The Blue Hole

---

Since I am staying on this beautiful gulf, which supposedly holds the most prestine reefs in the world I decided it was time to explore them.
I had heard these reefs were amazing but looking out over the water its hard to imagine! I got a local taxi to take me about 5km north of town to a place called the blue hole. Its a place in the reef where about 200ft off the shore there is a giant hole that drops down about 300 feet. This was something I had to see!
The ride up there was an adventure, you take a 4 wheel drive road across the beach, through a cut in the rocks (only wide enough for our little jeep) and end up at this little snorkeling and diving area. It wasn't much to look at from the surface. After i got there and settled in, I chatted with my companion for the day, a canadian named Matthew who hitched a ride in my taxi. And then I was off to explore!
Jumping in it was a bit intimidating, once I got my snorkel and mask in place, I looked down... into the deep blue!!! WOW! It really freaked me out! I had never been in water that deep, where I couldn't see the bottom!! There were enough people around that I knew if I got into trouble they could help me, there were also numerous divers around as well. I snorkeled around the hole, it was pretty amazing... then I decided to venture out onto the gulf side of this reef... thats where all the cool stuff was! There were tons of fish, colorful corals, and just a sense of freedom I'd never felt before! It was amazing!!! I snorkeled around for an hour or so, then came in for a breather. Decided I hadn't had enough, so Matthew and I went out for another look. It was great! I saw sargent majors, a moray eel, butterfly fish, clown fish, all kinds!!! It was like swimming in an aquarium exhibit. So amazing! Playing around in the divers bubbles, swimming with fish, diving down for closer looks, and just enjoying this amazing sight! In addition I got to see some free divers... those people who try to dive as deep as they can go with only fins and snorkeling gear. It's a sport I had heard about but never seen in person. These people were amazing!!!!
If there is only one reason to go to this part of the world, it is most deffinately for the reefs!!! So beautiful!
I got back to Dahab, cleaned up and went out for my last dinner in town. I really wanted to stay just another day, but I wanted to get back to Cairo. So will just have to put this on my list of places to return to!!!
Im a little worried about what will happen to Dahab as it gets to be a bigger tourist destination. Its great the way it is now... a quiet little backpackers/divers paradise on the gulf of Aqaba. There aren't many boats, cars, or ringing cell phones! Its great, but I can already see the development moving in and I wonder what will happen to this little paradise!
All I can do is go back and check some day!

---

Photos

Blue Hole Sign
A sign describing the underwater terrain here at the blue hole.

In the Blue Hole
This was the first picture I took when I got in!!! WOW!!

Diver's Bubbles
On the outer side of the reef I enjoyed swimming through all the diver's bubbles! :)

Aquarium Shot
This really makes it look like I was in an aquarium!