Diving from Dubai - worth it on short trip?

[1976]

Will be in Dubai for 5 days at the start of December and wondering it it's worth diving. Have 2 days max for this. Don't want to dive wrecks in poor visibility so would be looking at either

- a (long) day trip to the east coast or Oman
- an overnight trip to the same places (not sure on the logistics of that)
- diving in one of the aquariums in Dubai (mall or Atlantis)

We are not that experienced (AOW but only ~60 dives), 8 dive trips over 7 years diving and we're not keen enough to dive wherever we are just for the sake of it.

Subjective question I know but is it worth the journey/potential border crossing hassle for the east coast or Oman sites (when you've dived Maldives, Red Sea...)?

Are there issues with animal welfare in the aquariams? I've heard people say these are really fun dives but is that only really if you haven't dived 'for real'?

Thanks!

 

[Diving Dubai]

East coast trips:-

Al Boom Diving or Divers Down
2 tank dive AED 400. I think Al boom lay on transport for additional charge.

They both dive from hotels. Best dive is Inchcape 1, a sunken barge at 30m with lots of life (sea horses, stone fish schooling snappers and coral Th esecond dive may be another barge at 22m or shallow reef. Vis can be unpredictable

Fujeriah is 180km from Dubai

Aquarium AED 750 max depth 11m just a fun dive. Animal welfare is looked after, you have to use' their equipment, no cameras (risk of bacteria being introduced)

Oman - Mussandam. Fantastic diving, Sheesabeach Same distance at Fujeriah (actually the drive is shorter) They sort out the crossing. Lima Rock, Octopus Rock and Ras Marovi can all perform - Whale sharks and Mola Mola are all seen there on occasion. These site are a one day trip.

Going further North on a 2 day trip I'd very strongly advise you not to go, as the best sites only really deliver with a decent (bubbles going horizontal) current and because of this and the risk of down currents (sand is generally below 100m) you'd be diving bays that have the risk of poor vis.


Frankly I'd skip diving as you only have 5 days here, and enjoy what the city has to offer. Take a desert safari for and afternoon/evening instead

 

[Searcaigh]

It depends on how desperate you want to dive and what you want to see?

Musandam can be easily done as DD above suggests, stay in the Golden Tulip hotel in the Omani side of Dibba and do a couple of day trips. If you are game enough hire a car with an up to date GPS and it's easy.

The northern part of the UAE east coast has several dive ops, in fact UAE has at least 10 dive ops on the east coast and the easiest to access would be Barracuda in Fujairah Marina, who can also provide discounted accommodation in the Ibis for AED200/night.

Visibility varies and there are no guarantees, but Inchcape 10 (22m) off Fujairah is a far better wreck than Inchcape 1 (30m) as it was not affected by Hurricane Gono a few years ago and is more complete plus fewer people dive on it.

Other dive sites from Fujairah city with a 15/20 min boat ride are primarily great macro and muck sites, but there is Deep Reef at 28m which is a 2km long reef with some amazing soft corals and usually some sea snakes on most dives as well as large sea horses.

Personally I'd go for Musandam and do a couple of day trips.

 

[1976]

Thanks for your replies. I'd absolutely love to see sea horses! But not sure I'd want to pin my hopes on that.

Been to Dubai for a couple of days before and done plenty of desert stuff there and elsewhere so maybe a couple of days in Mussandam is a good plan.

 

[RainPilot]

Some pretty diving off Dibba just south of the Mussandam, drop me a line if you need any details