SeaLog
Certification required
AOW
Canyon, Dahab
Egypt · reef · advanced
5–30 madvancedAOWshore entry
MEDIA5 items
Canyon, Dahab
A roofed crack in the reef north of Dahab: an overhead environment with a recreational front door and a technical back one.
Max depth5–30 m
Required leveladvanced
Entry typeshore
Visibilitynot sourced
The dive
The Canyon is a shore dive about fifteen minutes north of Dahab. You enter into a shallow lagoon, cross a coral garden and follow a crack in the reef that has partly roofed over. Divers drop in through the largest opening at around 20 m and land on the canyon floor at about 30 m, which is why the site is a standard venue for the deep dive on advanced courses.
The crack does not stop there. It narrows and continues seaward, and the far exit is at roughly 52-55 m, opening onto the wall outside. That section is a technical dive: narrow, overhead, and reached by divers with extended-range training, not by working your way in and seeing how it goes. The Fishbowl - a small grotto near the top of the site, full of glassfish - was closed to diving at the end of 2007 after years of diver damage, and stays closed.
The recreational dive itself is not difficult; Dahab centres rate it around two out of five and describe moderate current. What makes it worth taking seriously is that it is an overhead environment with a silty floor and a genuine depth gradient, which is a different proposition from an open reef even when the depth is the same. Our occurrence records here are the same coastal Gulf of Aqaba fauna as the neighbouring sites - twoband anemonefish, scalefin anthias, sergeant majors, Red Sea bannerfish, speckled sandperch, masked pufferfish, purple tang, giant clams, broomtail wrasse, day octopus - and dive centres add Napoleon wrasse, stingrays and snake eels on the sand outside.
- Shore dive fifteen minutes north of Dahab through a shallow lagoon and coral garden
- Drop into the canyon at about 20 m; the floor sits at around 30 m
- The crack continues to a 52-55 m exit that is a technical dive only
- The Fishbowl grotto has been closed to diving since the end of 2007
Please note before you go
- Overhead environment: the canyon is a partly roofed crack, not an open reef, and a direct ascent is not always available
- The crack narrows and deepens seaward to a 52-55 m exit; continuing into it without extended-range training is a real and available mistake
- Silt on the canyon floor lifts easily and a fin-down team can blind the divers behind them inside an overhead
- Depth: a 30 m floor with 20 m entry means narcosis and gas planning matter, and this is a shore dive with no boat overhead
- The Fishbowl grotto is closed to diving and has been since the end of 2007
Access & rules
Getting there
Shore dive roughly fifteen minutes north of Dahab by road with a dive centre. Entry is into a shallow lagoon, then out through a crack in the reef; the same lagoon is the normal exit for recreational divers.
Operator
You can reach the site independently.
Restrictions
The Fishbowl grotto has been closed to diving since the end of 2007 after diver damage.
Conditions
Visibilitynot sourced
Currentmoderate
Surgenot sourced
WaterSalt water
Depth range5–30 m
Environmentreef
Coralnot sourced
Crowdsbusy
Walk in to a shallow lagoon, swim out over a coral garden, drop into the canyon at about 20 m and follow the floor at around 30 m before working back up the reef to the lagoon. Dahab centres describe moderate current and rate the recreational dive around two out of five for difficulty.
On current: Dahab centres put the recreational entry at about 20 m and the canyon floor at around 30 m, with the crack continuing to a 52-55 m exit for extended-range divers only. Another centre describes the crevice as running from 16 m down to 54 m, with a large opening at approximately 22 m and the fish bowl at 14 m. We record 5-30 m: the recreational band, from the shallow lagoon to the canyon floor. Current is rated moderate. We found no sourced visibility figure for this site, so it is left blank.
Dives & underwater footage
Questions & answers
How deep is the Canyon?
Recreational divers enter at about 20 m and the canyon floor sits at around 30 m, which is why it is a standard site for the deep dive on advanced courses. The crack itself continues seaward, narrowing and deepening to an exit at roughly 52-55 m. One centre describes the whole crevice as running from 16 m to 54 m. We record the recreational 5-30 m band.
What certification do I need?
Dahab centres give Advanced Open Water as the minimum to enter the canyon at 20 m. Exploring the full crack to the 52-55 m exit requires Extended Range or equivalent technical qualification. Open Water divers can dive the shallower reef and coral garden above.
Is the Canyon dangerous?
It is an overhead environment, which changes the arithmetic even at ordinary depth. The roofed crack means a direct ascent is not always available, the floor silts easily, and the passage narrows and deepens towards a 52-55 m exit that is available to anyone who keeps swimming. Dive centres rate the recreational route itself around two out of five for difficulty.
Can you still dive the Fishbowl?
No. The Fishbowl, a small grotto packed with glassfish near the top of the site, was closed to diving at the end of 2007 after years of diver damage, and remains closed.
How do you get there?
It is a shore dive about fifteen minutes north of Dahab by road with a dive centre. You enter into a shallow lagoon, swim out through a crack in the reef, and normally return to the same lagoon to exit.
Can you snorkel the Canyon?
