Blue hole in the red sea. Arch. underwater reef between the blue hole and the red sea, Dahab

Blue Hole is a vertical underwater cave in the Red Sea, located in the vicinity of the Egyptian town of Dahab, a famous place that attracts divers from all over the world. The depth of Blue Hall is about 130 meters.
At the bottom of the Blue Hole there are still the bodies of some of the dead divers, as well as the ammunition of those whose bodies were raised from the bottom of the sea, forming an impromptu cemetery at the bottom of the glass of the hole. The most famous is the body of a young girl, Barbara Dillinger, which has been at the bottom of Blue Hall since 1998.
Further in the post there will be photos and videos of bodies at the bottom of the sea, so the impressionable should not go under the cat.

The Blue Hole is notorious, “thanks” to numerous divers who, overestimating their strength and not having sufficient training, died in Blue Hall.
At a depth of more than 50 meters, there is an arch in the cave connecting Blue Hall with the open sea.
And in an effort to descend to the depths and swim through this arch, inexperienced divers may not return. The fact is that only so-called technical divers can descend to such depths, having with them special mixtures breathing gas at different depths, differing in composition.
Blue Hall Arch

An attempt to dive with an ordinary cylinder with a standard breathing mixture leads to the so-called nitrogen intoxication, or nitrogen narcosis, occurring at great depths. This state manifests itself as lethargy, euphoria, hallucinations may occur, and then sleep occurs. Falling asleep, the diver sinks to the bottom from where he will never return.

On the shore of Blue Hall there is an impromptu memorial, where signs with the names of the victims are nailed. There is no exact information, data varies, but it is approximately believed that more than a hundred divers died at Blue Hall.

The young girl Barbara Dillinger remained lying at the bottom; her relatives did not take the body, reasoning that since Barbara loved the sea so much, then let her remain there.
However, perhaps this was due to the fact that raising a body from great depths is a very expensive matter.

Barbara's body in 2006

Barbara in 2014

Here are a couple more desperate divers

However, experienced divers were also victims of Blue Hall, for example Yuri Lipsky, who filmed his own death on camera. This video is also available on the Internet.

Here you can watch a dive tour of Blue Hall with experienced divers

In this article we will talk about the so-called blue holes, which are underwater vertical caves that go down to great depths. From a bird's eye view, such caves most closely resemble dark blue and sometimes almost black holes in the water.

soundwaves.usgs.gov

On at the moment There are several dozen such caves known, but the most famous of them are the Great Blue Hole ( Great Blue Hole), located in the center of the atoll known as Lighthouse Reef (Belize), and the Blue Hole ( Blue Hole), located near Dahab, Egypt.

The Great Blue Hole became widely known after the research of Jacques Cousteau and his team. It was Cousteau who first explored this underwater cave, the ceiling of which collapsed several thousand years ago. The diameter of the blue hole is about 300 meters, and the depth of the cave reaches almost 120 meters. Due to its size, this blue hole is considered the largest in the world and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Great Blue Hole was formed more than 10 thousand years ago, at a time when sea levels were much lower. Soon the ocean began to rise and the cave was flooded. Its ceiling could not withstand the water pressure and collapsed...

Today this place is incredibly popular among divers. Even Jacques Yves Cousteau, while studying the cave, made several notes of the places where, in his opinion, it is best to dive. You can get to the Great Blue Hole either by boat or motorboat, or by signing up for one of the many tours.

Visiting the Great Blue Hole is interesting in itself, but you will get the most vivid impressions from diving into its depths. Divers dive to a depth of 30-40 meters, where they can fully enjoy all the beauties of the underwater world. Colorful exotic fish scurrying back and forth, and the most beautiful underwater landscapes - all this awaits you at the bottom of the Great Blue Hole.

Another equally famous blue hole is located not far from Dahab, but it gained its fame due to the numerous tragedies that happened here. Many inexperienced divers underestimated the complexity of the underwater route, and this led to dire consequences...

