Anyone know the BLUE HOLE in Dahab and why it is so deadly?

[WORKSIMON]

After seeing Mike's pictures of his watch at work in the deep sea I was doing a little bit of browsing about deep sea diving and came accross the Blu Hole in Dahab Egypt. It seems to be a very dangerous dive site which has an inordinately high death rate. From what I've read there are various factors such as diving too deep on normal air, panic, inexperience etc etc.

As a recreational diver I personally cannot see the attraction of diving somewhere where you need to go to 50m to see the spectacle, I would happily say too deep for me and I'm off, but it seems to have a strong pull even with all the fatalities that have happened so far. I guess the thrill of seeing such a magnificent sight must be an overiding factor in these deaths. What I cannot understand is that some very very experienced divers have died even though they had the right kit etc etc

There are some amazing and truly disturbing videos including one from a divers helmet camera that shows his fatal descent to the bottom and his apparent inability to correct the situation even at relatively shallow depths and this seems to be put down to nitrogen narcosis but people seem to have differing views. A lot of the bodies are still at the bottom and have not been recovered presumably because of the associated dangers.

Anyone got their own views/information ??

[bluther2]

Christ, I can't answer your question, but some of those videos scare the pi** out of me. I'm glad/sad they don't show that kind of thing while doing the PADI et al course. No offense meant to the free dive crowd "but are you f'in mental" Could put me off of searaiders Simon.

maybe a rental for you
Plot Summary for
The Sacred Truth: The Blue Hole of Dahab (2007) More at IMDbPro »
advertisementEgypt's Blue Hole is one of the world's most beautiful, but dangerous dive sites. Thousands dive its magnificent underwater archway to experience its cathedral-like mysticism. Many divers don't return. The film investigates why so many scuba divers have perished in the mysterious Blue Hole of Dahab. Written by Shareen Anderson

[Andy H]

Imagine the blue hole, or divers graveyard, as some call it, as a sort of bucket plonked into the reef. There is an Arch leading out to the open sea at about 60 metres, which is appealing to a lot of divers (why I don´t know),but at this point there are dangerous currents which are very hazardous, even for experienced divers, of which a lot have come a cropper in the blue hole. Furthermore, due to the light conditions there, the tunnel of the arch, leading into the open sea, appears shorter than the actual 26 metres it is, with the mentioned currents and nitrogen narcosis doing the rest.

[Driftwood]

Been there are had a look. But that was 28 years ago and the dive centers where very very basic. Not a great safety record even then !

[WORKSIMON]

The Sacred Truth: The Blue Hole of Dahab (2007)

Thanks for that, will hunt a copy down. I'm sure the Searaiders would not go into something like that :wink:

Imagine the blue hole, or divers graveyard, as some call it, as a sort of bucket plonked into the reef. There is an Arch leading out to the open sea at about 60 metres, which is appealing to a lot of divers (why I don´t know),but at this point there are dangerous currents which are very hazardous, even for experienced divers, of which a lot have come a cropper in the blue hole. Furthermore, due to the light conditions there, the tunnel of the arch, leading into the open sea, appears shorter than the actual 26 metres it is, with the mentioned currents and nitrogen narcosis doing the rest.

Thanks Andy, I had no idea it was 26m long. It might explain why several of the divers appear to have got entangled in the tiny caverns/outcrops at the side.

[Puller]

snorkeled there....very deep and a body still lies at the bottom about 100m down.

[WORKSIMON]

snorkeled there....very deep and a body still lies at the bottom about 100m down.

I watched a video clip last night that shows several bodies still down there and many are never seen again, presumanly swept out to sea or down deeper.

[VinceR]

I'm also a recreational diver, 40m is the deepest I've been, but much prefer the 15-20m area where fish life is abundant .. as for wanting to dive there, as with everything some people like to push their limits & unfortunately this can lead to their demise. I remember diving the Zenobia in Cyprus a few back, just before the dive a body of a woman was brought to the surface. She went missing the day previously, after exploring for longer than she should have. I guess having only 15 minutes at that depth is never enough for some ..

