Dahlak

These islands are hidden treasures, heaven on earth! I suggest contacting L.A.S Giuva Tour as they offer an all-inclusive service to the islands of the Dahlak Archipelago. Best vacation I've had!

I was diving in the Dhalaks at the beginjing of November 2023 and was very disappointed. It has been on my bucket list for so long and there is no trawling allowed here and there are said to be 1,200 endemic fish species. I thought the diving and snorkelling would be great. Sadly, global warming and government intervention have taken their toll. A few days prior to my arrival my divemaster told me that masses of fish were found dead on the sea surface due to the warm temperature. It was 30C in the water. Fortunately, I saw loads of fish including sweet lips, parrot fish, a moray eel, turtles, barracuda, crocodile needle fish and a sting ray. However, the coral was all bleached and badly battered by storm damage. You are charged an exorbitant amount to dive here--about $1,500 for a two tank dive. The boat is spacious but it's only 70 minutes from Massawa so fuel costs don't account for this massive cost. Equipment is expensive to maintain in Massawa given the sea air and extreme heat, but still. Plus, the powers that be recently decreed that diving was only allowed on Dessie, Madam, Durham and Durrelha. They all suffer from the same problem. There is a well known Italian wreck, the Urania, and a channel dive I was hoping to do, but you can no longer do them. You are also not allowed to dive the Russian wreck close to Massawa Port. Even though there are no artifacts to remove on the wrecks and you need to be accompanied by a dive master. Go figure. The dive masters and Red Sea Museum said they were trying to reason with this policy, but so far to no avail. The government owned Eritrea Dive and Travel co. that offers this service is very professional, however. The dive masters are very well trained mostly in Egypt but my dive master, Rasa, was trained in Florida. He even trained in dive medicine and also works in the Massawa Decompression Chamber. The boat is comfortable and in good condition. The dive equipment is high quality and well maintained: Mares, Aqua Lung and Scuba Pro. They have 2 MM shorties but best if you bring your own wet suit, boots, fins and mask to ensure fit. They provide dive computers (Mares) if you forget yours. They do have a dive stamp for your log book which you can arrange with their office. They provide water and beer. They can arrange a fish lunch for $30, though we opted to bring our lunch. I dove on the rocky island of Durgella 1st. My friend snorkelled and enjoyed it. This is where we had the best viz and saw the most fish. Plenty of dead coral too though. We then had a surface interval lunch and walk on the sandy Durgam Island. This is where you can camp. Note there is not a spec of shade and it is very hot. Camping in the Dhalaks sounds great and the water isa lovely turquoise color but after a snorkel or two what will you do? Be sure you are happy camping in these conditions. We were very glad we did a day trip and the American group of campers we met envied us. Durgam had poor viz for the afternoon dive and fewer fish. There was a large green turtle under a ledge and barracuda. The diving is exorbitantly priced, especially considering the bleached coral and the fact that they won't let you dive the more inserting wrecks. But you can visit the Dhalaks, camp and snorkel for a lot les than $1,500. (Note that Guiseppe, the Italian who offers well reviewed camping trips and also diving with his own boat charges the same prices for diving. He also didn't respond to any What's Apps or e-mails on either his Eritrean or Italian numbers, so unless you want to wing it by connecting him to see if he is available on short notice, its best to arrange this through Eritrean Dive and Travel. You need a permit for the Dhalaks issued by the Red Sea Museum.

I was visted this once and, I love this beautiful Island.

The best Island in the world!

Beautiful my country 🇪🇷🇪🇷🇪🇷🇪🇷

The best island

Amazing place!!

My beautiful country