The Blue Hole in Dahab, also known as the “Divers' Graveyard,” is a fairly large lagoon surrounded on all sides by coral reefs. The depth of this blue hole is about one hundred meters. The cave is connected to the sea by a small strait, the depth of which reaches about 55 meters. From the side of the strait, rocks called Arch hang over the Blue Hole.

Not far from the underwater cave, on the shore, there is a memorial in which there are dozens of plaques with the names of the divers who died here. Recently, it was prohibited to place new signs, as the Egyptian government considered that this could negatively affect the tourist attractiveness of this unusual, but deadly natural site.

Dmitry Kuznetsov

At this point, the list of people who have completed the arch while freediving (that is, holding their breath) is very short. There are only a few names here, among which there are such professional divers as Bifin (South Africa), Herbert Nitzsch (Austria), Natalya and Alexey Molchanov (Russia). It is worth noting that Natalya Molchanova is still the only woman who swam the arch in one breath!

The reef is located at a depth of 50 meters, under which you can swim from the Blue Hole to the Red Sea.

There is a beautiful legend that the emir’s daughter, weak at the front, drowned her lovers in this place. And when the emir caught his daughter and sent her after her lovers, she finally promised to take as many lovers to the next world as she needed.
No sooner said than done. Although the Arch can be completed with very basic equipment, it has a reputation for being an extremely dangerous dive site (you can read the reasons here) and there is a small memorial near the arch.

Where is the Blue Hole?
About 15 kilometers through the desert along the Sinai coast to the north from Dahab and you are at the legendary Red Sea dive spot Blue Hole. In general, there are many so-called “blue holes” on earth. These are natural wells in the sea or ocean, very deep and often with a system of connected underwater caves. Most likely, the name “blue” appeared by analogy with a “black hole” in space. Blue holes are scattered throughout the world's oceans. They are found off the coast of Central America, in the Mediterranean Sea, in the Bahamas and in other places on the planet. Hence huge amount inaccuracies and confusion in articles about the Egyptian Blue Hole posted online on travel agency websites.

The Egyptian Blue Hole is a kind of conical crater in the reef rock with a diameter of about 100 meters, starting right from the shore and resembling a glass that narrows strongly downwards. At its deepest point, the Hole is more than 100 meters deep. Blue Hole has two exits to the open sea: a trough-saddle at 7 meters thickly overgrown with coral gardens and a cyclopean-sized Arch, the upper limit of the arch of which runs at a depth of approximately 56 meters.
The route to the Blue Hole spot has long been trodden and, apparently, the popular tourist trail will no longer be overgrown. Dozens of people come here from Dahab and beyond every day. Mainly to snorkel. Especially for lovers of this type of recreation, there is now a rental point and cafes. And, of course, techno-divers are still drawn here like an incredible magnet. For them this place has become a cult place. People come here to set records or just dive for their own pleasure.
For recreational divers, the “glass” itself is of little interest - the few corals are severely damaged in places, and there are not many fish. But those who swam and those in the know claim that a drift dive from another site, The Bells, located 250 meters from the Blue Hole along the outer wall of the Blue Hole with access to the “glass” itself is the most memorable underwater route in Dahab.
To begin such an underwater journey, you will have to walk with all your equipment along the path to the dive site, past the rocks with memorial plaques on which are written the names of divers who disappeared without a trace in the Blue Hole. Many people dive here, but not all come up. There's a lot to think about on the way to your dive site.

On the spot. A jump into the crevice, a descent, and there it is, a bizarrely shaped reef break, through which divers, one after another, emerge into the glowing blue of the open sea. Then the movement continues towards the Hole past a picturesque sheer wall covered with alcyonaria, gorgonians and black corals. Closer to the Hole, the profile of the wall becomes less vertical. From this place, if you're lucky, you can see the inhabitants of the open sea - schools of tuna and barracuda. Half an hour after the start of the dive, having passed the saddle of the ridge, you will find yourself in Blue Hole.
Blue Hole has enough of all kinds of representatives of the Red Sea underwater fauna: clown fish, parrot fish, angel fish, glass fish and triggerfish. By the way, keep in mind that the triggerfish attacks scuba divers if they are near its nest. If anything happens, it is recommended not to float up, but to quickly scoot to the side - then only the flippers will suffer.

