The Blue Hole is a hole in the roof of the fringing reef on the Egyptian Red Sea coast and a popular diving spot. It is located 10 km north of Dahab on the east coast of the Sinai Peninsula on the Gulf of Aqaba. Due to numerous accidents, the Blue Hole is often referred to as the most dangerous dive site in the world
The Blue Hole is a large hole in the reef roof of the coastal fringing reef, which drops vertically to depths of 70 m to 110 m. It has a diameter of 50 to 65 m. The transition from the Blue Hole to the open Red Sea, known as the saddle, is about 6 m deep.
Within the Blue Hole there are mostly only dead corals and relatively little other marine life. Also, the water is mostly clouded by the tidal runoff from the reef roof; the average visibility is around 20 to 25 m. Guided diving and snorkeling trips are therefore mainly carried out (with the current) along the steep drop of the outer reef (up to a maximum of 40 m depth), over the saddle and finally flat inside the edge of the Blue Hole. The Bells dive site, located about 150 m northeast of the Blue Hole, is usually used as an entry point; the exit usually takes place in the Blue Hole.
The small bay and the sensitive coral reef are visited by numerous tourists in almost every season; over 1000 tourists a day were reported at weddings. The place is approached by organized jeep trips and by coaches from Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Nuwaiba, Taba. This makes the Blue Hole one of the most visited diving and snorkeling spots in the world. Sometimes more people frolic in the water than in a crowded swimming pool. The narrow bank is lined closely with restaurants, the overburdened sanitary facilities of which can hardly cope with the onslaught.
The Blue Hole has a connection to the open sea, which is known because of its shape as an arch (English for 'arch') or as a cathedral. The passage extends from the bottom of the Blue Hole from about 102 m depth up to about 52 m depth; on the outer reef it extends between approximately 120 m maximum and 57 m minimum depth. At the upper end (at around 55 m depth) the passage is only a few meters wide. The tunnel is around 26 m long. At the outer edge, too, the coral reef forms an almost vertical drop, which continues below the exit of the Blue Hole as a steep slope to a depth of over 250 m.
Diving through the breakthrough from the Blue Hole to the outer reef is considered dangerous. It is not possible to go beyond the usual depth limits of the diving sports associations (30 or 40 meters) in recreational diving and should be reserved for experienced or technical divers with a special breathing gas mixture (trimix) and adequate diving equipment. Even for experienced divers, diving poses a considerable risk, not least due to incalculable flow conditions (including occasional downward currents). One or more unforeseen problems can then quickly lead to a life-threatening chain of events in connection with the severely limited ability to judge and react at this depth.
According to the Egyptian authorities, a total of 130 divers died in the Blue Hole between 1997, the start of the official census, and 2011. It is estimated that around 300 deaths have occurred at this dive site since diving tourism began in the early 1980s. Most of the dead, almost exclusively men and experienced divers, remained missing. The Blue Hole is probably the dive site with the most fatally injured divers in the world. Failed divers usually sink to the sloping, sandy bottom; most of the bodies are between 100 and 120 m deep. Rescues are correspondingly complex.
Several memorial plaques for divers who died here are attached to the rock wall that bounds the bay in a northerly direction. Including for Yuri Lipski, who recorded his own death with a video camera in 2000 at the age of 22 years at a depth of 90 meters below the surface of the water.
The Blue Hole is a large hole in the reef roof of the coastal fringing reef, which drops vertically to depths of 70 m to 110 m. It has a diameter of 50 to 65 m. The transition from the Blue Hole to the open Red Sea, known as the saddle, is about 6 m deep.
Within the Blue Hole there are mostly only dead corals and relatively little other marine life. Also, the water is mostly clouded by the tidal runoff from the reef roof; the average visibility is around 20 to 25 m. Guided diving and snorkeling trips are therefore mainly carried out (with the current) along the steep drop of the outer reef (up to a maximum of 40 m depth), over the saddle and finally flat inside the edge of the Blue Hole. The Bells dive site, located about 150 m northeast of the Blue Hole, is usually used as an entry point; the exit usually takes place in the Blue Hole.
The small bay and the sensitive coral reef are visited by numerous tourists in almost every season; over 1000 tourists a day were reported at weddings. The place is approached by organized jeep trips and by coaches from Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Nuwaiba, Taba. This makes the Blue Hole one of the most visited diving and snorkeling spots in the world. Sometimes more people frolic in the water than in a crowded swimming pool. The narrow bank is lined closely with restaurants, the overburdened sanitary facilities of which can hardly cope with the onslaught.
The Blue Hole has a connection to the open sea, which is known because of its shape as an arch (English for 'arch') or as a cathedral. The passage extends from the bottom of the Blue Hole from about 102 m depth up to about 52 m depth; on the outer reef it extends between approximately 120 m maximum and 57 m minimum depth. At the upper end (at around 55 m depth) the passage is only a few meters wide. The tunnel is around 26 m long. At the outer edge, too, the coral reef forms an almost vertical drop, which continues below the exit of the Blue Hole as a steep slope to a depth of over 250 m.
Diving through the breakthrough from the Blue Hole to the outer reef is considered dangerous. It is not possible to go beyond the usual depth limits of the diving sports associations (30 or 40 meters) in recreational diving and should be reserved for experienced or technical divers with a special breathing gas mixture (trimix) and adequate diving equipment. Even for experienced divers, diving poses a considerable risk, not least due to incalculable flow conditions (including occasional downward currents). One or more unforeseen problems can then quickly lead to a life-threatening chain of events in connection with the severely limited ability to judge and react at this depth.
According to the Egyptian authorities, a total of 130 divers died in the Blue Hole between 1997, the start of the official census, and 2011. It is estimated that around 300 deaths have occurred at this dive site since diving tourism began in the early 1980s. Most of the dead, almost exclusively men and experienced divers, remained missing. The Blue Hole is probably the dive site with the most fatally injured divers in the world. Failed divers usually sink to the sloping, sandy bottom; most of the bodies are between 100 and 120 m deep. Rescues are correspondingly complex.
Several memorial plaques for divers who died here are attached to the rock wall that bounds the bay in a northerly direction. Including for Yuri Lipski, who recorded his own death with a video camera in 2000 at the age of 22 years at a depth of 90 meters below the surface of the water.
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