Tägliche Tauchausflüge

BOAT
The venerable Sunboat had a long and diverse history on the water, including time spent as the first liveaboard diving boat in Sinai. It was donated to the diving community as an artificial reef by its colorful owner, longtime Eilat sea captain Shimshon Mashiach, and was purposely sunk in 2010 almost 300m (1,000 ft) off the north shore of the Gulf, between Herod's and the religious (single-sex) beach.

Unfortunately, the location for the sinking was poorly chosen by the authorities, as the boat sits in silty sand that limits visibility, and the situation gets worse every year because of storm runoff from the Arava Valley into the sea. The 30m (100 ft) wreck sits at a depth of about 13m (43 ft) and would be accessible to all divers but for the silty conditions which can make diving the lower-deck living quarters very challenging. 

SHORE
The Red Sea Star underwater restaurant was a grandiose engineering project and spectacular business failure. Twice. The above-water part of the structure, which in the past featured a bar and other amenities, is a visual landmark standing empty and abandoned at the end of a long footbridge. The only way to enjoy the restaurant today is from the outside, gawking at this underwater monument to ingenuity and bad taste, and the diverse sea life that inhabits its environs. In other words, it's a fun visit to a wreck that was never a ship.  

In recent years, much of the coral growth on and around the structure has been trampled to death by an unregulated underwater 'scooter' attraction. Nevertheless, this site makes a very enjoyable second or third dive, with a maximum depth of about 14m (45 ft) and lots to see.

SHORE
We come here often for Discover Scuba dives when the visibility is good, and also for Open Water Course training dives. The site features a pleasant mini-reef dropping off from about 2m (6.5 ft) down to about 5-6m (15-20 ft) at a distance of about 20m (65 ft) from the beach entrance. Farther out there are several nice coral pinnacles with a surprisingly diverse fish population. Dives here are to a maximum of 7-8m (23-26 ft).
 

SHORE
Dekel Beach is a great training site with a number of healthy coral pinnacles surrounded by colorful fishes. This is one of our favorite site for Discover Scuba Diving programs as well as confined water dives (and initial open-water dives) in Open Water and Scuba Diver courses. We usually dive here to a maximum of 12m (30 ft).

AOW/N   BOAT OR SHORE
At the southern end of Dekel Beach, this advanced dive site has a landscape unlike any other in Eilat: a sandy channel sloping down from 18m (60 ft) to over 30m (100 ft) is flanked on both sides by coral-covered canyon walls that slope up to a healthy and diverse coral reef plateau on both sides. 

BOAT OR SHORE
One of the most popular dives in Eilat, the Saar 3-class missile boat Sufa (Storm) was removed from active service in the Israeli Navy after 25 years and sunk in 1994 as a dive attraction.  “Satil” is the Hebrew acronym for missile boat and remains the popular name for this excellent dive site.

Standing upright in 25m (82 ft) of water, this 48m (150 ft) long steel-hulled former warship is accessible for all levels of divers (except Scuba Divers). The deck lies at a depth of 20m (66 ft) and so the entire superstucture and soft coral-bedecked instrumentation mast rising to a depth of 12m (40 ft) can be enjoyed by everybody. More advanced divers will enjoy a little bit of exploration in the below-decks areas opened to the sea. 

The history of this ship is no less fascinating than the dive itself. The Sufa was one of the famous Boats of Cherbourg (link to wikipedia page) liberated from that French seaport in a daring 1969 Israeli operation, following an export embargo imposed by French president De Gaulle. In Israel's 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Sufa and its sister ships helped sink Soviet-supplied Egyptian missile boats in the Battle of Damietta-Baltim near Port Said and subsequently participated in the shelling of Minat al Bayda Port north of Latakia on the Syrian coast.

We often use the site for a Wreck Adventure Dive as part of an Advanced Open Water Course, and it's perfect for planning and executing all of the dives of the PADI Wreck Diver Specialty Course. The grassy part of the slope leading down to the wreck is also a premier location for night dives featuring nudibranchs, sea hares (in late winter), cuttlefishes and lots of other interesting invertebrates.

DEEP   SHORE
There are a number of routes to explore through healthy corals and spectactular underwater scenery east and north of the Yatush, all of them deeper than 30m (100 ft). East of the Yatush (further down the slope) is a natural amphitheater of sand surrounded by an oval bowl of dense corals, giving the area its name.

The sandy bottom of the amphi is at 45m (147 ft) but a good view of the area can be had by looping around at a maximum depth of no more than 40m (130 ft). The amphi is actually one of several deep ‘amphis’ in a chain but at this site we're more likely to want to explore an area of dramatic coral formations on the dropoff from 30m to 40m (100 ft to 130 ft). 
 

AOW/N   BOAT OR SHORE
Beyond (east of) the Satil lies a seemingly endless field of dense hard corals with average depth of about 27m (90 ft). This is a nice advanced dive to do on nitrox, and if you've got good air consumption we can combine this site with a tour of the Satil on a single dive. 

AOW   SHORE
Netz-class patrol boats saw service in the Israeli Navy in the 1970s, but having been built by the US for riverine warfare in Vietnam were not well suited to the rigors of the open sea. This retired Netz-class boat was purposely dropped on the reef during the 1980s at 30m (100 ft) just north of Site No. 7, Coral Beach. It's popularly called the Yatush because at some point in time it was misidentified as one of the Yatush-class patrol boats that had been stationed on the Dead Sea and the name, inexplicably, stuck.

