Early May saw me touching down in Sharm el Sheikh, that wasn’t my final destination though, as I had an hours drive north to Dahab. I was staying at Dive Urge. The Blue Hole and the Canyon, as world-renowned dive sites were top of my list to visit and on day 3, I managed to dive them. They certainly live up to the hype. On the outer reef at the blue hole the coral wall was pristine and the coral formations and pinnacles surrounded by schools of glassfish were magnificent.
Dive Urge was a great base just out of the centre of Dahab, I managed to pack in 4 night dives on my trip and managed to see big grouper and Stingrays not to mention cuttlefish, octopus and pyjama nudibranches. There were a few surprises as well such as a massive triton sea snail; it was a real monster. Less well known sites such as the islands were soon marked into the log book as one of the best coral gardens I have ever fined in, the coral was mature and in pristine condition. Schools of yellowtail Barracuda swarmed over the reef here and were an amazing site.
To the south of Dahab I managed to visit Moray Gardens where I saw a blue spotted stingray which was really great as I had always wanted to see one. Then it was off to the nearby um Sid with its massive table corals and octopus which decided not to budge from in front of the camera lens.
I thought Dive Urge was a great centre, the diving and equipment was first class, The food at the restaurant was amazing. Dahab itself was great and the promenade was very scenic. I managed to find a great Internet café which could burn my images onto a dvd, that took the pressure off a bit as my memory card filled up.
Be prepared to be engaged by all the shop owners, wishing to sell their wares. It’s a bit of a shock at first but fun once you get into it. Barter, barter, barter, its great.
The diving was first rate and I was amazed by the quality of the coral. Only at the relay heavily dived sites was there signs of diver pollution.
A really top class destination to visit.
I’ve also made some Egypt images available on my Photobox Pro Gallery for you to purchase prints of.
Sunday, 22 July 2007
