Eel Garden

Eel Garden lies in Assalah, about 1.5 km from the Lighthouse along the shore walkway, and is entered after a walk or swim over a wide reef table and through a short, winding channel in the reef. Beyond a small lagoon a bright sandy slope opens up, where hundreds of garden eels rise from their burrows to feed in the current and vanish into the sand if divers approach too quickly. Around 20 m a flatter area with coral boulders and table corals is often patrolled by barracuda, and longhorn cowfish, blue-spotted rays, pufferfish and razorfish are common on the sand. The return along the fringing reef at 5 to 10 m passes some of the most vibrant hard and soft corals in Dahab, where the rare seagrass ghost pipefish is sometimes found. The site is exposed, so it is dived only at high tide and in calm weather; when the wind picks up, the current becomes strong.