Diving in the UAE

[russj]

Hi everyone,

Im going on holiday to Dubai in July and Id like to know if anyone has any recommendations for dive centres and sites near there. Im told Fujairah is a good place to go, but has anyone here dived there? Theres about 3 centres there that I can see - does anyone have any background knowledge of each one? Any information would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks!
Russ

 

[fmb72]

Hi Russj,

Since you are coming out to Dubai.........let me part some wisdom onto you

The Diving in Dubai will be kind of limited since the water visibility is usually around 5-7 m on a good day. The major reason for this is because of all the dredging that is going on offshore for the Palm islands.

However we do have a wreck called the "Zainab" that is worth diving. She was smuggling oil (I think in 2003) from Iraq when she went down approximately 30 miles offshore. Currently she lays on her side in 25-27 meters. One of my favorite dives in Dubai.

There are a couple of dive centers on the East Coast of the country, most are located in Khorfakan. The east coast usually has a lot more coral diving, while Dubai has primarily wreck diving.

When coming down try to see if you can arrange for a dive in the Mussandam area. Very nice. They actually call the area the Norway of the Middle east because of all the fjords that can be found there.

If you could tell me roughly when you are going to be in Dubai then I would better be able to inform you of the diving clubs that arrange trips for visitors.

Regards,

Farid

 

[russj]

Hi mate, thanks for the reply,

Im coming over on the 16th July, hope to dive on the 18th. There seems to be some good dive sites in Fujeriah? that was where I was planning on diving, but Im staying in Dubai.

Thanks again
Russ

Hi Russj,

Since you are coming out to Dubai.........let me part some wisdom onto you

The Diving in Dubai will be kind of limited since the water visibility is usually around 5-7 m on a good day. The major reason for this is because of all the dredging that is going on offshore for the Palm islands.

However we do have a wreck called the "Zainab" that is worth diving. She was smuggling oil (I think in 2003) from Iraq when she went down approximately 30 miles offshore. Currently she lays on her side in 25-27 meters. One of my favorite dives in Dubai.

There are a couple of dive centers on the East Coast of the country, most are located in Khorfakan. The east coast usually has a lot more coral diving, while Dubai has primarily wreck diving.

When coming down try to see if you can arrange for a dive in the Mussandam area. Very nice. They actually call the area the Norway of the Middle east because of all the fjords that can be found there.

If you could tell me roughly when you are going to be in Dubai then I would better be able to inform you of the diving clubs that arrange trips for visitors.

Regards,

Farid

 

[vjongene]

I am sure that Farid will be an excellent guide. Having dived several times on the East Coast of the UAE, I can contribute a little:

- Forget about diving in the town of Fujairah. There is nothing there.

- There is OK diving in Khor Fakkan, about 30 km to the north, which is part of the Emirate of Sharjah. I believe that the Oceanic Hotel has a dive center (if it is still in business).

- Still further north, and back in the Emirate of Fujairah, the Sandy Beach Motel used to have a dive center, as did a local instructor (I forget his name) who had set up on the beach nearby. There are good sites in the area, but the dive center tended to send the boat only to those located near the hotel. The visibility can be really poor when there are algal blooms. When the viz is good, the diving is quite OK in this area, which is also very nice topside. A Meridien hotel just went up next to the Sandy Beach, and they seem to have a dive center too. They advertise trips to the Musandam (see below), but since it is a long boat ride this may not be the best starting spot.

- As Farid mentioned, the best diving is probably on the east coast of the Musandam Peninsula, which is part of the Sultanate of Oman. There are boats going there out of Dibba (UAE and Oman), but it may be wise to check ahead of time who is going when and where. It may be easier to find boats on the Omani side of the border in Dibba.

Good luck!

Victor

 

[david.tolan]

Just a heads up.

As best I remember some the the states along the east coast in the UAE are dry. No Beer. May be worth knowing before you go there.

I learned in the Gulf of Oman (East coast). It was HOT. We dived in teeshirts, to keep the sun off. I got badly sunburnt just going out to the dive sites on the boat.

There was a lot of oil pollution. Apparently it costs more to get oil tanks cleaned properly that the fine is for cleaning them into the sea. No one enforces the fine anyway cause they don't want to drive the shipping elsewhere.

Drops of tarry oil, coated with sand were EVERYWHERE. You couldn't see them, but when you stood on them they splatted all over your feet.

Every few hundred yards along the beach there was a stand with a rag and baby oil so that you could wash the oil off your feet.

We settled on the sand in the bay on one training dive, and when we came back in, tarry oil all over the wetsuits.

There was still plenty to see, including BFO baraccuda, and turtles. I'd love to have seen what it would be like without the shipping.

Dave.

 

[vjongene]

Just a heads up.

