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Circle Divers Dahab House Reef
Egypt · reef · beginner
1.5–14 mbeginnerOWshore entry
Circle Divers Dahab House Reef
A 14 m shore reef off the Jaz Dahabeya beach in Lagoona, with a hoop buoyancy park at 5 m, a small sculpture reef at 4 m and two resident feather-tail rays on the sand.
Max depth1.5–14 m
Required levelbeginner
Entry typeshore
Visibilitynot sourced
The dive
This is a dive centre's house reef rather than a named feature of the Dahab coast, and it should be read that way: Circle Divers, a PADI five-star centre based at the Jaz Dahabeya Hotel in the Lagoona El Madina area of southwest Dahab, is the only real source for what is down there. Everything below comes from their own site description, and there is very little independent writing about this stretch of bay.
The dive starts a few steps from the centre. You walk in through a buoyed-off swimming area at about 1.5 to 2 m, which is where you put your fins on, and work out over sand, seagrass and a scatter of coral bommies at a range of depths. Maximum depth is 14 m. Two features are man-made and worth knowing about before you go looking for them: a buoyancy park at 5 to 6 m with hoops to swim through, which is what makes this a training reef rather than just a swim, and an artificial reef at 4 to 5 m on the left of the site carrying sculptures welded from recycled scrap and bottles, including a small fairground-ride elephant, some sharks on the seabed and a hammerhead.
On the life: the centre reports clownfish in the anemones, pipefish, seahorses, octopus, crabs, Christmas tree worms, lionfish, crocodilefish, glassfish and moray, and two resident feather-tail rays that give themselves away by the clouds of sand they raise while feeding. Among the taxa recorded at this pin are twoband anemonefish, banded and multibar pipefish, devil firefish, undulated and grey moray, emperor angelfish, blue-spotted stingray, striped eel catfish, Moses sole and flashlight fish, which fits a shallow sand-and-seagrass bay reef and supports the centre's claim that it works as a night dive.
One thing to get straight: this is not the Dahab Underwater Museum. That project, installed by i-Dive Tribe from 2012 onwards, sits at Magra al-Seil and the Lighthouse, and its elephant is a 700 kg piece at 24 m. The sculptures on this reef are a separate and much smaller installation in 4 to 5 m of water.
- Buoyancy park at 5 to 6 m with hoops to swim through
- Small artificial reef at 4 to 5 m with sculptures welded from recycled scrap, including a fairground elephant and a hammerhead
- Two resident feather-tail rays that raise sand clouds while feeding
- Seagrass and sand between coral bommies, with pipefish, seahorses and octopus
- Walk-in entry through a buoyed swimming area a few steps from the dive centre
Please note before you go
- Glass-bottom boats and speedboats work the water above the reef; the centre specifically warns divers to take care on the swim back to shore
- Fire coral is among the organisms recorded at this pin, and the reef is shallow enough that you are never far off it
- Devil firefish and crocodilefish are both reported here and neither moves when you approach
Access & rules
Mandatory requirementsGetting there
Shore entry directly off the beach at the Jaz Dahabeya Hotel in Lagoona El Madina, southwest Dahab, a few steps from the Circle Divers centre. In practice you dive it as a Circle Divers customer, since the centre owns the access, the gas and the guiding. The centre has freshwater rinse basins, drying racks, lockers and a covered seating area, with the hotel beach bar next to it, and runs free transfers around Dahab. SCUBA Travel notes that Dahab's hyperbaric chamber is next to the Dahabeya Hotel, which is as close as a recompression facility gets to a dive site.
Operator
Access to the site runs through a local operator.
Season
Dahab dives year round and a sheltered shore reef like this one is about as season-proof as Egyptian diving gets. The variable is water temperature rather than access: SCUBA Travel gives roughly 20 C at depth in February and March against 26 C in September and October. Autumn is the warmest water; winter is the cheapest and quietest and needs the thickest suit.
