Today I would like to offer you a small underwater walk, probably the most popular place in Dahab. Of course it will be about the Blue Hall.
The route itself may also seem normal: the entrance through Bells (chimney) then a couple of hundred meters to the very bluest hall, the passage through the saddle and we are inside Blue hall. Further a little relaxed diving inside at shallows.
If you are not a techno-diver, it would seem that's all. A little fun and on the way out. But even this route can be done differently. Not in fact, but in essence of it. Same way, but different views, emations and photos.
So first the most unpleasant moment in the whole dive - you have to go to the entrance with the equipment, in the heat, in the suit. And then if you are lucky, you can immediately fall into the cool water. And the entrance from the surface looks something like this.
Welcome to the chimney.
It's already good in the water. I was lucky and I managed to wedge in a tiny gap between the groups. For this I had the opportunity to quietly turn on the camera and make a couple of frames. Usually here it is very crowded.
But the happiness was not long and a couple of minutes later a fairly large group arrived - the water was flashed with cylinders, fins and other equipment. To calmly shoot the entrance you need to specifically choose the time and day. No holidays.
A distinctive feature of most groups is that they try to get together all together. At the narrow entrance to the Bells, doing this at the same time to eight divers is not easy. But they try, desperately mixing the water fins. Well, while we shoot down, where the narrow passage leads us.
It's time to go deeper. Here, in my opinion, it is very clear why this place was called a "chimney". Narrow, as if cut in the rock passage, with several ceilings. It takes us down to the exit at about a depth of 27 meters. Although who does not want or who does not allow qualification can swim and above the meters at 15ti.
But then just start the differences ....
The standard path involves further swimming along the wall of the reef. The group gradually rises from 30 meters, examining small cavities in the rock and various coral formations. Sometimes they make a small call in the opposite direction, but it does not change much.
Instead, we immediately go upstairs, enjoying loneliness and swim far below in groups of divers. Bathe in their bubbles)
Here underneath the surface itself we can find not one or two beautiful clefts, which were more fortunate than Bells and they were slightly short of surface. Light penetrates them through a variety of holes in the upper layer of corals and fills everything around with magic.
This light is different in color, brightness, texture. Sometimes it seems that it consists of the smallest particles of light falling on the bottom, and turning into sand. And among these streams scurry different coral fish.
Someone such diving can seem boring, but I can look at it endlessly. The disturbance on the surface leads to the fact that the light fluxes are constantly changing. The rays play and shimmer. It is almost impossible to convey the beauty of what is happening.
After a couple of dozen minutes, we swim to the saddle. We initially sailed almost at its level, so as soon as the colorful reef appears on the right, we go to it. The depth of a couple of meters is just right for us. Dark and concise pictures are replaced by a bright variety.
A few minutes surrounded by coral and fish and we are inside. And again the wall. Only now it's already a hay glass of the Blue Hall itself. The blue well is a hundred meters deep. It seems all the sunlight is going to here.
And then we see ropes that go deep into the depths. The dark figures of the freedivers then appear again disappear in the water pierced with light. When we were there, we were preparing for the open championship of Russia on freediving. Many athletes arrived in advance and trained here (And for someone this place is just like a second house).
We leave aside from the cent, today it's too crowded. And already here, walking along the wall and looking more closely at the crevices, we find small caverns. A very small depth makes the light here especially bright. It literally splashes from all the cracks.
3 meters, 2 meters ... Time has stopped. And like the friadivers you stop breathing. There is a second hour of diving, but it seems that there is less air in the tank. And why is he in the frame? In addition, each exhalation knocks off particles of suspended matter from the walls and ceiling, making the water not transparent. And swirls upward toward the light.
Silence ... you can hear how your heart is beating and blood is running ...
But it's time to return. Already just before the exit I find another crevice. Despite the fact that for a day here has visited more than one hundred bathing - it is still beautiful.
And as if inviting to look inside ...
And let it be very crowded - but I can not refuse. The ceiling height is slightly more than half a meter. I can barely fit here with a balloon. And to choose the best angle to have to shoot with outstretched hands, almost at random ...
And here is the time to emerge. To the sun, where you can warm up a little. The fact is that the water temperature in the spring may not be the highest: 22-23, I remember a couple of trips when it was a couple of degrees higher in winter. And here only a thick suit, an additional padding and fictional persistence allow you to dive for an hour and a half ...)
Dahab, the story of one dive.
With the ban on flights to Egypt, I have not been there so long ...
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My equipment: Canon 5Dmk2 + Canon 15mm fish eye + Nexus underwater housing+ 2 Inon 240strobes.
More details about my underwater setup: https://steemit.com/@narchuk/me-and-my-equipment
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[//]:# (!steemitworldmap 28.572601 lat 34.537933 long Travel to Blue Hall - Another way d3scr)