• even the welcome's warm!

The Dive Connection and Club Dahab Diving has linked its two dive centres to offer relaxed and
exceptionally beautiful diving.

Nestled between two hotels, Club Dahab's sea front dive centre offers unparalleled relaxing times for
the diver and non-diver alike.

Dahab is the Arabic word for gold, and it is almost certain that this locale in eastern Sinai derived its name from the fine yellow sand that colours its beaches. It has not yet achieved the density of Sharm el-Sheikh to the south and offers a very peaceful haven on the Sinai peninsula.

Restaurants are of Bedouin style with a range of culinary delights and a hassle free welcome at every turn. The combination of soft sand, gorgeous blue water, and great water sport activities are all the ingredients you need for a superb holiday destination.

The restaurants and market style shops along the waterfront of the downtown area, known as Masbat, are excellent. The Bedouin-style seafood is based on baking in earthenware and is a step up on the taste scale.

The two hotels we will be using, the Ganet Sinai and the Swiss Inn, are a 3 minute taxi drive from town which makes them quiet and peaceful and are a quality above most of those found in town, but still close enough for a quick trip in for less than 50 pence in a taxi.

• great for the diver and non-diver alike

There are camel, horse, jeep and quad-bike safaris. These are either parallel to the shoreline, up one of the several valleys or around the town. A two hour drive is sufficient to reach Mount Sinai, Saint Catherine's Monastery; ascents to view sunrise and sunset are popular.

Club Dahab Diving offer world class diving from their dedicated dive centre. As all diving is from the shore, you can
combine your diving and windsurfing holiday to get the most out of this awesome aquatic playground.

Diving conditions are unrivalled worldwide, with exceptional visibility (sometimes 30m or more), a breathtaking diversity of sea life and spectacular topography.

The diving offers something for everyone with depths from 6-30 metres (and more for those looking to do something more technical) all with easy shore access.

Dahab is home to some of the world's most famous and challenging dive sites such as the Blue Hole and the Canyon. It is also one of the Red Sea's best kept secrets with plenty of diving on untouched reefs, free from commercialisation and with virtually no one else around. Diversity is the essence of the Club Dahab Diving experience and because your holiday is tailor-made, you can sample as much of the range as you choose.

Diving in Dahab is all done in areas away from the hustle and bustle experienced in other Red Sea dive areas.

On almost every dive, new varieties of corals and different types of fish are discovered.

You will find spectacular walls, enormous reefs and due to the relatively untouched areas there is enough to discover for even the most travel-worn diver.

It is a great place to learn or complete your Open Water Diver course, do your Advanced or Specialty course or just go and have some easy, relaxing but colourful dives.

• the dive sites

The Islands (5-16 metres)

The stuff of Disney movies…

The Islands dive site is made of two underwater coral islands with sandy lagoons between them. The coral here is some of the most impressive in the area. You will lose yourself swimming through a maze of hard coral heads in this underwater paradise.

The fish life is outstanding, large groups of sea bream and snappers hangout in the currents, lionfish shelter in the nooks and crannies along with moray eels. One of the highlights of this exciting dive is the huge group of yellowtail barracuda moving in unison around the second island.

Lighthouse (5-30 metres)

This local site is suitable for beginners and advanced divers alike. Situated in the local village, learner divers will often take their first dive here and we often use it for check dives.

For the more experienced, the Lighthouse still offers fantastic diving. Double-ended pipefish are always present on the sandy slope at the entrance; maybe you will also see the prehistoric looking Sea Moth.

To the right of the slope there is a thriving reef, always busy with Unicorn fish and Fusiliers. Octopus and Scorpion fish are common here; Giant Morays, Turtles and Napoleon Wrasse are also common visitors.

The Lighthouse is also a great place to spot nudibranchs, by day the pyjama slug is common, and at night there is a good chance of seeing Spanish dancers. This is a popular site for night dives too.

The Blue Hole (25-30 metres)

The Blue Hole is probably the most famous and infamous dive site in Dahab. We usually dive the site from the 'bells' entrance - from the surface it appears to be a large rock pool but on descent this becomes an upside down bell shape at first open to the blue, but ending in a chimney which spectacularly spits you out at 26m.

The rest of the dive is along a vertical bottomless wall (600 metres below you) with fantastic overhangs to the right and views into the blue on the left. Keep an eye out to see what might cruise past?

We finish at the Blue Hole itself, a circular hole in the coral table by the shore. The Blue Hole itself reaches depths of over 100m. But we finish the dive cruising over the hole at about 7 metres.

The coral at the 7m saddle here is spotless.

The Canyon (30 metres)

This along with the Blue Hole is quite rightly one of the most talked about sites in Dahab.

You enter the dive via a shallow sandy lagoon; even here the fish are eager to meet you! You will continue to the main part of the reef until, at 18m, you come to the entrance of a deep ravine from which the site takes its name.

Here we free fall down to the bottom of the chamber at 30m. Looking up at the light pouring in through the crack is beautiful, a photographers dream! To exit the canyon we ascend into a second chamber known as the 'fishbowl' at 18m.

This area is often inhabited by glassfish and lionfish can usually be seen hunting them.

The outside of the fishbowl is equally spectacular covered in gold anthias. Look out for the 'champagne bubbles' created by your swim through.

• the trip and costs

We will be travelling to Club Dahab a number of times each year, staying at either the Swiss Inn, 4 Star Hotel or the Ganet Sinai, 3 Star hotel. Both are great hotels and offer a relaxed setting. The Swiss Inn also offers free of charge crèche facilities for children 3-8 years old.

The trip cost includes flights from London Gatwick to Sharm airport, transfer to the hotels in Dahab (approx. 45 minutes journey) and 7 nights accommodation in twin bedded rooms (check with us for terms and conditions which apply).

Family rooms are also available. No single rooms are available.

We will be diving with Club Dahab Diving and the cost of the dives is included in the prices. This is for a 10 dive package but if you decide not to dive one day then you can swap out the dive for some windsurfing at no extra cost. Additional dives can be purchased at the dive centre for approx. 22-25 Euros per guided dive.

Prices include: flights, transfers, hotel (HB) and a 10 dive package (2 per day):

Ganet Sinai (Half Board) - £629 (Club member - £589)
Swiss Inn (Half Board) with Garden View - £759 (Club member - £719)

A typical day involves a 9.30am meeting at the Club Dahab dive centre, right next door to the hotels. Load up the jeeps and off for the morning dive. Lunch can be had next to the dive sites, where Bedouin style tents have sprung up and you laze around eating lunch and drinking tea, coffee or cold drinks until it is time to 'drag' yourself back into the sea for another exciting dive.

Alternatively we go back to Club Dahab for lunch and you have the option to dive again in the afternoon or maybe just relax around the club's beach front area, wander into town, or do some other activity, such as horse riding, camel trekking, quad biking, windsurfing or just relax with a beer at the beach front bar. Great for the non-diver.

A 3rd dive or night dive can also be arranged for a small cost.

Dive courses such as Open Water referral completions, Advanced Open Water, Specialty courses and potentially DSAT Tech Deep courses can be arranged during the trip at special rates.

Please ask for details if you are interested.

• more information

To see when we have trips to Dahab planned and to download an information sheet - just click here.

Click here to go to the photo gallery where you will find images from previous trips.

Click on the icon to download a booking form ...