Dahab’s Blue Hole

The Blue Hole is Dahab’s most famous / infamous dive site. Contrary to popular diving legend the Blue Hole is not an inherently dangerous dive site and we dive there, safely, hundreds of times every year without incident.

The reason, for its grim reputation is an archway at around 56 meters. The ‘Arch’ as it is known, is actually a 26-meter-long tunnel which passes through the reef wall to the open ocean. At this depth, in an overhead environment without the correct training and equipment this is an extremely hazardous dive.

To even consider attempting the arch, you need to have the correct technical training.

For divers with deep certification we can do a special dive and drop down to 40m, for an exciting glimpse of the ‘Arch’ … a doorway which many never returned from. This dive is for very experienced divers only.

The Blue Hole for recreational divers is normally coupled with a dive starting at The Bells.

From Bells to Blue Hole

The Bells is an open chimney carved into the sheer reef wall. You enter the mouth of The Bells directly from the shore. You then drop down to a small swim-through at around 28 meters.

The wall drops down an abyssal 800 meters! All divers need to keep a close eye on their buoyancy and depth here it’s a bloody long way down!

We dive south along the magnificent reef wall, gradually coming up to a beautiful coral saddle at seven meters which crosses into the Blue Hole. We can then swim around the edge of the Blue Hole or cross over the deep blue (if there are not too many free-divers in the way!) Here we do our safety stop and exit.

This dive is often done as the “drift-level dive” on the PADI Advanced Open Water course.