Offshore at the north end of Dahab’s Bedouin village, the entry to this shore dive is through a small lagoon which descends from the reef top to an exit point on the reef at about 7m (23ft). The entry lagoon is hardly more than 1.5 m /5 ft wide at some points and sometimes acts as a funnel for wave surge or runout caused by falling tides, making it a demanding swim at times. However, just outside the lagoon is a sandy slop leading off to the North, it’s this wide patch of sand carpeted by thousands of garden eels that gives this dive site its name.

The shy garden eels that are usually wary of divers almost appear like fantastic dancers, waving to and fro in the current like synchronized swimmers but disappear as soon as you near them. Watching them pop out of the sand to feed on plankton is quite a sight as the sheer numbers create a landscape that resembles that of long grass sticking out of the ground like a garden.

Around the eel garden, you are treated by some fine coral growth with stony and soft species including Acropora, antler coral, plate, cabbage, elephant ear sponge, Dendronephthya and Xeniids along with plenty of Anemones. So apart for the eels, the site offers up a wide array of marine life and fish like bannerfish, parrotfish, angelfish, batfish, unicornfish, as well as schooling anthias and damsels. Stingrays handout near the the bottom and clam and pipefish are common as well making it great site for underwater photography.

So although the eels are the main attraction of this dive site it has a lot more to see, so make sure on your dive here to take the time to visit the neighboring reef teaming with life and picture perfect photography opportunities.

*Photo Credits: photos by Nemo’s great uncle, divemecressi, hazy jenius on flickr

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Dive With Thousands of Eels At The ‘Eel Garden’ Dive Site, Dahab was written by Noreen for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

Here’s a look at the Best Dive Spots of the Red Sea:

Sharm El Sheik and Ras Mohammed, Egypt

Sharm El-Sheik on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt is one of the most popular dive destinations of the Red Sea and has the best of what the Red Sea has to offer. With lush sandy beaches, tropical climate and exciting nightlife it’s a tourist destination with beautiful dive sites to explore. A couple of dive sites worth noting here are ‘the Light’ and ‘the Point’, where there are 130-foot drop-offs and multitudes of reef and pelagic fish. Shark’s Bay, a shore entry dive site displays a sloping reef and deep canyon offshore and is famous for manta rays. A 196 feet wall drop off into the depths just off shore, just south of Na’ama Bay called ‘The Tower’ is another popular site and is frequented by sea horses and ghost-pipe fish.

There are 20 dive sites within the Ras Mohammed National Park, including the famous Thistlegorm wreck, rated among the World’s Top 10 Wreck Dives. This Red Sea dive site has got plenty to see both inside and out the 400ft long container ship filled with motorbikes, trucks and rifles, with plenty of marine life around. Sightings of hammer-heads, jacks, trevallies and huge napoleon wrasses are reported here.

The Brothers Islands, Egypt

The Brothers or El Akhawein, are two small islands in the middle of the Red Sea. These Islands are for adventurous and advanced divers only and are the Red Sea’s most coveted diving destination. The two islands named Big Brother and Little Brother are a 5 minute boat ride apart . The Big Brother has a small lighthouse and two wrecks lying on its walls rich with marine life and amazing soft corals. However, strong currents are prevalent here. Little brother too has strong currents but it’s sites feature huge fan corals, caves and overhangs. Add the high likelihood of seeing sharks to this, and you’re guaranteed fantastic experiences at the Brothers Islands.

Dahab, Egypt

Dahab meaning “Gold”, is World famous for it’s Blue hole diving. The Dahab Blue Hole, known among diving circles as one the ‘World’s Most Dangerous Dive Sites’ as its inky blue depths have claimed a number of lives. It still continues to draw divers from around the World to its sites like ‘the Bell’ and ‘the arch’. ‘The Canyon’ is another of Dahab’s popular dive sites which starts at a round coral bowl that resembles a fish bowl, with lots of glass fish. It descends as a tube down to around 50 m with access and escape points at various depths. Other dive sites in Dahab include ‘Eel Garden’, ‘Golden Blocks’ and ‘The Islands’.

