Golden Blocks

Golden Blocks is the northernmost of the Southern Oasis sites in Wadi Qnai, about 10 km south of Dahab, with an easy entry over pebbles that is protected from waves and possible in almost any weather. The reef is a gentle coral slope cut by three sandy, seagrass-lined alleys: the first runs from about 10 m into deeper water, the second looks like a little canyon, and the third holds a large gorgonian fan at around 18 to 22 m with a small cave beside it. The two golden coral towers that give the site its name reach from about 10 m up to the surface, wrapped in anthias, and are the usual place for the safety stop. Groupers shelter under table corals, nudibranchs, rays, morays and octopus are common, and eagle rays, tuna and occasionally manta rays pass in the blue. It suits divers of all levels and is often combined with a drift south to Moray Garden.