And on one of the walls of the well you can see a fantastic multi-meter coral carpet - a colony of Pachyseris speciosa - Elephant skin coral, which is quite rare in the Sinai. Pachyceris, unlike other hard corals, does not have pronounced tentacles. The polyps develop into fairly large or small wavy ridges, making them somewhat similar to the skin of an elephant - hence the name.
And now about the features of techno diving in Blue Hole. Technicians usually begin their dive in the “glass” itself, entering the water along wooden walkways. Then they swim about 50 meters along the surface in order to be closer to the Arch and not have to work with fins at depth.
The legendary Blue Hole arch is a stunning creation of Mother Nature, bewitchingly frightening and so alluring to techno-divers - appearing in external wall“glass” at a depth of approximately 56 meters, a passage into the open sea. The thickness of the wall, that is, the length of the overhead environment when passing through the Arch, is about 25 meters. The bottom under the arch of the Arch gradually decreases, so the height of the arch inside the “glass” is 44 meters, and at the exit to the reef – 60 meters.
They say that the strip of blue light that penetrates the tunnel from the open sea is fantastically beautiful, illuminating this natural trap, and if you go through the tunnel, sail a little to the side and look back, the Arch will appear as a majestic Gothic vault going up. Probably, this really is not forgotten.
For all the unforgettable beauty and extraordinary attractiveness of the Blue Hole, it has long had a bad reputation. It is not known what appeared first - tragic statistics or a legend about a certain emir’s daughter who was killed a long time ago, who has since become a threat to the lives of all male divers diving into the well. This legend has been so indecently replicated and shamelessly distorted that its original content is almost impossible to recreate, but the general meaning is something like this.
Allegedly, in time immemorial, an emir lived in these places. And the emir had a sexually mature daughter, “weak at the front.” As soon as dad is outside the gates of the palace on his emir's business, on some next military campaign, his daughter is right there - in all seriousness with the local handsome men. And so that rumors about the lady’s immoral behavior, God forbid, would not reach the pope and leave the palace, the would-be lovers were mercilessly drowned in the depths of the sea immediately after a night of voluptuousness. When the emir finally found out about the entertainment of his dissolute daughter, he became so angry that he ordered the execution of the dissolute woman. Ordered - done. The girl was sent after her lovers to the same Blue Hole. And before going to the bottom, the evil nymphomaniac swore to her executioners and all witnesses that she would still take as many men as she wanted. Well, it seems that this is why divers disappear into the Hole these days without a trace.
There is another scary tale. Some researchers of anomalous phenomena, citing reliable sources - diving hallucinations, claim that at the bottom of the Hole there live some creatures who are not friendly and hospitable, like mermaids, who take people in and do something bad to them.

It is unlikely that in the legend about the vengeful emir’s daughter, in addition to the plot, morality and elements of PR, there is at least a grain of historical truth, it is unlikely that there is soundness in the statements of paranormalists, but, be that as it may, going down into the Hole is really unsafe. The Blue Hole is truly famous not only as one of the best world-class dive sites, not only as one of the most mysterious and beautiful reefs of the Red Sea, not only as a cult place for tech divers, but also as one of the most dangerous dive sites in the world .
It seems that it is not the emir’s daughter or the mythical mermaids who are to blame for the tragedies that took place here. The Hole’s notoriety was created by the divers themselves, who took irresponsible, unjustified and stupid risks by diving in this place without sufficient qualifications and without the appropriate equipment.
Due to the depth, low light, overhead environment and occasional downdrafts, passage under the Blue Hole Arch is only accessible to very experienced technicians. For inexperienced divers and for divers diving in a conventional (single-cylinder) configuration, such a passage is extremely dangerous and can be fraught with the appearance of another memorial plaque on the coastal rock. True, they say that in lately In order not to scare away impressionable tourists, they have already stopped hanging signs on the rock near the Blue Hole.
But there have always been madmen and fools, there are and there will be. And they will continue to risk their lives, despite all admonitions. By the way, just so you know, there are even several freedivers in the world who managed to complete the Blue Hole Arch in one breath! It seems there are four of them. Among them are two Russians - the legend of Russian freediving Natalya Molchanova and her son Alexey.
For techies, the blue outline of the Blue Hole arch has long become a kind of symbol of technical diving in Dahab.

