FAMILY TRIP TO DAHAB

by Camilla Norberg

Dahab Family trip with diving

April 7, 2010 I left, Camilla travel salesperson at Scuba Travel, a still rugged Sweden and flew to significantly warmer latitudes in Egypt and The red sea for Dahab and a family trip with diving. With me I had my boyfriend Andreas, his brother with his girlfriend and their parents. The trip sake go to Dahab on a family trip with diving. We landathe first in Sharm el Sheikh to go from there for 1,5 hours to the cozy little Bedouin town, Dahab.

We check in

Once there, we checked in at the Oricana Hotel, a quiet and fresh hotel with a large pool and a 5-minute walk to the heart of Dahab. The first day we walked around Dahab, we noticed quite quickly that the entire city center is largely built along the beach, which means that you quickly learn the city and feel at home. Dahab is very "laid-back" and most people here are divers. Mass tourism, the big hotels and the hectic nightlife haven't arrived yet.

Along the beach are several restaurants, some more luxurious and others simpler. You can be served the catch of the day on smoking frying pans, eat a large potion of shish kebab or choose eg Indian food. However, the prices are at about the same level and since you are in an Arab country, it is common that you do not serve alcohol. However, it is never a problem to go and buy in a shop and take it with you to the restaurant.

Scuba diving training session in clear water by beachfront resort with instructors and students.

Camel riding by the sea at sunset, popular activity for tourists and adventure seekers.

Camel rides on a beach near clear turquoise water and rugged mountains, perfect for scuba travel adventures.

Caravan of camels carrying supplies along rocky coastline for scuba diving adventures in Egypt.

Scuba travel destination along a waterfront promenade with shops and palm trees.

Time to start diving

On day two it was time to start diving. The Oxygene Dahab dive center picked us up by jeep from the hotel every day, even though it only takes a maximum of 10 min to walk there. Once at the diving center we had to fill in all the necessary papers, try out diving equipment and we were each given a locker with a key where we could store our equipment during the week.

Then it was time to set off. Dahab is famous for its land-based diving, that is, we pack into a jeep and drive to a dive site in or outside of Dahab. Get a briefing, put on all the equipment and go into the sea directly from shore. Everyone but me and Andrea's brother, Kristian, would learn to dive during this trip. So we left them and together with our guide we went to the lighthouse (in the middle of Dahab) for our first dive. Not a very exciting dive, but good as a first dive as you still have to feel all the equipment etc. We also did our second dive here nearby. Between dives we came ashore and had lunch at a restaurant along the beach, took a little nap and dived again and that was how our days looked like.

Different dive sites

We visited dive sites like Blue Hole (Bells), Canyon, Islands and South. The Blue Hole was an experience as we started the dive by going down into a narrow opening. Here there was room for barely 2 divers next to each other. Here we went straight down from 0-30m depth to arrive at an opening and be able to swim out. After that, the dive went along a wall that slopes maybe 250m down (you don't really know). Canyon was also fantastic as we dove into a crack and entered a smaller room. When we got back up, we saw a huge moray eel and a little later an octopus. Iceland was also wonderful, a whole landscape of tall corals and beautiful colors. The diving in Dahab was exciting, pleasant and there was a lot to see.

Congratulations on your diving certificate

As for the rest of the gang, they did their entire Open Water Course with Oxygene Dahab. During 4 days they took the course and they were all very satisfied. They had 1 instructor and 1 guide with them all the time and did all the theory at the dive center. The difference to how most dive centers do the course was that they did all their dives in the sea and none in a pool. This is because all the diving takes place smoothly from land and because they then immediately get used to being in the sea, which they thought was great. Both Andreas, Kristian's girlfriend and the parents made it through the entire course and are now divers. Congratulations!

We all warmly recommend you to choose Dahab as your next diving destination, a family trip with diving I can really recommend, we hope to be able to go back again soon ourselves.

Photo: Camilla Norberg