The Bells

The Bells starts as a gap in the reef table — a narrow crack barely wide enough to descend into. Drop in one at a time; the chimney is vertical, close on both sides, and as your tank taps the rock walls it produces the ringing that names the site. At 26 to 30 metres, the walls part. The reef drops away into open blue and a sheer wall takes over, draped in soft corals and sea fans from top to base. Clownfish dot the anemones. Anthias hover in shoals. A gentle south-running current carries you down the wall without effort, depth stable, the blue expanding to the left while the wall holds colour to the right. After 20 to 30 minutes on the wall, the coral saddle at 7 metres comes up ahead — a dense shelf where you cross into the Blue Hole sinkhole for the safety stop. The dive ends where the famous landmark begins. Avg duration is around 45 minutes.

Depth discipline matters here. The dive opens at maximum recreational depth and stays there while the most interesting section of wall unspools below you. Monitoring the computer and watching air consumption is active work, not background noise. Surface finning back against any residual current is tiring — leaving enough gas to surface comfortably and signal with an SMB is not optional.

The Bells is the entry that transforms the Blue Hole from a sinkhole into a wall dive. Arriving at the Blue Hole by walking down from the cafes and stepping in at the saddle is one experience. Arriving from depth, having just drifted 300 metres of sheer Red Sea reef wall, is entirely different. The chimney is what makes the route: it forces a direct vertical drop to depth, the acoustic resonance is memorable, and the moment the walls open onto open blue is as abrupt a scene change as diving offers.

The wall itself is legitimate Red Sea reef — not the approach to something else, but a dive worth having on its own terms. The soft coral and sea fan coverage from chimney base to saddle holds its own against Dahab's other walls. What it is not is a beginner site wearing accessible clothes: the entry requires controlled buoyancy in an overhead environment, the profile goes deep before it comes shallow, and the Blue Hole's reputation for attracting divers who misjudge their limits is not confined to the Arch. Both sites reward the diver who shows up with the right certification and reads the briefing.

Arrive early. The Blue Hole car park fills with day-trip buses from Sharm from around 10am, and the chimney entry becomes congested when groups queue for it. A morning dive on opening gives you a quieter chimney, emptier wall, and a saddle crossing without crowd pressure.

The walk from the car park to the entry crosses rocky, irregular ground — 150 metres that feels longer in booties and a BCD loaded with a full tank. Operators can carry equipment to the entry point if you ask. National park entry for the Blue Hole area runs approximately 20 USD for foreign visitors, with the car adding another fee if you drive in. Rates shift; confirm with your operator before arrival.

The salinity of the Gulf of Aqaba is higher than most divers are calibrated to — around 41 parts per thousand versus standard ocean at 35. Add lead before assuming your usual setup. A torch is useful in the chimney; the walls carry crevices with small marine life that repays a look on the way down.