Recommended level of training for completing the classic route The Bells - Blue Hole: Advanced OWD PADI or equivalent.
Level of preparation for passing the Arch (or The Bells – Blue Hole at 60 meters with passage through the Arch): Extended Range TDI certified or equivalent.
Diving to the bottom of the Blue Hole or to the bottom in front of the Arch on the outer side of the reef (120 meters): Advanced Trimix certification.

September 6th, 2013

Let's start to look at the topic. This time I took only 10 topics (I’ll rest a little), so probably few people had time :-). One of those who succeeded petr_leycans, this is what he asks: “Mecca” of all divers, the most dangerous place for diving, a siphon, you dive in one place and come up in the open sea, I still can’t decide to dive there

The Blue Hole is an underwater vertical hole off the coast of the Red Sea near the Egyptian city of Dahab. The depth of the almost circular hole is one hundred and thirty meters. The Blue Hole, at a depth of fifty meters, is connected to the Red Sea by a 26-meter tunnel in the wall of the coral reef, called the Arch.

The unique structure of the coral reef and its stunning nature attract many divers here. However, the passage from the Blue Hole to the Red Sea through the Arch requires very high qualifications and special training. Unfortunately, an incorrect assessment of the risk of this dive often leads to tragic results. It is not for nothing that the failure received the ominous nickname “divers’ cemetery”; according to official sources alone, more than forty people died while trying to pass through the Arch. On the shore near the Blue Hole there are memorial plaques to some of the victims.

However, diving into the Blue Hole without going through the Arch is popular with tourists. On vertical walls the hole grows a lot of corals and is home to the most beautiful sea fish, and the feeling of imminent danger only sharpens the senses.

Once upon a time, millions of years ago, a coral that had already grown two meters as a solid wall suddenly stopped growing. Its edges, having continued to grow, grew together only after hundreds of thousands of years. The result was a huge coral hole, called blue because of its heavenly color. This is a huge hole with a diameter of approximately 55 meters, which, in the form of a tapering well, plummets down to a depth of 102 meters. This place is accessible only to experienced divers.

All dives in Dahab are done from shore, local residents They even set up something like a cafe next to the dive site.

There is no official information about who was the first to dive in the arch. It is widely believed that the huge void in the body of the reef was originally spotted on a sonar screen by the Israelis.

The architecture of the reef is truly unique. A huge arch in the wall of the reef, separated by an oval-shaped lagoon from the open sea, has a vault slightly inclined towards the sea, descending from 49 to 54 m. The bottom of the arch is steep slope. It descends from the very shore and at the entrance to the arch it is about 90 m deep, at the exit to the outer side of the reef it is 120 m deep. The arch is made in a reef 26 meters thick - at its top. This location makes its passage extremely dangerous for divers who are not certified for such depths and do not have special equipment. Many divers, including very experienced ones, were severely punished for frivolity when attempting such “light” passages of the arch.

What are the reasons - after all, for many experienced divers, diving to a little over 50 meters is not something out of the ordinary? Let's figure it out.