Students of American politics will recall the controversy in the 2004 presidential election surrounding candidate John Kerry's Vietnam War-era service aboard a US Navy ‘Swift Boat.’ This is your opportunity to dive to one!

However, at a length of only 15m (50 ft) and endowed with an aluminum hull on which nothing grows, the Yatush is not a very interesting wreck dive. We occasionally use it for the deep dive of the Advanced Open Water Course or upon customer request, in which case we try to add some exploration of the coral slope south of the boat to make an outing of it. We also may visit as part of a deeper dive in the area – read on...

SHORE
The Coral Beach area is where the large Eilat dive centers are concentrated, just north of the fence marking the northern border of the Coral Beach Nature Reserve. We do training dives here but not guided dives (except occasionally to head out to the Yatush or Amphi sites) because the area is dominated by large sandy expanses and a lot of student divers. 

SHORE (PIER)
One of the highlights of any dive in this area is Moses Rock, a 9m (30 ft) high pinnacle full of hard and soft corals teeming with colorful fishes. Photographers particularly enjoy this area because there's always sunlight on one side or the other. Nearby in the shallows is the colorful Joshua Rock, another sunlit area full of hard corals and reef fishes. 

The area south of the entrance pier comprises a couple hundred meters of dense reef – it's really a continuation of the northern Japanese Gardens site – highlighted by a coral-rich ‘mini-wall’ dropping off to 39m (127 ft) which makes it a favorite dive site for both AOW and Deep-certified divers.

There is a small surcharge for diving here to cover the entrance fee.

BOAT
The Japanese Gardens cover nearly a kilometer (over half a mile) of the Coral Beach Nature Reserve and contain the healthiest and most diverse areas of dense coral reef in Eilat. Much of it is officially protected and off-limits to divers, except by boat. We have a boat!

The area around the southern Japanese Gardens boat mooring boasts a steeply sloping reef down to 40m (130 ft).

The northern Japanese Gardens boat mooring offers perhaps the most coral-rich shallow dive in Eilat.

 

SHORE
This stretch of reef can be dived to any depth. A shallow, colorful, sunlit reef gives way to a slope that drops off to more than 30m (100 ft).

Unlike the sites further south where the shallow areas are characterized by coral pinnacles extending nearly to the surface from a mostly sandy bottom, Lighthouse Reef has a broad shallow expanse densely covered with small hard coral heads. The corals are full of small damselfishes and many other colorful reef fishes.

The slope, which flattens out somewhat below a depth of 30m (100 ft) is also interesting and often yields surprises.br> 

AOW or DEEP   BOAT OR SHORE
The deeper area off the slope of the Three Sisters site features dramatic underwater scenery marked by large hard coral colonies. A dive to 40m (130 ft) here is highly recommended for any appropriately certified divers, but even when starting from a depth of 30m (100 ft),  the reefscape is impressive. We'll generally sweep south over the deep landscape and then make our way back up to the slope and to the adjacent ‘Caves’ site as described earlier. More often than not, a gentle north-south current will help us along the way. On rare occasions the current will be going in the other direction and we'll head north in the direction of Lighthouse Reef. Currents in Eilat cannot really be predicted with any accuracy because tidal flows are so minimal, but gentle north-to-south currents are the most common. Strong currents are rare.

BOAT OR SHORE
Veronica Rock is a typical South Beach site with a shallow sandy area dotted with small coral pinnacles, and a slope that falls off from about 6m (20 ft) to about 27m (90 ft). The Veronica Rock is a pinnacle at 10m (33 ft) that offers a lot of fish action.

This is a pleasant dive site for Open Water divers, with lots to see at moderate depths. 

AOW   BOAT
Twin Peaks marks the southern end of the Ridge with two unique coral pinnacles literally buzzing with fish life. We used to dive this site from shore (with Nitrox-certified divers only), but since we instituted daily boat diving there's no need to work so hard!

The area we'll explore is a mostly flat expanse of hard corals beginning at a depth of around 25m (80 ft), and if time permits (meaning: depending on your air consumption) we'll dive through some of the adjacent Neptune's Tables site. 

22. Neptune's Tables

SHORE
TThis is a versatile site with a number of underwater routes available to us. The name speaks to the three beautiful coral pinnacles spaced out along the shallow sandy-bottomed reef table to the south.

Very often we'll turn a dive that starts here into a one-way tour (or even a mild drift dive if there's some movement in the water). In this case we'll exit at the adjacent ‘Caves’ site which is used by other Eilat dive centers for their shallow ‘intro’ dives, and your dive guide will walk back to bring the vehicle and pick you up at the exit with your gear.

The area around the entrance of this site is the only place on the South Beach where the Nature Authority allows dive training for beginner divers, so we'll sometimes come here either for Discover Scuba Diving programs or for one or more confined-water dives of the Open Water course.

BOAT
Coral Hill is the northernmost of a number of South Beach boat moorings that take us to areas of dense coral away from the onshore reef. 

In addition to the deep 'coral hill', we can dive the slope and explore the shallow, sunlit  areas here as well.  

AOW   BOAT
The Ridge is another great South Beach site where we begin our dive away from the comfort of the onshore slope and explore the reef beyond.

TThe reef lying beyond the bottom of the Veronica Rock slope is a seemingly endless, undulating expanse of diverse hard corals, at depths mostly between 25 and 27m (80-90 ft). The Ridge extends both north and south, but unless there's a strong current coming from the north we'll go south to visit the densest and most interesting sections.

21. Princess Beach