Dive Guide Book

This dive site is perfect for the inexperienced diver, as the recommended max depth for this dive is 18 metres. Just a five minute drive in your 4x4 from Dahab Bay, you’ll find yourself kitting up on the beach, surrounded by turquoise water and palm trees. The dive site is situated just opposite the Coral Coast Hotel (see hotel accommodation). Again a walk-in entry, you’ll find the Lagoon entrance smaller and rockier than that of the Canyon’s. It’s more of a swim-through than a lagoon. Take care when entering and exiting, as it is often littered with sea urchins and Lionfish skulking in the nooks and crannies. There are a lot of small holes in the rock face so don’t go sticking your hands into any of them!

Lagoon

Once out of the Lagoon, you’ll find yourself on a fairly steep sloping sandy bottom. To your right you’ll see the reef table extending away from you. As you follow the slope down to the left, keeping the reef on your left, you’ll notice how beautiful and white the sand actually is.

During the summer months in particular, when you’ve got good sunlight, it looks even whiter and brighter due to the suns reflective rays. The setting for this dive is fantastic, crystal clear blue water and a white seabed!

Eel Garden

If you stay at around 18m metres, any deeper and you’ll miss it all, and just a couple of minutes into the dive, one will discover why this site has its name, Eel Garden. Rising out of the sand in their hundreds are small white Garden Eels. They poke out of their sandy holes, and feed on the plankton. They sway to and fro in the water like hypnotized cobras dancing to their master’s flute. Rest assured though, Garden Eels are harmless. This is backed up by their reaction to your approach. The closer you get they tend to shy away, back into their holes, disappearing until you’ve passed, and then cautiously popping out again. The Eel Garden lasts around 10-15 minutes of the dive. Take your time here and have a good look. It’s a great time to take photos if you have a camera!

Some Eels and The Eel garden, Dahab

About 20 minutes into the dive you’ll find the reef begins to extend away from the table. This is a wonderful place to catch up on your viewing of all the various coral fish. When you decide to turn around keeping the reef on your right, it’s a good idea to stay between 5 and 8 metres. You know when you’re getting closer to the exit, when the in the shallows, the sand is corrugated. To the left of these corrugations are some more Garden Eels and to the right are some excellent corals!

Sea Life

Along with all these corals also comes a plethora of coral fish, such as, Antheas, Bannerfish, Damsels, Groupers, Lionfish and various Nudibranchs or Sea Slugs! This is a camera mans dream, so snap away!

The coral reef will lead you back to the Lagoon where you can exit. From time to time you may get currents moving in and out of the Lagoon. These are usually caused by strong winds. Some effort may be required to swim back in, so take extra care of the sea urchins and Lionfish mentioned earlier.