The arch is oriented to the northeast. Consequently, it is extremely poorly lit. The exit from the arch to the outer side of the reef is in the shade. The entrance to the arch is a narrow and deep trench, closed on the sides. Direct sunlight does not reach deeper than 20 meters. Plus depth. That's why it's always twilight there - even on the outer side of the reef.

The dive often begins with a dive at inside reef. Having safely reached the planned depth, the diver is already in twilight. So he sees the faintly glowing silhouette of the arch and begins to swim under the arch to the outer side of the reef. And here a serious test of his buoyancy skills awaits him. Because it is dark in the arch and depth control based on visual references is almost impossible. The glowing Blue Hole is too far away for that. The walls of the arch are in complete darkness. At such moments, people who are not ready for these conditions may begin to gain uncontrolled depth. At depths of more than 70 m it is no longer as dark as under the arch - enough light gets there to read instrument readings without a flashlight and without backlighting. Even at a depth of 100 m it is not as dark as under the very vault.

The most common dive route for technical divers is to enter the water from the walkway in the lagoon and swim along the surface to the reef wall at the arch. Dive to a depth corresponding to your qualifications. The bottom in the form of an inclined slope will be in this place at a depth of 90 m. Almost always in the lagoon at depths of 60-80 m you can find a school of Dog-toothed tuna in quantities of 4 to 12 pieces. After this, divers go through the arch to the outer side of the reef. They ascend with decompression stops along the reef wall, at a depth of 7 m through the saddle they return to the lagoon, where they undergo the rest of the decompression.

Another route option is to enter the water through the “Bells” chasm - Bells behind the cemetery of dead divers, descend to a depth of 65 m and swim, with the reef along right hand. At the same time, there is nowhere to turn, and the arch will be right in front of you - you won’t have to look for it. You should carefully monitor the consumption of the bottom mixture - under normal conditions (light following current), the route to the Arch takes about 15 minutes. If the current turns out to be countercurrent, it may be correct to begin the ascent to 60-55 m earlier, before reaching the arch.

Blue Hole in Dahab- one of the most mysterious and beautiful reefs of the Red Sea, considered one of the best world-class dive sites and one of the most dangerous.

Legends say that in ancient times an emir lived in these places and had one daughter. When the emir went on military campaigns, his daughter indulged in orgies with local youths. And so that rumors about her depraved acts did not go beyond the palace, the unfortunate young men were drowned in a bottomless pit. In the end, the emir finally found out about his daughter’s immoral behavior and ordered the execution of the libertine. Then the emir’s daughter threw herself into this very Blue Hole and her last words were: “I will still take for myself everyone who dares to enter the water in this place.” Nobody knows how true the legend is, but memorial plaques with the names of the scuba divers who died here are suggestive.

Here is what Andrey Chistyakov, TDI instructor, writes:

All of us who knew James are still hurting and I'm sure we still don't fully believe that this wonderful guy, the King of the Blue Hole, is no more. But he stayed there, June 1, 2003. And before him there were many others, maybe not so bright, but just like him, who endlessly loved the sea, knew diving and knew how to dive. And Rob Palmer, Hurghada, 1997? By the way, James died diving with a spark, i.e. this was not a “one-shot adventure.” And hardly anyone can accuse Rob of incompetence. I remember a big, perplexed article in Octopus about Palmer’s death. Have you ever wondered what killed them? The answer is very simple - deep air diving, for the initiated - DEEP AIR.

Let's say it out loud, Deep Air is a theme! Yes, there is a noose around the neck of technical diving, but - the topic! This is what they have been doing, are doing and will continue to do. Almost everyone is practicing, but everyone is silent - instructors don’t tell their students, experienced divers don’t tell beginners, looking at each other meaningfully after the next jump of 110 meters... It’s useless to say, don’t do this, I won’t - I know. I'll just move on to the first scenario.