Conditions
Visibilitynot sourced
Currentnot sourced
Surgenot sourced
WaterSalt water
Depth range1.5–14 m
Environmentreef
Coralnot sourced
Crowdsquiet
A sheltered bay dive: walk in, shallow sand and seagrass, coral bommies to 14 m. SCUBA Travel puts Dahab water at depth between about 20 C in February and March and 26 C in September and October, and notes that the northern Red Sea's 41 parts per thousand salinity means you should carry more lead than you are used to. Those who feel the cold want at least a 5 mm suit, more in winter.
On current: Circle Divers' own description of the site does not mention current at all, which on a house-reef page usually means it is not part of the story. No other source describes conditions on this stretch of bay, so treat the absence as an absence of information rather than a guarantee of slack water and ask at the centre.
Questions & answers
How deep is the Circle Divers house reef?
Fourteen metres at most. You enter through a buoyed swimming area at 1.5 to 2 m, the artificial reef with the sculptures sits at 4 to 5 m, and the buoyancy park with the hoops is at 5 to 6 m. Coral bommies are scattered at various depths between there and the maximum. It is a shallow, long-bottom-time dive.
Where is the Circle Divers house reef?
Off the beach at the Jaz Dahabeya Hotel in the Lagoona El Madina area, at the southwest end of Dahab on the Sinai coast. Circle Divers, a PADI five-star centre, is based at the hotel and the reef is a few steps from their door. SCUBA Travel notes Dahab's hyperbaric chamber sits next to the same hotel.
Can anyone dive it, or do you have to book with Circle Divers?
In practice you dive it through Circle Divers. It is their house reef: they hold the beach access, the gas and the guiding, and they run it for Discover Scuba Diving, Open Water courses, refreshers and night dives. There is no separate public entry point described anywhere, and no other operator publishes a description of this stretch of bay.
Is this the Dahab Underwater Museum?
No, and they are easy to confuse. The Dahab Underwater Museum is an i-Dive Tribe project installed from 2012 onwards at Magra al-Seil and the Lighthouse, whose 700 kg recycled-metal elephant sits at 24 m. The sculptures on the Circle Divers house reef are a separate, smaller installation in 4 to 5 m of water, including a fairground-ride elephant and a hammerhead welded from scrap and bottles.
What will you see on the Circle Divers house reef?
Circle Divers report clownfish in the anemones, pipefish, seahorses, octopus, crabs, Christmas tree worms, lionfish, crocodilefish, glassfish and moray, plus two resident feather-tail rays that betray themselves by the sand clouds they raise while feeding. Records at this pin also include twoband anemonefish, banded and multibar pipefish, emperor angelfish, blue-spotted stingray, striped eel catfish, Moses sole and flashlight fish.
Is the Circle Divers house reef good for beginners?
That is precisely what it is for. Circle Divers rate it beginner and use it for Discover Scuba Diving and Open Water training, and the buoyancy park at 5 to 6 m with hoops to swim through exists specifically so students can practise. Walk-in entry, 14 m maximum, sand and seagrass with bommies. It is a competent training reef rather than a destination dive.
Can you snorkel it?
Yes, within limits. The buoyed swimming area at the entry is 1.5 to 2 m and the sculpture reef sits at only 4 to 5 m, so the most distinctive thing here is within reach on a breath. The bommies and the rays lie deeper. The centre warns divers to watch for glass-bottom boats and speedboats on the way back in, which applies more to snorkellers than anyone.
How reliable is the information about this site?
Less than for most entries here. This is a hotel house reef, not a named feature of the Dahab coast, and Circle Divers' own pages are effectively the only description of it in existence; the wider Dahab guides do not cover this stretch of bay. Depths, layout and species come from the operator, and nothing about current or visibility is published at all.
