Snorkelling the Blue Hole Without a Guide
You do not need a boat, a course or a guide to see the Blue Hole. You need a mask, a taxi and about four hours.
The Blue Hole is fifteen minutes north of Dahab by taxi, and the reef you came to see starts a metre from the shore. Most people arrive with a dive centre, spend the day underwater and never find out that the best snorkelling is in the shallow lagoon beside the car park.
Getting there
A taxi from Masbat is 150 to 200 EGP each way, and the driver will wait if you agree it first. Going early matters more than anything else: by ten the day boats and the dive groups have arrived, and by noon the water over the coral is a queue.
Where to get in
Walk past the camps to the southern end, where the reef edge is shallow and there is a sandy break to step through. The wall drops away about twenty metres out, and everything worth seeing — the anthias, the parrotfish, the occasional turtle — lives on the lip, not out in the blue.
What to take
- Your own mask, if you have one. Rentals fog.
- A rash vest rather than sunscreen: the reef here is close enough to touch and sunscreen does not help it.
- Water. There are cafés, but not in the water.
What to leave alone
The Arch is a hundred metres down and has killed a lot of confident people. From the surface you cannot see it and you should not go looking. If you want to dive the Blue Hole properly, do it with a centre and a guide who knows the site.