"Technician." So, Blue Hole, 12 noon (it’s unlikely to be earlier, firstly, techies like to sleep, they say, they need to have a good rest, and secondly, usually one dive is done a day, so there’s no hurry). Techies dress calmly - behind their back there is a spark plug with air, on their side - one stage with 50 Nitrox - the second is useless, the Yo-Yo profile is not required. On the shore they seriously agree that today - a maximum of 100 meters, deeper - no, no. And they dive. The dive occurs in the usual manner - the vest is completely deflated - and the stone is down, the main thing is to have time to slow down before the bottom. And here it is the bottom under the Arch - 70, 80, 90 meters - the anesthesia pleasantly envelops the body, but the Techie is still a fine fellow - at the bottom he collects bright tubes dropped by unlucky tourists from Sharm, fins, and, if he’s lucky, computers. And the anesthesia does its job. Out of the corner of his eye, our technician sees that his comrade has gone deeper - uh, no, brother, you're lying - we should add a couple of meters. With the remnants of his vision (black dots before his eyes, tunnel vision), our hero records the number on the computer - 110 meters. Wow, but the condition is excellent, today we can go deeper. And he goes deeper, fortunately the bottom is favorable - such a pleasant slope with unexpected steps.

What's there, behind the next step? And gradually, imperceptibly for himself, he falls asleep, and his legs continue to calmly row - deeper and deeper... Even on the ascent, the leader of the group discovers that the two are not visible - but then one of the lost ones falls past him like a stone - this is the remnants of consciousness at 112 meters he pressed the vest's air, and then woke up at fifty dollars, saw with horror his computer - and quickly went downstairs to settle. But anxiety gradually fills the consciousness of the leader, the second is nowhere to be found and, having missed the last 15 minutes of the last stop, he rushes upstairs. Here it becomes clear - the second one will never surface again - and at the moment, there is probably still air in his twin and he is calmly sleeping at 140 meters, breathing evenly, VR3 on his wrist indifferently shows the total ascent time of 4 hours, but the diver is happy lies on the bottom and breathes.

And a few days later, an elderly man and woman arrive in Dahab, they are calm, they simply cannot cry anymore and their life has now lost all meaning - after all, the one they loved so much, for whom they lived, whose rare visits and calls they enjoyed most of all, is gone in the world. They go to the local lifeguard and give him 3 thousand dollars - they will give another 5 when he picks up what is left of their son, if the fish and crabs were generous these days - he can still be recognized... And then - long formalities with authorities, police and a zinc box are loaded on board the IL-86, scaring the departing tourists...

"AOWD." Today my dream came true - for a hundred greens I agreed with a local guy - he promised to take me to Arka. Well, I’m already an experienced diver, I have 50 dives, I’ve been to 60 meters (secretly from the divemaster, together with a friend, on my last trip to the Maldives), I breathe well, one cylinder is enough if I don’t stay under the Arch for a long time. Just think, Arch, they say the upper vault is 55 meters away - so everything is in order. Let's dive. We calmly dive to 30 meters, it’s a little difficult to control buoyancy in the middle of the well - there are no visible landmarks, but, okay, we can do it using instruments. And then she appears out of nowhere - beauty! Let me go deeper, otherwise 55 meters is somehow undignified...

I make a sign to my benefactor Susanin that I’ll dive deeper at the exit from the Arch - he twists his finger at his temple, but cannot leave my friend - he’s lost his mind and it’s clear that he won’t be able to surface without Susanin. I’m going down, suddenly the wall gradually dissolves into blue - and I feel in my ears that I’m falling, but I don’t understand where is up and where is down. An attack of acute fear is the last thing that flashed in my head - then darkness... And on the shore a beautiful young woman is reading a book - soon her only person in the world with whom she feels so good is about to rise. She closes her eyes dreamily...

