OxygenThief
New
Just returned from a nice week in Dahab with Dive Urge. While completing my AOWD, had a chance to dive several of the classic Dahab
shore-dive sites including Bells/Blue Hole, the Islands, the Canyon and Eel Gardens. Also, took a day trip
to Gabr El Bint on an excellent chartered boat called the Ghazala 6 that was organised by the hotel.
In order to put my comments in context, I am a middle aged American gent who has been a long-time resident in Europe
and only have a modest 20 dives under my belt (though I only started in April!).
Some thoughts:
1. The dive sites - as I mentioned above, the Dahab sites are mostly accessible from shore in the Dahab area. They mainly involve a short walk in full kit along the shore and often,
out across the reef to the entry points. This walk can be challenging in the surge but is not overwhelming. I would recommend getting the sturdiest
booties available to handle the walk. The quality of the coral and fish life in all of the sites was excellent. My favorite was probably the Bells
next to the Blue Hole. Emerging from the entrance is like entering a cathedral of coral...awe inspiring. These sites are all quite heavily dived and at least
on one occasion we had a traffic jam at a junction in the coral where we waited for another group of divers to pass. Even so, I did not find the numbers of divers to
be terribly disruptive. I guess there must be some impact on the fish from this traffic, but there were plenty of them around anyway.
2. Dahab - Dahab has three sections: the town where the bedouins/egyptians live which is ratty in the extreme. The main waterfront where the cheaper hotels and
the restaurants are and a more spread out area where the nicer hotels are. we spent most of our time in Dive-Urge but wandered out ont the sea front to eat
some meals and took a couple of forays into the actual town. The population is a mix of Bedouin/Egyptian locals, tourists and a funny residue of long
term European residents who seem to be ex and not so ex hippies and other expatriated souls. At no time did Dahab seem dangerous. The food is pretty
good though I did get a mild GI infection which seems to affect Western travelers to Egypt. In fairness, the tourist restaurants do not seem to be
making huge numbers of people ill.
3. Dive-Urge - This small hotel / dive center is located an easy 10 minute stroll down the waterfront close to the bedouin/Egyptian part of town. It
is owned by an Egyptian/English family that has a firm foot in both cultures. The ambience is family, relaxing and friendly. It is adminisitered by a lovely
lady from Nottinghamshire name Kimberly who is enormously helpful. The room where my buddy and I stayed was modest (and modestly priced). The
diving area was well organised and the rental gear was good (though not new). The diving operation is run by a capable Divemaster named Ahmed who
seems to become a generally beloved figure to his clients (and became to me). I recommend the place highly if you are looking for a relaxing place to learn to dive or improve your
skills. I am not sure it is a place that typically provides much Tech diving support though I am sure they would be able to help arrange. I had a great time
during my week!
One tip: if you plan to do a course, for goodness sakes do the e-learning ahead of time. That will save you from lots of studying and video work
on your trip. There is too much other interesting stuff to do to be stuck with that!
OT
shore-dive sites including Bells/Blue Hole, the Islands, the Canyon and Eel Gardens. Also, took a day trip
to Gabr El Bint on an excellent chartered boat called the Ghazala 6 that was organised by the hotel.
In order to put my comments in context, I am a middle aged American gent who has been a long-time resident in Europe
and only have a modest 20 dives under my belt (though I only started in April!).
Some thoughts:
1. The dive sites - as I mentioned above, the Dahab sites are mostly accessible from shore in the Dahab area. They mainly involve a short walk in full kit along the shore and often,
out across the reef to the entry points. This walk can be challenging in the surge but is not overwhelming. I would recommend getting the sturdiest
booties available to handle the walk. The quality of the coral and fish life in all of the sites was excellent. My favorite was probably the Bells
next to the Blue Hole. Emerging from the entrance is like entering a cathedral of coral...awe inspiring. These sites are all quite heavily dived and at least
on one occasion we had a traffic jam at a junction in the coral where we waited for another group of divers to pass. Even so, I did not find the numbers of divers to
be terribly disruptive. I guess there must be some impact on the fish from this traffic, but there were plenty of them around anyway.
2. Dahab - Dahab has three sections: the town where the bedouins/egyptians live which is ratty in the extreme. The main waterfront where the cheaper hotels and
the restaurants are and a more spread out area where the nicer hotels are. we spent most of our time in Dive-Urge but wandered out ont the sea front to eat
some meals and took a couple of forays into the actual town. The population is a mix of Bedouin/Egyptian locals, tourists and a funny residue of long
term European residents who seem to be ex and not so ex hippies and other expatriated souls. At no time did Dahab seem dangerous. The food is pretty
good though I did get a mild GI infection which seems to affect Western travelers to Egypt. In fairness, the tourist restaurants do not seem to be
making huge numbers of people ill.
3. Dive-Urge - This small hotel / dive center is located an easy 10 minute stroll down the waterfront close to the bedouin/Egyptian part of town. It
is owned by an Egyptian/English family that has a firm foot in both cultures. The ambience is family, relaxing and friendly. It is adminisitered by a lovely
lady from Nottinghamshire name Kimberly who is enormously helpful. The room where my buddy and I stayed was modest (and modestly priced). The
diving area was well organised and the rental gear was good (though not new). The diving operation is run by a capable Divemaster named Ahmed who
seems to become a generally beloved figure to his clients (and became to me). I recommend the place highly if you are looking for a relaxing place to learn to dive or improve your
skills. I am not sure it is a place that typically provides much Tech diving support though I am sure they would be able to help arrange. I had a great time
during my week!
One tip: if you plan to do a course, for goodness sakes do the e-learning ahead of time. That will save you from lots of studying and video work
on your trip. There is too much other interesting stuff to do to be stuck with that!
OT