As best I remember some the the states along the east coast in the UAE are dry. No Beer. May be worth knowing before you go there.

Sharjah is dry, Fujairah is not.

There was a lot of oil pollution. Apparently it costs more to get oil tanks cleaned properly that the fine is for cleaning them into the sea. No one enforces the fine anyway cause they don't want to drive the shipping elsewhere.

This is highly variable. One time I was in Fujairah there was indeed a lot of oil pullution - this was during the first Gulf War, and there were dozens of tankers anchored right off shore. But during two dive vacations I did not have any problems. Just depends on whether some unscrupulous captain just decided to clean his holds.

There was still plenty to see, including BFO baraccuda, and turtles. I'd love to have seen what it would be like without the shipping.

Just try it again - there is really no way to tell in advance how bad the pollution will be.

 

[MarkH]

I am sure that Farid will be an excellent guide. Having dived several times on the East Coast of the UAE, I can contribute a little:

- Forget about diving in the town of Fujairah. There is nothing there.

- There is OK diving in Khor Fakkan, about 30 km to the north, which is part of the Emirate of Sharjah. I believe that the Oceanic Hotel has a dive center (if it is still in business).

- Still further north, and back in the Emirate of Fujairah, the Sandy Beach Motel used to have a dive center, as did a local instructor (I forget his name) who had set up on the beach nearby. There are good sites in the area, but the dive center tended to send the boat only to those located near the hotel. The visibility can be really poor when there are algal blooms. When the viz is good, the diving is quite OK in this area, which is also very nice topside. A Meridien hotel just went up next to the Sandy Beach, and they seem to have a dive center too. They advertise trips to the Musandam (see below), but since it is a long boat ride this may not be the best starting spot.

- As Farid mentioned, the best diving is probably on the east coast of the Musandam Peninsula, which is part of the Sultanate of Oman. There are boats going there out of Dibba (UAE and Oman), but it may be wise to check ahead of time who is going when and where. It may be easier to find boats on the Omani side of the border in Dibba.

Good luck!

Victor

I was there in 2003 and did some boat dives with the operation mentioned in the Meridien hotel. We did Dibba Rock(50-foot vis, lots of coral, turtles, rays, fish, etc.) and Sharm rocks ( only 20-30 foot vis, lots of bare rock, but a huge amount of fish and cuttle fish). I also did a bunch of shore diving at Snoopy Island, just ofshore from the Sandy Beach Motel (the only popular shore dive in the UAE that I knew of). It was shallow (15-20 feet max), vis wasn't great (10-20 feet), but there was tons of life. The coral was pretty trashed, but there were tons of fish, anemones, cuttlefish, morays, etc. One day I went there, there was a large spill of crude oil all over the beach, but there was a semi-clear area to enter in one spot. There was a dive shop/charter in the hotel here as well. They've been here for ages. There were no docks here at either of the shops. You had to swim out to the boats from the beach. If you're bringing a topside camera, put it in a waterproof bag or something. The link below has some pictures from my dives.www.victoriadiving.50megs.com/uae.html

 

[freefall2]

We dove out of the Oceanic Hotel in Khorfakkan in 1996-97. The dive shop was great. The vis was poor but the dives were very cool. We saw things I'd never seen before like lionfish and clownfish. We snorkelled with half a dozen sharks after one of the dives.

On this website it shows they still have a dive shop.
Oceanic

 

[fmb72]

Hi Russ,

Its me again........ok, as mentioned in an earlier reply, forget about Fujairah. My advise to you, if you are going to have the east coast as a base for your stay, would be to make arangements to stay over at the Aqah hotel. The hotel is nice and very comfortable, part of the Emirates airlines corporation. In the hotel you can find a diving outfit called "Al Boom diving". They would be able to help arrange for everything from a diving point of view. Al boom is a chain of diving stores with their main office in Dubai. They may also be able to set up a diving trip into the mussandam for you.

There is another outfit, dont remember thier name, they have a dive centre operating at Dibba rock (dive site) that are also very organised and good, however I dont remember thier name. If possible try to make it to Dibba rock, great diving, its actually a marine reserve, and the diving is one of the best, although its a very easy and relatively shallow dive. I will try to find thier name and email it to you.

If you could tell me what you are looking for I would be able to help you a little more.

rtegards,

Farid

 

[flyinghuntster]

I have been to the UAE several times and the West coast has many wrecks and the East cosat has loads of sea life. There were loads of turtles and tropicals. I have been to the east coast and I haven't had any trouble with oil in the water.

But the visiblility on the west coast can be poor with all the silt. It is best to dive as the tide is going out. There are many dive shops in the area. I went with Al Boom last year and they were able to help us on both coasts and they have a great staff.