Life recorded at Circle Divers Dahab House Reef
60 species within 1.5 km · OBISTaeniura lymmarare · 3 recordsGymnothorax javanicusrare · 1 records
Amphiprion bicinctusoccasional · 6 records
Pleurosicya michelioccasional · 6 records
Pseudanthias squamipinnisrare · 4 records
Arothron stellatusrare · 4 records
All 60 species recorded in this area
| Species | How often | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Amphiprion bicinctus | occasional | 6 |
| Pleurosicya micheli | occasional | 6 |
| Pseudanthias squamipinnis | rare | 4 |
| Arothron stellatus | rare | 4 |
| Gymnothorax undulatus | rare | 3 |
| Arothron diadematus | rare | 3 |
| Ocypode saratan | rare | 3 |
| Corythoichthys flavofasciatus | rare | 3 |
| Heniochus intermedius | rare | 3 |
| Pterois miles | rare | 3 |
| Taeniura lymma | rare | 3 |
| Chaetodon lineolatus | rare | 2 |
| Pleurosicya prognatha | rare | 2 |
| Asaphis violascens | rare | 2 |
| Cyclichthys spilostylus | rare | 2 |
| Millepora dichotoma | rare | 2 |
| Gymnothorax griseus | rare | 2 |
| Ostracion cubicum | rare | 2 |
| Pomacentrus sulfureus | rare | 2 |
| Echidna nebulosa | rare | 1 |
| Gymnothorax javanicus | rare | 1 |
| Lethrinus mahsena | rare | 1 |
| Millepora platyphylla | rare | 1 |
| Myripristis murdjan | rare | 1 |
| Nerita albicilla | rare | 1 |
| Octopus cyanea | rare | 1 |
| Pardachirus marmoratus | rare | 1 |
| Pearsonothuria graeffei | rare | 1 |
| Pedum spondyloideum | rare | 1 |
| Photoblepharon steinitzi | rare | 1 |
| Pinctada margaritifera | rare | 1 |
| Plotosus lineatus | rare | 1 |
| Pseudobalistes fuscus | rare | 1 |
| Sargocentron caudimaculatum | rare | 1 |
| Sargocentron diadema | rare | 1 |
| Scolopsis ghanam | rare | 1 |
| Thalassoma rueppellii | rare | 1 |
| Abudefduf sexfasciatus | rare | 1 |
| Dunckerocampus multiannulatus | rare | 1 |
| Pomacanthus imperator | rare | 1 |
| Tetrosomus gibbosus | rare | 1 |
| Zebrasoma desjardinii | rare | 1 |
| Grapsus granulosus | rare | 1 |
| Conus parvatus | rare | 1 |
| Aurelia solida | rare | 1 |
| Nerita orbignyana | rare | 1 |
| Acanthurus sohal | rare | 1 |
| Ancylomenes longicarpus | rare | 1 |
| Arothron hispidus | rare | 1 |
| Astropecten polyacanthus | rare | 1 |
| Bodianus axillaris | rare | 1 |
| Bothus pantherinus | rare | 1 |
| Callechelys marmorata | rare | 1 |
| Chaetodon auriga | rare | 1 |
| Chaetodon paucifasciatus | rare | 1 |
| Chaetodon trifascialis | rare | 1 |
| Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus | rare | 1 |
| Conus textile | rare | 1 |
| Dascyllus trimaculatus | rare | 1 |
| Diplodus noct | rare | 1 |
Nearby sites in Sinai
Explore all sitesSwiss Inn Beach0.2 km
SinaiSand, patchy seagrass and scattered coral blocks off a hotel beach in Lagoona. A training and night dive, not a reef.
Lands End, Dahab0.8 km
SinaiA name our catalogue carries that no dive centre publishes. The coordinates land at the southern end of Dahab bay.
Napoleon Reef1.8 km
SinaiA detached Madrepora tower off the Dahab Laguna, dived from a boat because the reef juts into the current.
Islands2.0 km
SinaiA shallow coral maze south of Dahab: sand pools, valleys and lagoons, and almost nothing below 20 m.
Mashraba3.1 km
SinaiDahab's southern house reef: a walk-in seagrass and sand dive with a pinnacle at around 18 m and a deep swim-through behind it.
Fish and Friends3.2 km
SinaiOne of the walk-in entries on Dahab's town bay, worked north over coral blocks or south over seagrass and sunken sculptures.
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