Travel Tips

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Starting from Massawa.

Getting there and what to bring

You start out from Massawa, equipped with boat, captain/guide food & water, gear for diving/snorkelling. The boat needs a canopy for protection against the sun. You need to make a firm deal woith boat owner and captain to ensure you get your time out there.
Further, you need a permit to land on the accessible Dahlak islands - it's a national park. The Dahlak Hotel in Massawa can tell you how to go about all this unless you are already organised when you arrive Massawa.
You cannot see the islands from the Massawa mainland. It takes you about 1 1/2 hrs to cross, using twin 115 hp outboard engines. There are several islands of different characters and shapes, some sandy, barely surfacing, others with big sand dunes, others again with big coral cliffs.

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Dur Gaam island

Desert islands

The islands of the Dahlak archipelago are true "desert islands". There is freshwater only on the main island Dahlak Kebir and the yearly rainfall is negligable. Sea water temperature may get as high as 36 C in the worst time of year (infact, high temperatures are limiting the islands' coral growth) and air more than 10 degrees on top of that.
Some islands like Dur Gaam are sand dunes with tufts of grass and some salt bushes sticking up, others are made of old coral cliffs and metamorphosed limestone. There were remains of sharks and tracks of fishermen, otherwise the only tracks were of passing ships (garbage...) and turtle tracks and some birds, including ospreys.

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Dur Ghella island

Dur Ghella island

Dur Ghella is a great swimming, snorkelling and picnic island. The interior is partly covered by coral cliffs, prickly pear and the likes, and stiff bushes. There are shallows and depths and a great patch coral reef - in fact, some of the best snorkelling was here. Beware of strong currents around this islands - several knots.

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Picnic in the Dur Ghella shadow

Picnic on Dur Ghella

Seeking shadow close to the beach, Dur Ghella's south-east snippet was a nice spot. Under the coral cliffs here was a good resting and eating space in the shadows. We brought fresh fruits, veggies and bread and lots of water and soft drinks from Massawa. Nobody else to be seen the entire day on any of the outer islands...

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Dahlak Kebir west point

The Dahlak Kebir - the main island

Dahlak Kebir is big, maybe 35-40 km from the NW tip to the SE tip. However, it is a true pirate's island with channels, inlets, bays, mangroves (NE side), settlements, recent war ruins and ancient tombs, water cisterns and ruins. There are some recent military installations that you may perhaps not go near, too. There is a road from Luul hotel area to Dahlak Kebir village.
The inlet to the big western bay have strong, strong currents (the Dahlak Channel), and we saw manta rays here. Very impressive wave overfalls , just like in a big river.

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The ladies on Enteara north fringe

And a "dessert" island?

The candy of the islands was the Enteara, just a sandy, small islands to the south, in the South Massawa Channel. Many, many sea birds (probably not wise to land during nesting season) here, seagulls, terns and waders. The northern tip stretches far out and becomes submerged and you walk out there with waves coming in from both sides. The waves clash spectacularily and sends spray straight up with a bang - just sit down and have a whipping bubble bath...

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Patch reef off Dur Ghella.

Patch reefs

The coral reefs of the Dahlak archipelago are patch reefs, not fringing reefs. They are strewn around here and there and they are just as fantastic as the fringing reefs. You will need a guide to find the really good spots. Thee are no big undersea cliffs or drops in Dahlak, but probably some of the most undisturbed and intact coral reefs in the Red Sea. Bring your reef fish book here to see what you saw!

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Luul Hotel, Dahlak Kebir

Overnight on Dahlak Kebir

I did not stay overnight, but the hotel here, Luul Hotel was spic and span and ready to receive guest in their beachfront facilities. They cooked up a good meal and served drinks for our little boat party. Apparently, they know all the people takeing people over by boat, so your captain is no stranger here. If you come unannounced, don't expect much in terms of food etc, but organise it all from the mainland and things will be good.