The Canyon

Overview

The Canyon is one of Dahab's signature dives and a rite of passage for divers exploring the Sinai's shore-diving coast. A dramatic fissure in the reef that snakes up from the depths, virtually roofed over at the top, it delivers the eerie, cathedral-like feel of cavern diving with the easy logistics of a beach entry. Reachable by a short drive north of town, it pairs a genuinely atmospheric main attraction with a vibrant shallow coral garden, so there is something here for both recreational and technical divers.

The Dive

Access is a shore entry over a shingle beach and rocky shelf into a shallow sandy lagoon, best timed for high tide when the lagoon fills and visibility holds. From the lagoon you cross a reef saddle and follow a small wall to the Canyon itself — a deep north–south crack in the reef. Recreational divers drop in through its widest opening to a sandy floor around 28–30m, where shafts of sunlight pierce the near-closed roof and create the surreal light show the site is known for. The fissure continues to narrow and deepen toward the open sea, reaching about 54m for technical divers, but the recreational profile stays in the upper section before heading back to the shallows.

This is a dive for confident divers; an Advanced Open Water certification is the sensible minimum given the 30m depth and the overhead feel of the Canyon. The shallow coral garden and white-sand plateau on the saddle make a beautiful, relaxed finish to the dive, ideal for offgassing while you take in the reef life.

Marine Life

Inside the Canyon, dense clouds of glassfish shimmer in the filtered light, with batfish and the occasional lurking grouper or moray for company. The surrounding coral garden and saddle are far livelier — anthias, butterflyfish, wrasse, lionfish and a healthy spread of hard and soft corals — and turtles or passing pelagics sometimes drift by in the blue beyond the reef.

Good to Know

The Canyon dives well year-round, with high tide giving the cleanest lagoon conditions; visibility is typically 10–20m and can drop in the lagoon when the sea is rough. It is an easy road trip from Dahab (around 10km), with jeep access right to the entry point. Watch for currents on the lagoon saddle, plan the deeper section conservatively, and remember that the closed-in feel of the fissure makes good buoyancy and a calm mindset more important than raw experience.