[soapy]

i am not a diver but even i could understand this description why
please be careful if you go
its shocking that no one recovers the bodys or is that also dangerous

Blue Hole is a diving location on east Sinai, a few kilometres north of Dahab, Egypt on the coast of the Red Sea.

The Blue Hole is a submarine pothole (a kind of cave), around 130m deep. There is a shallow opening around 6m deep, known as 'the saddle', opening out to the sea, and a 26m long tunnel, known as the arch, the top of which lies at a depth of 52m. The hole itself and the surrounding area has an abundance of coral and reef fish.

The Blue Hole is notorious for the number of diving fatalities which have occurred there earning it the sobriquet, "World's Most Dangerous Dive Site" and the nickname "Diver's Cemetery". The site is signposted by a sign that says "Blue hole: Easy entry". Accidents are frequently caused when divers attempt to find the tunnel through the reef (known as "The Arch") connecting the Blue Hole and open water at about 52m depth. This is beyond the PADI recreational diving limit (40m) and nitrogen narcosis begins to have an influence. Divers who miss the tunnel sometimes continue descending hoping to find the tunnel farther down and become increasingly narced.


MapThe "Arch" is reportedly extremely deceptive in several ways:

It is difficult to detect because of the odd angle between the arch, open water, and the hole itself.
Because of the dim lighting and the fact that most light enters from outside, it appears shorter than it really is. Divers report that the Arch appears less than 10m long but measurements have shown it is 26m from one end to the other.
There is frequently a current flowing inward through the arch towards the Blue Hole, increasing the time it takes to swim through.
The arch continues downward to the seabed which is beyond view and there is therefore no "reference" from below.
Divers who resist the temptation of the Arch and remain within their training and limitations are in no more danger than on any other Red Sea dive site. However, the Arch has proved irresistible for many and thus the divesite is considered unsuitable for beginners and a potential trap for even experienced divers.


Beach and surface of the water at Blue Hole
Two freedivers at Blue Hole.Divers who want to go through the Arch should ideally be experienced and only attempt it after appropriate training and experience possibly. The equipment that could be used would most likely be multiple compressed air cylinders, as a twin set or tanks may be insufficient for the dive, mixed gases that have reduced nitrogen mixtures ideal for use at depth.

The Egyptian authorities claim that 40 divers have died at this site since records began; however, many local dive guides believe that the authorities are deliberately underestimating the numbers and that there have actually been at least twice that many fatalities.

Saudi Arabia is clearly visible across the Red Sea.

A famous (and videotaped) death in the Blue hole is Yuri Lipski, a Russian diver who died at 91.6 meters below the surface. Lipski was, tragically, an unfortunate victim of inexperience and lack of proper equipment.

However, despite the overwhelming evidence, various inexplicable theories about how he died still persist. Some theorists maintain that he was attacked by a shark or dragged down by an octopus, but these scenarios are extremely unlikely. If attacked by a shark, Lipski would have thrashed about, and a "giant octopus attack" would have been impossible because the only species of octopus strong enough to drag down an adult human, Enteroctopus dofleini, is restricted to the Pacific Ocean.


MemorialBy contrast: A much less sensationalistic scenario, nitrogen intoxication, sets in below a depth of 30 meters. When diving on standard air at a depth of 90 meters, the narcosis will be so severe that a person can lose all sense of direction. Decision-making is severely impaired and there is a great possibility of losing vital equipment, such as the breathing apparatus. Yuri Lipski probably died from inexperience and a lack of proper equipment suitable for that depth. It is likely that, unfortunately, a combination of narcosis and Oxygen toxicity contributed to his death. So far in 2009 two more divers have been killed diving the Bell and Blue Hole area (both in May).

Coordinates: 28°34?20?N 34°32?13.5?E? / ?28.57222°N 34.537083°E? / 28.57222; 34.537083
[edit] See also

[Andy H]

snorkeled there....very deep and a body still lies at the bottom about 100m down.

