The Mecca for divers: Dahab
Information about diving in Dahab
Dahab as a diving location
The town of Dahab is located in Egypt on the Sinai Peninsula about 90 kilometres north of Sharm-El-Sheikh on the Gulf of Aqaba. The name Dahab means “gold” in English. The inhabitants chose it because of the shimmering golden, fine-sand coastline.
The Bedouin Village
Dahab has grown from a destination for hippies and dropouts in the 80s and 90s to a well-developed diving destination with a functioning infrastructure. There are four districts in Dahab: “Assalah”, the old part inhabited by Bedouins. “Dahab City”, the southernmost district, where the town administration with post office and bank is located. And finally “Massbad”, which has now effectively merged with “Medina”, the tourist centre with a promenade, typical Egyptian bazaars and shisha bars as well as many small restaurants.
Diving in Dahab
Diving in Dahab differs from many other places in Egypt mainly in that 90% of the dive sites are land-based. Dahab is most famous for the Blue Hole and the deep diving records set in it. Unfortunately, the Blue Hole is always portrayed as the most dangerous dive site in the world. In our opinion, this is not true! Within the limits of recreational diving, the Blue Hole is a wonderful, even very easy dive site. As long as you have the right training and equipment, the Blue Hole is a very safe dive site even away from the recreational dive limits. The biggest problem is when people do dives they are not trained to do.
The hotels
There are now several hotels of international standards. These are located to the south and north of the actual village. In addition, there are many small, individually run and mostly very simple hotels.
Among the diverse accommodation options, only two hotels have a house reef that, in our opinion, also deserves this designation: the Happy Life Village in the far south and the Tropitel Dahab Oasis in the north, very close to the dive site “The Canyon” and the “Blue Hole”.
The surroundings
On the long beach in and around Dahab, bathing life unfolds with several diving and snorkelling spots. Dahab is also an insider tip among windsurfers. There are many opportunities for excursions on land and water. For example, locals offer their horses and camels for rides in the surrounding area.
All in all, Dahab is associated with a great landscape and cultural experience, cosy evenings in one of the numerous shisha restaurants and, first and foremost, spectacular and adventurous dive sites.
Mass tourism?
An absolute foreign word in Dahab! The immediate proximity of the Sinai Mountains to the coast prevents an unchecked proliferation of hotels. Thus, Dahab will always retain the flair of a small, manageable tourist town.
Diving in Dahab, how does it work?
What we offer:
Lagona Divers offers you the full service for diving in Dahab with two diving centres! You will find us in the south of Dahab at Hotel Happy Life Village and in the north at Hotel Tropitel Dahab Oasis.
Diving in Dahab for experienced divers:
For certified divers we offer guided dives to all dive sites around Dahab. As about 95% of the dive sites in Dahab are accessible from land, we conduct these trips by jeeps and pick-ups. The trips are divided into half day trips and full day trips. On the half-day excursions, the dive sites in the immediate vicinity of the dive centre are visited and after the dive, we return directly to the dive centre. We also call these trips “1 tank trip”. On the full day trips (2 or 3 tank trips) you can do 2 to 3 dives and explore the dive sites that are further away from the base.
What makes diving in Dahab different from many other places in Egypt is the fact that all scuba diving activities take place from land and we will spend the surface interval in a restaurant near the beach. So you can enjoy your lunch with a view of the sea. Most people prefer this to spending the whole day on the boat. As we are aware of the great advantages of Nitrox as a safer breathing gas, we offer EAN32 free of charge for already certified Nitrox divers.
Dives at our house reef
At both dive centres you will find a beautiful house reef where you can dive undisturbed all day. House reef dives are either guided by a dive guide or if you and your buddy have the appropriate experience level, you simply dive without our company as a buddy team.
Special excursions
Diving in Dahab can also be done differently! In addition to the regular trips, we offer regular boat trips to Gabr el Bint National Park, where you can dive against the beautiful mountain backdrop of South Sinai and enjoy the less visited dive sites of Dahab. For the more adventurous, we also organise camel diving trips north to the Ras abu Gallum dive sites. Here you will experience how diving in Dahab was done many years ago. During the surface interval you will enjoy the typical food and hospitality of the Bedouins.