You can snorkel the shallow lagoon and the coral garden on top of the reef, and dive centres list the lagoon as suitable for it. The canyon itself is entered at 20 m inside an overhead and is not a breath-hold site.
What will I see?
Dive centres report Napoleon wrasse, octopus, stingrays, bannerfish and snake eels, plus cave sweepers in the chimney. Our own occurrence records here are typical Gulf of Aqaba reef fauna: twoband anemonefish, scalefin anthias, Red Sea bannerfish, masked pufferfish, purple tang, giant clams, broomtail wrasse and day octopus. The draw is the geology rather than the fish.
Life recorded at Canyon, Dahab
60 species within 1.5 km · OBISTaeniura lymmaoccasional · 6 records
Amphiprion bicinctusoccasional · 17 records
Pseudanthias squamipinnisoccasional · 14 records
Abudefduf vaigiensisoccasional · 13 records
Parapercis hexophtalmaoccasional · 12 records
Arothron diadematusoccasional · 12 records
All 60 species recorded in this area
| Species | How often | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Amphiprion bicinctus | occasional | 17 |
| Pseudanthias squamipinnis | occasional | 14 |
| Abudefduf vaigiensis | occasional | 13 |
| Parapercis hexophtalma | occasional | 12 |
| Arothron diadematus | occasional | 12 |
| Heniochus intermedius | occasional | 12 |
| Heterocentrotus mamillatus | occasional | 11 |
| Zebrasoma xanthurum | occasional | 11 |
| Tridacna maxima | occasional | 9 |
| Cheilinus lunulatus | occasional | 9 |
| Pygoplites diacanthus | occasional | 8 |
| Chaetodon paucifasciatus | occasional | 7 |
| Thalassoma rueppellii | occasional | 7 |
| Pomacentrus sulfureus | occasional | 7 |
| Pterois miles | occasional | 6 |
| Scarus ferrugineus | occasional | 6 |
| Taeniura lymma | occasional | 6 |
| Myripristis murdjan | occasional | 6 |
| Fistularia commersonii | occasional | 5 |
| Chaetodon fasciatus | occasional | 5 |
| Octopus cyanea | occasional | 5 |
| Oxycheilinus digramma | occasional | 5 |
| Calotomus viridescens | occasional | 5 |
| Arothron stellatus | occasional | 5 |
| Gymnothorax griseus | occasional | 5 |
| Epibulus insidiator | rare | 4 |
| Acanthurus nigrofuscus | rare | 4 |
| Cheilio inermis | rare | 4 |
| Ctenochaetus striatus | rare | 4 |
| Dascyllus abudafur | rare | 4 |
| Echinometra mathaei | rare | 4 |
| Pomacentrus trichrourus | rare | 4 |
| Grammistes sexlineatus | rare | 4 |
| Holothuria edulis | rare | 4 |
| Bothus pantherinus | rare | 3 |
| Cephalopholis miniata | rare | 3 |
| Chaetodon auriga | rare | 3 |
| Chlorurus sordidus | rare | 3 |
| Coris aygula | rare | 3 |
| Cyclichthys spilostylus | rare | 3 |
| Genicanthus caudovittatus | rare | 3 |
| Hipposcarus harid | rare | 3 |
| Scorpaenopsis diabolus | rare | 3 |
| Bodianus anthioides | rare | 3 |
| Arothron hispidus | rare | 3 |
| Amblyeleotris steinitzi | rare | 3 |
| Chromodoris quadricolor | rare | 3 |
| Lotilia graciliosa | rare | 3 |
| Millepora dichotoma | rare | 3 |
| Mulloidichthys flavolineatus | rare | 3 |
| Paracirrhites forsteri | rare | 3 |
| Parupeneus cyclostomus | rare | 3 |
| Parupeneus forsskali | rare | 3 |
| Pearsonothuria graeffei | rare | 3 |
| Scarus niger | rare | 3 |
| Inimicus filamentosus | rare | 2 |
| Siganus luridus | rare | 2 |
| Tripneustes gratilla | rare | 2 |
| Scolopsis ghanam | rare | 2 |
| Neoniphon sammara | rare | 2 |
Nearby sites in Sinai
Explore all sitesCoral Garden0.0 km
SinaiThe shallow hard-coral garden that wraps around the Canyon: the same shore dive without the overhead.
Tropitel Dahab Oasis house reef0.3 km
SinaiA hotel house reef 300 m from Coral Garden, entered off a jetty, dived mostly by the people staying above it.
Ricks Reef0.5 km
SinaiA quiet slope of salad and table corals 300 m north of the Canyon, usually dived as a one-way drift back to it.
Abu Talha0.7 km
SinaiA quiet shore dive north of Dahab: an amphitheatre of coral off a reef table, dived only when the tide allows.
Abu Helal1.4 km
SinaiA crescent-reef lagoon south of Abu Talha, dived rarely because the tide has to be right - which is why the coral is what it is.
Tiger house2.2 km
SinaiA quiet coral garden south of the Blue Hole, entered off a jetty when the wind allows.
Been here? Log it.
SeaLog imports your dives from your dive computer or Apple Watch, tracks every animal you see, and keeps your logbook safe forever.
Download SeaLog