I watched a video clip last night that shows several bodies still down there and many are never seen again, presumanly swept out to sea or down deeper.

There are rumours that the Egyptian Government doesn´t really want the bodies recovered, it´s not too good for tourism. I read a story last year about an Austrian diver who died there, and who´s family wanted him recovered. They hired a recovery team from Austria which flew out to Egypt, located the body and prepared everything for the recovery next day. The next day they went down and he was gone, just vanished. And there are a lot more bodies at the bottom of the blue hole than the 40 mentioned officially.

[WORKSIMON]

It really is quite a can of worms when you start reading a little deeper. Some people say the video of the guy in trouble clearly shows a shark attack and also that the last two minutes of the film are not available, what did they show ?? I guess for the local economy its best to keep such things covered up. Perhaps there is something living in the deep in that area that either attacks divers or scares them out of their wits ............. or maybe ....... its just human error. I guess we will never know.

[ralphy]

There are some of my pics of the Blue Hole in this thread:
http://www.tz-uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=81572

R

[Puller]

some of my pics.

[Saint-Just]

some of my pics.

I don't think that's what taffytoon meant when he mentioned "camel in the desert" in Ralphy's link :D

[ralphy]

After seeing Mike's pictures of his watch at work in the deep sea I was doing a little bit of browsing about deep sea diving and came accross the Blu Hole in Dahab Egypt. It seems to be a very dangerous dive site which has an inordinately high death rate. From what I've read there are various factors such as diving too deep on normal air, panic, inexperience etc etc.

As a recreational diver I personally cannot see the attraction of diving somewhere where you need to go to 50m to see the spectacle, I would happily say too deep for me and I'm off, but it seems to have a strong pull even with all the fatalities that have happened so far. I guess the thrill of seeing such a magnificent sight must be an overiding factor in these deaths. What I cannot understand is that some very very experienced divers have died even though they had the right kit etc etc

There are some amazing and truly disturbing videos including one from a divers helmet camera that shows his fatal descent to the bottom and his apparent inability to correct the situation even at relatively shallow depths and this seems to be put down to nitrogen narcosis but people seem to have differing views. A lot of the bodies are still at the bottom and have not been recovered presumably because of the associated dangers.

Anyone got their own views/information ??

I’ve got my 2p and I'll give it in response to some of the comments/points raised here.

Attraction: it’s a combination of the experience and machismo IMO. The experience for me is the emergence from the Arch out into the blue: it’s hard to describe but I always have a feeling of awe of the structure plus the change from the dark to the light. Others have talked about the sense of being born when emerging; a bit too deep :lol: for me but then I’m pretty unimaginative! The macho angle is based on the reputation the place has and thus the ability to claim you’ve ‘done it’ – and I’ve heard that claim endless times by divers, typically those who’ve done, say 50 dives, and feel that they are now fully competent and the Blue Hole in the logboo gives them added credibility.

Deaths: There are a commensurately high number of fatalities at the Blue Hole and the primary cause of this is inexperience IMO. See above comment and factor in: lack of training at depth, disorientation, currents and panic and you’ve got a good recipe for things going wrong. Whilst the dive can be done on a single tank (down the Blue Hole, through the Arch and back up to the 'saddle') it relies on you not deviating from the dive plan, but I’ve experienced strong down-currents on the face of the reef at the point of exit of the Arch and this could prove the fatal factor in air consumption. As well as the fatalities there are also many accidents there that fortunately prove non-fatal; luckily there is now two hyperbaric chambers in Dahab (30 minutes fast drive away) one is government-owned and the other run entirely on voluntary donations. In addition to providing recompression they have wide experience of diving injuries, a big factor in some of those accidents proving non-fatal.