"Open water diver". Our instructor, a terribly experienced and cool guy, offered to pay us $100 and show us something completely unusual - some famous Arch. My wife was scared and didn’t go, she tried to dissuade me too, but I decided to go - especially since what is 100 dollars - ugh, thank God, business is going well, when will I get out to dive again? We get dressed and swim to the middle of the well - the instructor shows the “dive” sign, I blow off my BCD and begin to fall. But what is it - you can’t see the usual reef wall nearby and where is the bottom? I convulsively squeeze the regulator in my mouth and begin to frantically row my fins upward, soon I cease to understand whether I am floating or plunging - my heart seems to be about to jump out of my chest... It will be very easy to find me - my body will be lifted from a depth of 90 meters on the same day by technicians who accidentally came to dive - my wife will pay only a couple of thousand bucks...

So, before you are three scenarios - which do you personally prefer? By the way, James Paul Smith, the Blue Hole King, who dived every day, and Robert Palmer, the President of TDI-Europe, were very good divers - so keep it low, guys, okay?

Photo by Andrey Ryansky

Located Blue Hole- one of best places in Sinai and the most dangerous place for divers. The Blue Hole is a vertical cave that extends 100 meters into the Red Sea, surrounded by coral reefs. Geologists cannot explain exactly how this steep cave, with a diameter of at least 50 meters, was formed.

Tourists flock here to look into the abyss from the board of a pleasure boat, and the bravest ones dive under the water, trying to see with their own eyes and feel the bewitching call of the abyss. Pushing off from the edge of the cave, the diver rushes into the darkness. Another name for this place is the Divers’ Cemetery, which is no coincidence. The dive route, not particularly difficult, took more than a hundred lives.

Blue Hole - photo

Legend of origin

The local legend about this underwater cave says that in ancient times an emir lived on the coast. And this emir had a daughter who indulged in debauchery with local youths as soon as her father left with the army on a campaign. And so that the strict father would not find out anything, the young men were drowned. When the emir became aware of his daughter’s crimes, he ordered her execution. Without waiting for execution, the unfortunate woman threw herself into the abyss, saying that she would take away everyone who dared to enter the water here in the future. On modern look The story is reminiscent of a soap opera and seems unrealistic. However, Blue Hole takes in young, healthy men every year. In memory of the dead divers, signs were first installed with the names of the departed. There were so many of them that the authorities were afraid to scare away tourists and banned memorial plaques. Instead, next to the hole in the bottomless abyss, ribbons flutter in the wind.

Victims Blue hole It’s not just beginners who are unfamiliar with the meaning of the term “intoxication of the depths,” which is familiar to every experienced diver. The hole took many who were on friendly terms with the sea, who dived to the depths of dangerous and unusual places planets. As with other dives, experienced divers were prepared for the effect of “nitrogen narcosis” at depth. Under normal conditions, nitrogen is a gas that does not affect the human condition. When diving, the properties of nitrogen change. The pressure of water on the diver's body causes the blood to become saturated with nitrogen. This substance, indifferent to the body, suddenly changes its properties, causing an effect similar to intoxication. The mechanism of action of nitrogen, or, as a number of physiologists believe, a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen, has not been fully studied. It is known that “oxygen narcosis” or “nitrogen intoxication” develops starting from a depth of 60 meters. At a depth of more than 80 meters, the diver is not always able to assess the situation. He appears in a frivolous and reckless mood. Quite seriously, he can offer his mouthpiece to a passing fish so that it can breathe. The diver becomes disorientated. When he suddenly realizes the danger of what is happening, he panics. Descending to the 100-meter mark, the diver approaches a barrier, the existence of which was confirmed in the last century by Jacques Cousteau, who explored the Blue Hole.

Blue Hole - video

Despite the notoriety (or precisely because of it), more and more tourists are arriving in the vicinity of the Blue Hole to try their luck.

Blue Hole - how to get there

Getting to the Blue Hole is not difficult; it is only 15 kilometers from Dahab. You can get there by excursion bus or taxi in minutes. Near the Blue Hole there is parking, a cafe, a toilet, as well as a selection of diving clubs, where a beginner will be shown how to properly put on equipment and act in order to avoid tragedy.