Hello from UAE

[diveUAE]

Hi everyone

New member here. From Denmark, but have been living in Abu Dhabi for 9 years - just started our 10th year here.

I'm a teacher and both my husband and I love to go diving during weekends (we do have some good dive spots nearby), our son (16) also dives, and our youngest (8 years) will be doing her "Bubble maker" soon, then hopefully move on with "Seal Team".

Oldest girl (18) decided she no longer wants to dive, so any tricks as to how to get her started again would be great (She already opted out of a trip to the red sea, and our trip next year to Philippines)

Upcoming trips: December: Oman (Daymanyat or Musandam), April 2019: Philippines (Malapascua and Bohol), March/April? 2020: Komodo

 

[Ron_G]

From a fellow newbie here, welcome to these forums! Hope you enjoy your trip next year to the Philippines, where' I'm from. I haven't been to Malapascua nor Bohol yet, but they're definitely on my list!

 

[BazzaB]

Welcome diveUAE !

 

[Schwob]

Hi & welcome!
Daughter: (I just know I will be stepping into something here, but I am struggling a bit in maybe similar ways and I am in no way accusing you of doing or having done anything wrong here... nor do I know what's right...) maybe waiting a year or two until daughter re-accepts parents in their modified role towards an adult daughter and parents accept daughter being an adult (hard for me as maturity and independence are very differing from being an adult, but I sure was troubled as a young adult when not treated as such) might help?
Involving the daughter in the trip and activity planning and giving her the say on some percentage of the time (where spent, what activities - possibly part time separate schedule from parents)?
Possibly allowing a friend to come (tried that, worked, but a "family vacation" it was not... )?
....
If you are still on SB after this , tell us more about diving in your neck of the woods...

 

[diveUAE]

Thank you! Yeah, daughter just don't want to dive - she's afraid of getting "lost" after 1 dive, where she lost sight of me for 30 sec (amongst lots of other divers), I've offered her a "buddy line", but no... she's also not keen on traveling:-/ I generally offer her to come, and my kids all get to decide what we should do at least 1 day during a vacation - I ask them to google, and come with ideas (very fun the time our son decided we should do paragliding)

Diving in UAE is good - dive sites are best on the "east coast" (Dibba, Fujairah), - about 3 h drive from Abu Dhabi (2 from Dubai) where we always see clown fish, puffer fish, nudies, morays, pipefish, lots of schooling fish, some rays, sometimes white tips, dive friend posted last week with whale shark, certain places you can find seahorses, mobulars have been seen (not by me). Couple of wrecks around 30 m and also some wrecks for tech diving. Viz not always the best, but decent.

We sometimes go to "Dubai north" - technically Oman, but you don't pay for the visa. Better dive sites (not so many divers go there), once saw a mola mola, often see sharks, beautiful corals and all the above stuff.

For a quick "dive fix" it's perfect

 

[iamrushman]

howdy and welcome from southeast florida usa....good luck with your diving excursions...

 

[RainPilot]

Welcome! Nice to see some more UAE faces on here. Drop me a line if you feel like hooking up with some keen divers, always nice to dive with new faces...

Easiest way is to click "Quote in Conversation" bottom right of this post.

Happy diving!