Bodies: The last time I was down there only one body was evident: I’d say a female but hard to tell. There are no multiple bodies despite the number of deaths: numbers do vary, but there at least 40 memorial plaques on the hillside adjacent to the entry to Bells (another dive site). There is no ‘bottom’ to this hole, rather a slope out to the outer reef. The slope stats at about 60m (opposite The Arch) and descends at about 45 towards the outside of the reef, passing the outer side of The Arch at about 120m and then straightening to the vertical again for a loooong way down. So if a body doesn’t come to rest on the slope – or subsequently dislodges off there – you aren’t going to see them again.

The video of the guy in trouble is that of a Russian diver, Yuri Lipsky. No drag down, attacks or shark involvement (I’ve heard the details of his recovery first-hand): just a classic case of inexperience: he was 23 years old, went down with a single cylinder of air and was alone. (BTW, the percentage of Russians involved in diving accidents is very high in proportion to their numbers).

Recovery of bodies: an understanding of Egyptian bureaucracy would help here, suffice to say that arriving at the surface with a recovered body is going to cause you serious problems without all the ‘permissions’ – and I cannot imagine just how many permissions you’d need to obtain, but I’d guess at dozens and dozens. So it should best be considered a burial at sea I’d say – and I know of some free-divers who’s expressed wish is to be left in the sea.

Done the correct way: experienced in diving, correct training, proper equipment and back-up it can be a rewarding dive. I was diving in the Blue Hole last week and will be back there again in a weeks time, but all around that area are (for me) equally enjoyable dives that don’t carry the risk factor of the Blue Hole.

R

[Jim71]

^^^^^^^^

Nice explaination of your experience Ralphy and good to read it from someone who knows what they are talking about.

I really must try diving sometime - but not there!

[Mrcrowley]

Ralph's answered the initial question though.

[Chris_in_the_UK]

After seeing Mike's pictures of his watch at work in the deep sea I was doing a little bit of browsing about deep sea diving and came accross the Blu Hole in Dahab Egypt. It seems to be a very dangerous dive site which has an inordinately high death rate. From what I've read there are various factors such as diving too deep on normal air, panic, inexperience etc etc.

As a recreational diver I personally cannot see the attraction of diving somewhere where you need to go to 50m to see the spectacle, I would happily say too deep for me and I'm off, but it seems to have a strong pull even with all the fatalities that have happened so far. I guess the thrill of seeing such a magnificent sight must be an overiding factor in these deaths. What I cannot understand is that some very very experienced divers have died even though they had the right kit etc etc

There are some amazing and truly disturbing videos including one from a divers helmet camera that shows his fatal descent to the bottom and his apparent inability to correct the situation even at relatively shallow depths and this seems to be put down to nitrogen narcosis but people seem to have differing views. A lot of the bodies are still at the bottom and have not been recovered presumably because of the associated dangers.

Anyone got their own views/information ??

I’ve got my 2p and I'll give it in response to some of the comments/points raised here.

Attraction: it’s a combination of the experience and machismo IMO. The experience for me is the emergence from the Arch out into the blue: it’s hard to describe but I always have a feeling of awe of the structure plus the change from the dark to the light. Others have talked about the sense of being born when emerging; a bit too deep :lol: for me but then I’m pretty unimaginative! The macho angle is based on the reputation the place has and thus the ability to claim you’ve ‘done it’ – and I’ve heard that claim endless times by divers, typically those who’ve done, say 50 dives, and feel that they are now fully competent and the Blue Hole in the logboo gives them added credibility.

Deaths: There are a commensurately high number of fatalities at the Blue Hole and the primary cause of this is inexperience IMO. See above comment and factor in: lack of training at depth, disorientation, currents and panic and you’ve got a good recipe for things going wrong. Whilst the dive can be done on a single tank (down the Blue Hole, through the Arch and back up to the 'saddle') it relies on you not deviating from the dive plan, but I’ve experienced strong down-currents on the face of the reef at the point of exit of the Arch and this could prove the fatal factor in air consumption. As well as the fatalities there are also many accidents there that fortunately prove non-fatal; luckily there is now two hyperbaric chambers in Dahab (30 minutes fast drive away) one is government-owned and the other run entirely on voluntary donations. In addition to providing recompression they have wide experience of diving injuries, a big factor in some of those accidents proving non-fatal.