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Most of the Red Sea diving off the coast of Saudi Arabia is carried out from Jeddah. Compared to the more frequented resort areas of Egypt like Sharm El-Sheik and Hurghada, tourists find that Jeddah’s reefs are healthier and not as crowded with dive boats. This dive spot houses a number of wrecks such as ‘Boiler Wreck’, ‘Ann Ann Wreck’ and the ‘Miss Mara Wreck’. The KLM Reef and Ala’s reef offer some unbeatable coral dives. Virtually untouched coral heads covered in soft corals, clusters of Sea Anemones and the most reef fish having the best color are part and parcel of diving here. The undisputed best soft coral wall known to date in all of the waters off Saudi Arabia is unquestionably the 150 m section of the Redmah Wall and is a underwater photographers delight with the sheer choice of photo opportunities.

Aqaba, Jordan

With just a 15 mile stretch of coastline along the Red Sea, Jordan still has some notable Red Sea dives. Mostly shore dives with little chance to see sharks and other pelagic species, it has some beautiful reef dives including ‘Japanese Garden’, ‘the pinnacle’, ‘the tank’, ‘cedar pride’ and ‘Gorgone I’. Fairly shallow dive site with maximum depths ranging from 16 to 20m with a few going down deeper to 40m Jordan is a great place for beginner divers to experience the Red Sea.

Marsa Alam, Egypt

For a truly unique and unspoiled dive spot, Marsa Alam is the dive destination for you. Much of the diving done via liveaboard trips here and focus on eco diving and projects that are set up to preserve the environment and the beauty within the area. Elphinstone is a long, fingerlike reef some 12 miles north of Marsa Alam featuring steep reef walls covered with soft corals.Strong currents and plentiful fish life make it an ideal hang-out for sharks. Legend has it that a large arch in the Elphinstone reef, between 165 to 230 feet down contains a sarcophagus of an unknown pharaoh. The reefs here boast of rich coral gardens with schools of snapper, jacks, goat fish and banners. It’s also an excellent place to spot hammerheads, barracuda, grouper, snapper and yellowmouth moray eels.

*Photo credits: photos by Lars Plougmann, Markus Wollny, sharkbait, mattk1979, Rollie D OuTLandeR, Arabianescape.com, BBM Explorer on flickr.

The Best Red Sea Dive Spots was written by Noreen for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

Accessible from the shore just a few meters from the rocky shoreline, entry directly into the Blue Hole pool is one option, but better preferred, is entry through ‘The Bells’ – a dive site formed where a deep groove cuts into the reef top just north of the Blue Hole at Dahab. ‘The Bells’ being so close to the Blue Hole it is often overlooked, in favor of its big brother. However, for the not so macho diver infact any diver so to speak it is a spectacular way to ease yourself into the complete dive experience. Entry into the Bells is like that of a chimney and often done head first. It’s a 27-30m descend into a completely vertical drop off into a clear stunning blue waters.  The sight is breathtaking and the coral growth as well as marine life spotted has been described by many a diver as a lot more impressive than the wall of the blue hole itself.

Gradually ascending up to 15m after exiting the Bells is where all the reef life is, the usual fishes and corals. Swim south to the external walls of the blue hole which is the best place to spend most of the dive.  The inside pool has very little left in the way of coral. End your dive by entering the inside of the pool and doing your safety stops there before exiting at the small wooden jetty.

The other way of going about diving the Dahab Blue hole is starting at the ‘easy entrance’ marked at the beach. The Blue Hole cave walls go down to a depth of around 100meters and is bottomless with unfathomable depths. ‘The Arch’ starts at around 56m with the base of the arch at around 120 meters and it connects the Blue Hole to the open ocean. The abyss Blue Hole and Arch is beyond the limits of recreational diving which some of the most experienced divers ignore while testing their limits. The cliffs around the dive site bearing lost divers epitaphs serve as a somber reminder for all to respect the limits and realities of the sport.

Dive responsibly and the Blue Hole is a dive of a lifetime and is guaranteed a dive site you will never forget. One image which will be etched in your memories for all of time if you’ve dived the Hole will be the shimmering sunlight on the coral above you and the deep blue fading to black below…

Dive Site: The Blue Hole / The Bells
Location: North Dahab, 28°34.367N; 34°32.207E
Description: Reef / shore dive / drop-off
Depth: 200 metres + (600 feet)
Visibility: 30 – 40 metres (100 – 130 feet)

Must Dive Sites- Dahab Blue Hole was written by Noreen for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World