Blue Ocean House Reef

The house reef of the Blue Ocean Dive center, located directly inside the Mercure Dahab Bay View Hotel, is easily accessible via a dock. The dock runs over the reef top, allowing for easy entry in any weather and at all tides.   Right at the dock, we find a sandy bottom at 3 meters with scattered coral colonies. The house reef slopes gently down to 14 meters, passing by a lovely cleaner station with many different types of coral. From 14 meters, it drops to 18–20 meters. At this point, there is a coral formation notable for its great diversity of juvenile fish as well as all kinds of cleaner fish. Three very large scorpionfish and a Malabar grouper live there.   A sandy swath runs along the ledge; to the north, it is overgrown with a vast seagrass meadow, while to the south it features sponges inhabited by pajama nudibranchs and, further on, five beautifully encrusted coral blocks. These coral blocks start at 16 meters and extend back toward the shore to a depth of 3 meters. Two giant moray eels call this area home.   The house reef has a lot to offer. From Napoleon fish to feathertail stingrays to sea turtles, large marine creatures can often be seen, providing an interesting addition to the many resident fish and coral species.