Bodies: The last time I was down there only one body was evident: I’d say a female but hard to tell. There are no multiple bodies despite the number of deaths: numbers do vary, but there at least 40 memorial plaques on the hillside adjacent to the entry to Bells (another dive site). There is no ‘bottom’ to this hole, rather a slope out to the outer reef. The slope stats at about 60m (opposite The Arch) and descends at about 45 towards the outside of the reef, passing the outer side of The Arch at about 120m and then straightening to the vertical again for a loooong way down. So if a body doesn’t come to rest on the slope – or subsequently dislodges off there – you aren’t going to see them again.

The video of the guy in trouble is that of a Russian diver, Yuri Lipsky. No drag down, attacks or shark involvement (I’ve heard the details of his recovery first-hand): just a classic case of inexperience: he was 23 years old, went down with a single cylinder of air and was alone. (BTW, the percentage of Russians involved in diving accidents is very high in proportion to their numbers).

Recovery of bodies: an understanding of Egyptian bureaucracy would help here, suffice to say that arriving at the surface with a recovered body is going to cause you serious problems without all the ‘permissions’ – and I cannot imagine just how many permissions you’d need to obtain, but I’d guess at dozens and dozens. So it should best be considered a burial at sea I’d say – and I know of some free-divers who’s expressed wish is to be left in the sea.

Done the correct way: experienced in diving, correct training, proper equipment and back-up it can be a rewarding dive. I was diving in the Blue Hole last week and will be back there again in a weeks time, but all around that area are (for me) equally enjoyable dives that don’t carry the risk factor of the Blue Hole.

R

Pretty much how it is :thumbleft:

[Groundrush]

Fascinating stuff but I'll just stick to skydiving. Scuba diving gives me the heebie jeebies.

[ArcofZen]

Fascinating stuff but I'll just stick to skydiving. Scuba diving gives me the heebie jeebies.

Iv'e skydived and its amazing! Scuba is way more relaxing, its harder to scream too. :lol:

I think most Blue Hole deaths are (as Raphy stated) caused by inexperience or simple over confidence. There's no doubt that when diving you need self control or....

[WORKSIMON]

Thanks very much Ralph !, very informative and interesting read, helped to answer some of my questions :wink:

[ralphy]

Re-reading my post I realise my explanation of the topography of the Blue Hole:

There is no ‘bottom’ to this hole, rather a slope out to the outer reef. The slope stats at about 60m (opposite The Arch) and descends at about 45 towards the outside of the reef, passing the outer side of The Arch at about 120m and then straightening to the vertical again for a loooong way down.

could be somewhat clearer (I'm blaming the St Emilion :wink: ) so hopefully this will help:



R

[Puller]

bit of a weird place with no proper road...but nice to have seen. stuck to ras mohammed dives when there. enjoyed loads.

[Christian]

Another documentary I found interesting from a Human Factors point of view, but also sad was "The Last Dive of Dave Shaw". Show's how even the most experienced divers can get it wrong and pay the ultimate price.

I think you can find the actual dive on youtube, but I managed to find the full australian documentary somewhere.

[bluther2]

Thanks Ralphy, very informative and liked the pics on the other thread, stay safe down there!

a scuba newb

[ArcofZen]

Another documentary I found interesting from a Human Factors point of view, but also sad was "The Last Dive of Dave Shaw". Show's how even the most experienced divers can get it wrong and pay the ultimate price.

I think you can find the actual dive on youtube, but I managed to find the full australian documentary somewhere.

Dave Shaw should have known better than to use an old Russian closed circuit at that depth. He also found unexpected problems..which he should have simply walked away from rather than trying to overcome. Problem is at those depths the difference between life and death is tiny.

Amazing diver though and much respect.

[siddhartha]

I have to admit as a recreational diver, that place terrifies me. In fact, it makes me wary of diving in general.

Reason being I do not dive every day, more like 3-5 times a year these days, rather than the 20-30 a season I used to do.

Chris