown on a coach with 30 other tourists). For the whole time we seemed to avoid other divers by either being earlier or later on site, another benefit to the flexible approach. We had a fantastic evening in the Desert with the whole crew and the Camel Safari was an experience not to be missed (although a bit on the expensive side). The prices were higher than other centres but you have to weigh up the benefits of their version and decide. They have close ties with the Eel Garden Stars restaurant were the attitude again was fantastic (Hamada in particular).
The Diving
__________
The diving in Dahab is well known so I won't give to much detail the water was 21C for the duration and vis good, depths ranged between 5 and 30+ M, but the ones that stand out would be, The Canyon (and the Canyon backwards), The Bells to Blue Hole, Triggerfish Reef, The Islands, The Three Pools. The biggest thing we seen in the water would be a Turtle (which turned up on our last dive) on maybe the Napoleons, but the variety of life was amazing throughout the entire trip. We missed a couple of days through sinus and stomach problems but in general got to do enough dives.
Sorry to babble, but it was a great time, so if you are considering a holiday, consider Dahab, if you are considering Dahab, consider Dive Urge, if you are considering Dive Urge say Hi to Lynne etc from me (or PM me for more detail). But to be honest, if you want a tech/wreck or intense Holiday in anyway, then its probably not the place for you. If you want to relax, see fish and have a laugh then.......
Lynne should be mailing me some pics, which I'll post when I recieve them
Conor
Just got back from two blissful weeks in Dahab, during which my GF got her AOW, and we both managed our EFR and Rescue certs.
The Holiday
______________
I don't know where to start really, there is just too much to say. The centre was fantastic, Dive-Urge(www.dive-urge.com), they only have 4 chalets, sleeping 2 each and have one full time instructor and a couple of others available (all dives are guided by instructors), the groups are never more than 4 and the skill levels are kept similar in setting the groups. They were incredibly laid back and arranged everything on a very easy going basis, we had our EFR in the evenings before dinner over a couple of days and Rescue over a series of mornings. Art the instructor was class (a quite hyper petite Aussie who can spot and interesting nudibranch at 100yds in 10M vis and has a strangely explicit set of gestures to indicate 'a huge Stonefish') and we had a lot of fun in all of the courses and Dives. The other peron who guided us was Saed, was cool too, very laid back with a great attitude and an amazing ability to read while riding a camel. Everything was flexible, our general arrangement was to stroll in around 10ish and figure out what we wanted to do over breakfast, then jump in a jeep and dive our little hearts out. Lynne and Halel, the owners were around the centre everyday, occsasionally with their 4 year old daughter Nadia, and went out of their way to make everyone feel at home and part of 'the family'. We had a fantastic couple of dives with Lynne and her digital camera. The other guests we met were all great people and ended up all getting along quite well. Everyone we met from the guys who ran the centre/chalets behind the scenes to the bedouin drivers were great people. We were met at the airport by Art, which was agreat start (not getting thrown on a coach with 30 other tourists). For the whole time we seemed to avoid other divers by either being earlier or later on site, another benefit to the flexible approach. We had a fantastic evening in the Desert with the whole crew and the Camel Safari was an experience not to be missed (although a bit on the expensive side). The prices were higher than other centres but you have to weigh up the benefits of their version and decide. They have close ties with the Eel Garden Stars restaurant were the attitude again was fantastic (Hamada in particular).
The Diving
__________
The diving in Dahab is well known so I won't give to much detail the water was 21C for the duration and vis good, depths ranged between 5 and 30+ M, but the ones that stand out would be, The Canyon (and the Canyon backwards), The Bells to Blue Hole, Triggerfish Reef, The Islands, The Three Pools. The biggest thing we seen in the water would be a Turtle (which turned up on our last dive) on maybe the Napoleons, but the variety of life was amazing throughout the entire trip. We missed a couple of days through sinus and stomach problems but in general got to do enough dives.
Sorry to babble, but it was a great time, so if you are considering a holiday, consider Dahab, if you are considering Dahab, consider Dive Urge, if you are considering Dive Urge say Hi to Lynne etc from me (or PM me for more detail). But to be honest, if you want a tech/wreck or intense Holiday in anyway, then its probably not the place for you. If you want to relax, see fish and have a laugh then.......
Lynne should be mailing me some pics, which I'll post when I recieve them
Conor
