Dahab · Egypt · Wall · Cave & cavern · Lagoon
Gabr el Bint
No road in — a 50-minute boat ride to a fan-coral drop-off
Area photo: Tim Sheerman-Chase · CC BY 2.0
Gabr el Bint sits about 15 kilometres south of Dahab with no road to it: the only way in is by boat, about 50 minutes out. The dive works a drop-off hung with fan corals, a small cave at 26 metres, and a sandy lagoon of table corals on the way back, finishing on a reef plateau that can run a stronger current.
Where it is and how deep
28.3536° N, 34.4328° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The boat ride is part of the day: Gabr el Bint is about 15 kilometres south of Dahab and has no road access, so groups come by day boat in around 50 minutes. The dive starts on the drop-off, a wall carrying fan corals, and follows it with reef on one shoulder and open water on the other, where tuna, mackerel, snappers and fusiliers pass in the blue.
A small cave at 26 metres is the deepest point and the feature to plan the profile around. From there the route comes shallower and crosses back over a sandy lagoon set with table corals, where milkfish are often seen, before ending on a reef plateau. The reef itself is the colourful part: damselfish in numbers, groupers, octopus, snails and shrimp among the coral.
Marine life and season
- Tuna
- Reef fish swarms
- Groupers
- Octopus & cuttlefish
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Good |
Season follows Dahab: Conditions stay calm and shore-diveable year-round; visibility peaks in spring and autumn shoulder months.
Know before you go
- The reef plateau where the dive ends can run a stronger current than the rest of the site; keep gas in reserve for that last stretch and stay with the group across it.
Questions divers ask
How do you get to Gabr el Bint?+
By boat only. The site is about 15 kilometres south of Dahab and has no road access, so it is run as a day-boat trip of about 50 minutes — one of the few dives in Dahab that is not reached by pickup along the coast road.
Sources
- Gabr el Bint - Dahab dive site — Scubago
- Dahab — Wikivoyage
More dive sites in Dahab
Reef
A gentle 6-metre shelf that slopes on down to 30
Reef
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Reef
A school of snubnose rudderfish chasing each other in the second lagoon
Drift
A canyon from 20 to 50 metres and a forest of giant gorgonians
Lagoon
A cave-like canyon with swim-throughs beyond the shallow lagoon
Coral garden
Shared entrance with the Canyon, then a slow run south
A reef fissure opening at 18 m onto a chamber floor at 30 m
A 26-metre tunnel at 55 metres links the sinkhole to open water
Similar dives elsewhere
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Wall
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16th-century stone anchors among amphora shards off the island
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A wall of overhangs and caverns with its foot at about 30 m