Any other divers in the U.A.E.?

[divingHeidi]

Hi all,

I just thought as there is several ones of the SB'ers living in the Gulf and more especially in the U.A.E., why don't we start a thread to share our experiences of dives here in the region.

I am living in Dubai and I have never tried any dives in Dubai itself or Sharjah, some say there is some nice wrecks in Sharjah?
We normally go diving to the East Coast (Dibba, Khor Fukkan) with Scuba 2000 or Divers Down. Somtimes the viz is great, sometimes not. But certainly worth it I find.
Also every now and then we go to Musandam in Oman to do a 1 day, 2 day diving trip from Dibba with Al Marsa.
I love diving in Musandam, really great sealife.

Hope to hear from you soon, Gulf people.
Heidi

[jamea]

Hello Heidi

I am from Abu Dhabi, I got my open water only3 months ago, been to khor fakkan with “7 seas” once and blue zoon in Musqat. We dive abu dhabi waters almost every weekend, there are few wrecks here about 2-4 miles from abudhabi, I have been to only 2 of them so far, vis is ok, you can see lots of see life around them from nudabranchs to big groupers.

I would love to dive Messandam soon, hopefully beginning of September this year, till then will just escape the heat and go deeper where it is nice and cool.

[AggieDad]

Hello
I travel to Dubai on occasion and will be having a 79 hour layover coming up soon. I MUST have 24 hours off before flying out and have never traveled anywhere other than in the city of Dubai. I am somewhat adventerous but with today's political climate and being from the USA, I am definitely not going to jump on a bus by myself and go somewhere. With that, I have never felt unsafe in Dubai at all but can you give me advice on any shops that would basically take me by the hand and take me diving. Due to space limitations I MIGHT need to rent some of my gear but would have my own regulator, wetsuit, etc.
Thanks for any help.

Dan

[divingHeidi]

Hi Jamea

Maybe one day soon, we will try some diving in Abu Dhabi and you can probably tell me who the best diving club is to dive with.
We are going to Oman, Muscat for diving the Dalamnyat Islands the first weekend of August, le't hope we can beat the heat!!!

Hi Dan

Welcome to Dubai,
To be honest, you don't need to worry, it is till stable and safe here at the moment, Dubai can not be compared to Saudi or other Gulf States, many Europeans and Americans live here and we never ever have felt unsafe.
I have been here in Dubai since 1995 and I only just started to enjoy the diving in this area.

To give you some more info, I had some nice dives, but mainly away from Dubai.
Either at the East Coast of UAE (Dibba, Khor Fukkan) or in Oman. I have put the web-sites of the different diving clubs locally or the ones in Dubai who can bring you there.

General Info Clubs in UAE- Oman: http://www.geocities.com/vance_stevens/uae_ddir.htm

Local clubs in Dubai:
Al Boom Marine in Jumeirah: http://www.dubaidivers.com/
Desert Divers in Al Quoz:http://www.desertsportsdivingclub.com/
Pavillion Dive Club in Dubai Marine Beach Hotel: http://www.jumeirahbeachhotel.com/di...e/dive_centre/


East coast: , 2 1/2 hours drive by car from Dubai.
You could rent a car to get there, but best is to check with the local diving clubs, who organise trips from Dubai every weekend and also sometimes on weekdays from Dubai.
Diving clubs: Scuba2000 http://www.scuba-2000.com/
speak to Jitta
Diversdown http://www.diversdown.tk/
Speak to Paul or Nina

Musandam-Oman with Al Marsa:
Another option is to take from the East Coast boat to Oman- Musandam (2 1/2 hours drive and 3 hours boat to reach the diving sites), most beautiful diving,
but you need at least full day: leave Dubai early morning and come back late evening.
Again I would recommend Diversdown http://www.diversdown.tk/
Speak to Paul or Nina
or Al Marsa: www.musandamdiving.com speak to Ziad

Muscat - Oman : The Dalamayat Islands
(protected area, nature reserve) in Oman, near to Muscat (4 hours drive from Dubai).
Then 25 to 45 minutes by Boat.
Global Scuba diving Club: http://www.global-scuba.com/
Speak to Monique or Keith

I hope this gives you some info.
Kind regards,

Heidi

P.S.: I will also send you a PM

[diver371]

Hello everyone

Im also a diver here in the UAE. I'm living in Sharjah at the moment.. nice to meet everyone..

Jalal

[divingHeidi]

Hello everyone

Im also a diver here in the UAE. I'm living in Sharjah at the moment.. nice to meet everyone..

Jalal

Welcome Jalal

Nice to meet you too. Any diving planned in Sharjah? Is there nice things to see underwater in Sharjah?

Hi again to We are soon going for a weekend to Muscat to try the diving at the Dalamnyat Islands.
Have you been there before?

[divingHeidi]

Hello Heidi

I am from Abu Dhabi, I got my open water only3 months ago, been to khor fakkan with “7 seas” once and blue zoon in Musqat. We dive abu dhabi waters almost every weekend, there are few wrecks here about 2-4 miles from abudhabi, I have been to only 2 of them so far, vis is ok, you can see lots of see life around them from nudabranchs to big groupers.

I would love to dive Messandam soon, hopefully beginning of September this year, till then will just escape the heat and go deeper where it is nice and cool.

Hi Jamea,

How was the diving in Muscat?
Was it the Dalamnyat islands you did?

[jamea]

Heidi

we did total of 4 dives in Musqat, Feheheel island and another location that I dont realy remember its name. lots of diferent hard coral.

vis was OK but not what I expected, the group I dove with tried the same location on April and they where blown away with the vis, they said it was 30 meter or better, the reason of the not so good vis was because the rough and high seas they had the day before, it cleared up a little bet the second day thu.

I heared about Dalamnyat but never been there. I dont know if its close to Musqat or not.
good luck in your trip, please bring us a nice report from there, with pics if posible.

[diver371]

salut/hallo heidi

Nope I havent been to Daymaniat yet. I think we are planning to go next month (aug). Not a lot to see in Sharjah. Dubai has a few nice wrecks and places to enjoy a lot of great diving.

We should start an SB dive club of some sort.. we would need a lot of enthusiastic divers though!!

Jalal

[Muddman]

Hello Heidi,

I'm living and working in Kuwait. I have been diving here since April and have dived most of the sites here. I have been considering taking a long weekend and going diving with Al Marsa. Could you give me some info on Al Marsa and your experiences diving with them. I also think there are a lot of divers here in the Gulf and would like to see a forum. The Middle East forums are really inactive. I follow most of the forums and especially the "Texas Swamp Divers" since Texas is my home, but would like to see a active ME forum.

Don

Dive safe and stay out of the heat - we need more night diving here.