Eel Garden

The dive

Eel Garden sits at the north end of Dahab town, a few hundred metres past the Lighthouse and about 500 m from the centre, and dive centres run it as a short pickup ride followed by a walk. You cross the reef plate on foot, then drop into a canyon in the reef about 9 m deep which opens out into a wide sandy area sloping gradually away. A section of reef juts out perpendicular to the main wall and separates the entry from the sand field.

The sand field is the site. It holds what Dahab dive centres call the town's largest colony of garden eels, Gorgasia sillneri, living in permanent burrows and standing up out of the sand with their heads bent into the current, dropping back out of sight as you get close. Photographers come here for exactly that, and getting a frame means approaching slowly and low. At around 20 m the bottom flattens into coral boulders and table corals, and barracuda are regularly reported patrolling that stretch. Most divers turn there and come back up the slope, finishing along the fringing reef in 3 to 10 m where the coral cover is the densest part of the dive.

The usual profile is 1 to 30 m; the slope keeps going past that and centres will take Deep-qualified divers on down to a reef at about 40 m. Ordinary recreational plans do not need it. Crown-of-thorns starfish have been recorded around this pin, so watch where you put a hand on the shallow return.

The catch is the entry. You are walking in over a wide, shallow reef roof, so the site needs little or no wind and a medium to high tide, and centres cancel it rather than drag divers across exposed coral. When it is on, it is one of the gentler dives in Dahab: H2O Divers rate the site 2 out of 5 for both difficulty and current and put it at Open Water plus. When the wind is up, the surface and the current are the problem, not the reef.

• Dahab's largest garden eel colony on the open sand slope
• Entry through a canyon about 9 m deep that opens onto the sand field
• Coral boulders and table corals on the flat at about 20 m, with barracuda patrolling
• A dense shallow return along the fringing reef in 3 to 10 m
• A deep reef at about 40 m for divers with a Deep qualification

Conditions

A short pickup north from town, a walk over the reef plate, and a shore entry through the canyon. Water sits at 20 to 26 C across the year according to Poseidon Divers in Dahab, February being the coldest and August the warmest, with a 3 mm suit in summer and up to 5 mm in winter. The 30 m visibility figure quoted for the site is a fair-weather number; wind is what takes it away, and wind is also what closes the entry.

On current: H2O Divers rate the current here 2 out of 5, and the garden eels themselves are the gauge: they stand up into whatever is running. It is not a drift dive and you swim out and back. The reason the site gets cancelled is not current at depth but the shallow reef roof you have to walk in over, which needs a medium to high tide and little wind; Sea Dancer say plainly that diving here depends on the wind and is best at high tide. Treat a windy morning as a no.

Best months: Apr, May, Sep, Oct, Nov

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