UAE East Coast Temperatures

[hedonist222]

Thanks for the fast and replies!
I do prefer clubs that carry the tanks on the boat as I am not very strong and have a fragile back and won't be taking my sons with me either (poor guys have A-level exams in June). Do you have to take out your tanks with divers down as well or only your own small stuff?
The meeting will probably be a Tuesday to Thursday - is the weekend so regular diving on Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday in Dubai? What a shame the diving in Dubai itself is not so interesting - was surprised to see so many centers on google and very hopeful. How does one get to the East coast? I guess once a hotel is chosen they will arrange transport? Or is there a cheaper option?

I have seen divers down assist divers with gear on occasion.
I'm fairly certain that they'd be happy to accommodate you.

But entry to boat is via shore. A short walk over sand and then from knee to waist level water before you climb onto the boat.

I think the majority of dive centers in the area operate the same way.
Fujaira or Khor Fakkan may be different.

It is approximately 1.5 hours from Dubai to the east coast by car.
Most east cost hotels will provide or arrange transportation.

Car rental is very easy and doable with modern navigation systems.
Or you could use a taxi.

 

[Searcaigh]

I do prefer clubs that carry the tanks on the boat as I am not very strong and have a fragile back

What dive qualifications do you have?

I personally recommend Barracuda in FIMC
1. They use a marina.
2. All loading and unloading is done by the staff for those renting gear.
3. You'll need AOW (and Nitrox if you want a decent dive) as the first dive is generally 26-30m depending on the site, but they do have three boats so one boat could be diving OW level.
4. They do have guides on the boats if required, must be prearranged, several of them are Filipina girls.
5. They sometimes do night dives.
6. There is not dive time limit, just come up with 50 bar in your tank.
7. Fujairah is only an hour and 15 mins from Dubai on a fairly direct route.
8. Plenty of hotel choices in Fujairah city. I normally stay at the Novotel, but there are hotels next to the marina and Ruby from Barracuda can sort everything out.

Today's schedule is:

BDC-3
1. Snoopy Island - 12 meters
2. Sharm rock - 12 meters

BDC-2
1. Deep reef- 27 meters
2. Inchcape 10- 24 meters

Afternoon Dive!
1. Inchcape 2 - 22 meters
2. Coral Garden - 12 meters

The other dive ops which may list as being in Fujairah are in Fujairah Emirate, which is not to be confused with Fujairah City.

At Al Aqah you have:

Miramar hosting Divers Down
Meridian hosting Al Boom - They can arrange transport from their Dubai shop in Jumeirah 1
Sandy Beach hosting The Dive Centre

Slightly further north in Dibba

Radisson Blu hosting Freestyle

Weekend is Friday / Saturday and if you don't want to get up at the crack of dawn on a Friday I would recommend to travel over on the Thursday night. Hiring a car to do this is probably not recommended though if you've never driven here before, so a hotel arranged car is probably your best option, but it won't be cheap.

Taking a taxi over to the east coast won't be cheap either and most likely the driver won't have a clue where to go.

The cheaper option is to get a lift from someone.

When in May are you planning to come over. The Eid holiday should be around 11-13 (Tue-Thu) and you can be sure the hotels are already booked out with expectations of a decent holiday here.

 

[Searcaigh]

I have done a fair amount of diving in Dubai. It was all wreck diving, interesting but low visibility without the extensive marine life you'll find diving the East coast. I think that it is worth diving it as long as you enjoy wrecks and you are prepared for the low vis. Some of the wrecks are deeper wrecks, closer to 30 meters.

Yes vis can be around 1m if the timing is wrong, and few people here appear to understand how to arrange dives in tidal waters.

Despite the number of dive ops in Dubai, most only use Dubai as shore diving for training. There is a dive op on the Palm that my buddy Ernie used last year and they charge 600 dhs for a two dive trip.

East coast dive ops vary and I don't have the current rates, but Barracuda is AED230 for two dives, and The Dive Centre is AED300 for two dives.

 

[Dan]

Radisson Blu hosting Freestyle

So Freestyle moved from Royal Beach Hotel?

 

[BoltSnap]

Yes vis can be around 1m if the timing is wrong, and few people here appear to understand how to arrange dives in tidal waters.

Despite the number of dive ops in Dubai, most only use Dubai as shore diving for training. There is a dive op on the Palm that my buddy Ernie used last year and they charge 600 dhs for a two dive trip.

East coast dive ops vary and I don't have the current rates, but Barracuda is AED230 for two dives, and The Dive Centre is AED300 for two dives.

And what are you doing on the internet instead of diving on a Friday morning?????

 

[Dan]

Thanks for the fast and replies!
I do prefer clubs that carry the tanks on the boat as I am not very strong and have a fragile back and won't be taking my sons with me either (poor guys have A-level exams in June). Do you have to take out your tanks with divers down as well or only your own small stuff?
The meeting will probably be a Tuesday to Thursday - is the weekend so regular diving on Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday in Dubai? What a shame the diving in Dubai itself is not so interesting - was surprised to see so many centers on google and very hopeful. How does one get to the East coast? I guess once a hotel is chosen they will arrange transport? Or is there a cheaper option?

When I was in a few-week assignment in Saudi Arabia. back in 2018, I spent a few long weekends to dive in Fujairah & Musandam, never bother to dive in Dubai based on the comments from SB members who live in UAE. I hooked up with @Diving Dubai and @RainPilot Thank you guys for graciously hosting the diving experience there for me.

I flew from Dammam to Dubai and rent a car for the weekends and use Waze app to guide me from Dubai to Fujairah. Also you need to have Whatsapp as it’s what we were using for communication there.

Enjoy your visit & diving in UAE & perhaps Oman too, while you are in Dubai.

 

[Searcaigh]

And what are you doing on the internet instead of diving on a Friday morning?????

I'm diving tomorrow

 

[Searcaigh]

perhaps Oman too

Unfortunately the borders are closed.

 

[Diving Dubai]

Unfortunately the borders are closed.

Yes and that’s killing me

I wonder when we’l get to dive the Musandam again

 

[Bubble99]

Oh I certainly have my eyes on Oman but I am more of a slow traveler and would certainly need at least 3 weeks of real vacation there (just the northern part) to see all I would like to above and below sea level! So that will be another time and guess more after covid (vaccination).

I have a happy mix of CMAS** diver with the French system plus Nitrox from PADI (and IAC dry suit) so that includes deco and I have since 2018 again some 130 dives of which some 20 over 30m. Also plan to do the third level (up to 60m) this July in France with my son who will be 18 then (one has to be over 18), and we already started to train for that since last year. So we usually did one in 35-40 in the morning and another 25-30 in the afternoon (Typical French diving with great long lunch in between ). Though wrecks are not my main interest as I am mostly into any marine life tiny or huge, I do appreciate seeing a few (especially if full of life) and I want to at least some of the many in Southern France as most of them are only about 1-2 hours drive to my home base there and are in the 35-50m range.

So doing a deeper one first followed buy a shallow one is no problem. And going East coast Barracuda sounds great (prices also nice as compared with Dubai!). Thanks for all the great tips! It will all still depend though on how much time I have especially on the first weekend (will try to come on Thursday evening then) or if I will be dragged into meeting preparation. That said before I don't dive I won't mind doing a few wrecks from Dubai even if bad visibility! If anything it is always good for training. Any centers you recommend there? Then get to East coast on the second weekend.
Unfortunately I don't know the dates yet as we are just shifting the location from Jeddah to Dubai due to covid travel restrictions so we might need to shift exact dates as well depending on availabilities.