Blue Hole / Bells
Blue Hole / Bells
Probably one of the most famous dive sites in Egypt, the Blue Hole/ The Bells is accessed by shore and can be done either as the Blue hole alone or more fun is to enter at the Bells and swim to the Blue Hole.
The kit up area is at the Blue Hole then about a 150 metre or so walk to the entrance of the Bells. The Bells entry is a small hole (approx 3 metres long by 2 metres wide) and descends into a sort of chimney that has an opening in the top section on the sea side.
The name it is said comes from two possible origins – 1) the shape of the chimney how it narrows and widens in the shape of bells and 2) the sound that tanks make when they touch the walls as divers descend one by one down through the chimney.
The sun rays that penetrate through the crack in the reef as you descend make a truly beautiful sight. The chimney closes at around 23 metres but divers can continue down to the next opening at 26-28 metres and pop out into the clear blue water. Leaving the Bells follow the reef wall on your right shoulder and start making your ascent as you go. Along the way at about 18 metres there is a cleaner fish family that have learnt to clean divers as they pass – take your regulator out if you dare and let them clean inside your mouth – make sure they are gone before you put your reg back in!!
Along this wall there are large black corals and large overhangs with hard corals called “pachyseries speciose” which to those with a vivid imagination looks like volcanoes have spewed their lava and its run down the walls cooling and hardening.
As you make your way along the reef at about 35-45 minutes into your dive start bringing the dive up to 7-12 metres and you will come across the saddle which is the entrance into the Blue Hole – this saddle is reported to have been made by Jacques Cousteau when he dynamited the reef on a stormy night to sail his ship into the Blue Hole for shelter. If that is so, the reef here recovered amazingly well and this saddle is an array of colourful corals, scorpion fish, lionfish, anthias, nudibranchs, the reef is teeming with life here.
Once entering the Blue Hole you can choose to swim left or right, if you are lower on air the quickest route to the exit point is to the right. It’s a strange sensation entering the Blue Hole as you leave the blue of the sea behind you but seemingly re-enter the blue a few metres after as you can’t see the far walls. Free divers use the Blue Hole to practise as its sheltered so swimming around the outskirts of the hole you can watch them descending to the depths.
This dive site is suitable for divers with a 30 Metres certification level.
The kit up area is at the Blue Hole then about a 150 metre or so walk to the entrance of the Bells. The Bells entry is a small hole (approx 3 metres long by 2 metres wide) and descends into a sort of chimney that has an opening in the top section on the sea side.
The name it is said comes from two possible origins – 1) the shape of the chimney how it narrows and widens in the shape of bells and 2) the sound that tanks make when they touch the walls as divers descend one by one down through the chimney.
The sun rays that penetrate through the crack in the reef as you descend make a truly beautiful sight. The chimney closes at around 23 metres but divers can continue down to the next opening at 26-28 metres and pop out into the clear blue water. Leaving the Bells follow the reef wall on your right shoulder and start making your ascent as you go. Along the way at about 18 metres there is a cleaner fish family that have learnt to clean divers as they pass – take your regulator out if you dare and let them clean inside your mouth – make sure they are gone before you put your reg back in!!
Along this wall there are large black corals and large overhangs with hard corals called “pachyseries speciose” which to those with a vivid imagination looks like volcanoes have spewed their lava and its run down the walls cooling and hardening.
As you make your way along the reef at about 35-45 minutes into your dive start bringing the dive up to 7-12 metres and you will come across the saddle which is the entrance into the Blue Hole – this saddle is reported to have been made by Jacques Cousteau when he dynamited the reef on a stormy night to sail his ship into the Blue Hole for shelter. If that is so, the reef here recovered amazingly well and this saddle is an array of colourful corals, scorpion fish, lionfish, anthias, nudibranchs, the reef is teeming with life here.
Once entering the Blue Hole you can choose to swim left or right, if you are lower on air the quickest route to the exit point is to the right. It’s a strange sensation entering the Blue Hole as you leave the blue of the sea behind you but seemingly re-enter the blue a few metres after as you can’t see the far walls. Free divers use the Blue Hole to practise as its sheltered so swimming around the outskirts of the hole you can watch them descending to the depths.
This dive site is suitable for divers with a 30 Metres certification level.
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