The Blue Hole, Dahab

The Blue Hole is the dive site most people think of when they think of Dahab. It is a near-perfect circle of deep blue water punched into the coastal reef, with depths that drop past 100 metres into darkness. Above it, the Sinai mountains. Around it, the shallow reef teeming with fusiliers, butterflyfish, and snappers.

For Open Water divers, the Blue Hole is a beautiful shallow dive: you enter through the saddle at 7 metres and explore the rim of the hole at 10-20m, where soft corals and reef fish thrive. For Advanced divers, the 30m dive along the outer wall is one of the most dramatic in the Red Sea. For technical divers, the famous arch at 55m connecting the hole to the open sea is a milestone many work toward over years.

I have dived the Blue Hole more than a thousand times. I know its moods - which days the visibility is glass-clear, which season the jacks school in tightest, which times of day the light shafts cut through the deepest. I take guests in safely, brief them properly, and dive within their training. The Blue Hole has a reputation. I work hard to make sure every guest's experience honours the site without becoming a statistic.