Most dangerous/challenging dive site

After I saw this video I researched the Blue Hole at Dahab and found out that many people consider it one of the most dangerous dive sites in the world. Has anyone here dived at that site?

YouTube - Why divers die in the Blue Hole of Dahab

In your experience what would you consider to be the most challenging/dangerous dive sites you have been in (or heard/read about) and why?

k374:

In your experience what would you consider to be the most challenging/dangerous dive sites you have been in (or heard/read about) and why?

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The most challenging dive site is the dive site you are not yet prepared to do it and you zone in without the right gear and specific training. EX: penetrating wrecks, caves, etc.

and to answer you question about dive site...search the net about: Atol Bikini Wrecks and Chuk Lagoon.

You think Blue Hole is challenging? Not for him thou

YouTube - William Trubridge freedives THE ARCH at Blue Hole, Dahab

"Dangerous" dive sites are always subjective. We have what is, frankly, a pretty benign dive site in the BVI which has had a large number of deaths on it simply because of you put 100 overweight tourists on a wreck every single day for 30 years, you are going to rack up some deaths. But it is not a dangerous site.

Similarly, you can have a wreck like the Andrea Doria that, as challenging as it is, has comparitively few deaths simply because only very experienced divers go there, and they plan for and manage those risks.

If there really is such as thing as a "most dangerous dive site", then it is probably one which is consistently under-estimated by divers.

Any dive is dangerous for those that are not trained properly or enter an dive environment without a good plan, the proper training, a good buddy or with too much ego.

I've been to the Blue Hole site but have not done the actual "hole" where so many divers have met their end. Many deaths occured because the divers were either:

• Not adequately trained
• Not equipped properly
• Used poor judgement - I have spoken to divers who'd done the Hole and said they "kept on going because the end looked so near (when in fact, the tunnel is a lot longer than they actually thought)"

One of my to-do holidays is to return to Dahab and do the tech certification and do the Blue Hole. This would involve tuition, preparation and training and doing the dive with the proper equipment and gases. Apart from the usual risks that accompany dives, this should not be dangerous or risky. I do not have suicidal tendencies.

There is no point in diving because it is considered "dangerous". I am often dismayed at ignorant - often non-diving - travel writers or hyped up journalists referring to diving as an "extreme" sport or "danger-riddled" activity because the fact is, diving is and should be a very safe sport.

Dives are dangerous because divers make them dangerous. Poor judgement is the main cause of accidents and fatalities. Sometimes, it's just best not to do a site if the diver's ability and resources cannot meet the demands and conditions. Beyond that, proper equipment, training and planning - along with the right attitude and sense of responsibility - will make for a safer more enjoyable dive.

So in the end, I would prefer to call some dives "demanding" or "challenging" rather than dangerous. If they were dangerous, I'd avoid them all together.

Locally, Marineland is the most dangerous site in SoCal. In the past ten years I had a buddy break ribs during entry, a friend of his died of an embolysm in only fifteen feet of water, others have broken fingers, ankles and numerous abrasions and contusions. All that at a site where you will find relatively new divers every weekend. The rocky shoreline looks manageable, but even a two foot wave can knock you down and drag you around on the rocks.

As mentioned earlier, most of the danger from the dives I've done is not so much from the location itself, but from my lack of proper preparedness. When I went to 130 fsw on a single aluminum 80 at the Great Blue Hole in Belize, that seemed to be standard procedure at the time. I've since learned that that's not enough gas for that depth. I've had easy, challenging, and absolutely scary dives at several of our local sites, like Keystone and Skyline Wall, and the difference was not the site itself, but the conditions (current) and my preparedness in terms of planning and training.

Well written article on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Hole_(Red_Sea)

Louie:

Not adequately trained

• Not equipped properly
• Used poor judgement - I have spoken to divers who'd done the Hole and said they "kept on going because the end looked so near (when in fact, the tunnel is a lot longer than they actually thought)"

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Agreed. You could also add "had a macho frame of mind". Most deaths there are of people superficially fairly qualified - instructors who thought that the card mean they knew it all.

I've done 30-35 dives there, including several to trimix depths.

MisaC:

and to answer you question about dive site...search the net about: Atol Bikini Wrecks and Chuk Lagoon.

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chuuk truk shipwrecks underwater photography wreck diving brad sheard
You mean these?