Reef

Light House

Dahab, South Sinai, Egypt

Snorkeller-friendly reef top
Suitable for beginners
Best for advanced divers
Night dives possible
Great for macro photography
Pinnacles

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Type

Reef

Max depth

70 m

Level

Advanced

Depth18m average over the reef, dropping to 70m off the bay

LocationIn front of the lighthouse in Dahab bay, in the middle of town.

ConditionsEasy shore entry in almost any weather, low current, good visibility. Open to every level, with a buoyancy park set up on the sand for training.

Overview

Light House is where most people who learn to dive in Dahab make their first descent. The bay in front of the lighthouse gives a flat sand bottom with hard coral towers standing on it and a reef edge that undulates rather than drops, so a diver can hold any depth wanted, and an earthquake in 1995 opened cracks in the reef that added structure to what was otherwise a training ground. Off the bay the bottom falls away to 70 m.

Dive plan

The usual route runs out across the sand to the coral towers and then along the reef edge, keeping the reef on one shoulder, with depth chosen rather than imposed. The 1995 cracks are worked on the way back in the shallows. The site is heavily used at night, when the sand becomes the dive rather than the reef.

What to see

The towers hold puffers, parrotfish, lionfish and groupers, with octopus in the rubble around their bases. The sand and the seagrass are where the small things are: seahorses, ghost pipefish, stonefish and nudibranchs, with Spanish dancers out after dark. Turtles come into the bay to feed.