Diving in OMAN??

Hi Pekka, my wife and I almost moved there this year, but our plans changed. I met some friends while I was in Bahrain that went; they brought back pictures, and it looked incredible. The south side of Oman is where you go for the good diving, or the entrance to the Gulf, between Oman and Iran. The topography there is similar to west coast Canada or Norway, with mountains on the sea, and deep fjords everywhere. The spearfishing is unbelievable apparently, and I saw pictures of the fish these guys were coming up with. Look on Google and you will find some good shops down there. There is not too much tourisme there, so not many divers, and my friends said it was better than the Red Sea! I believe them, and would love to go myself some day. The only negative thing I could find was the cost of the visa, but it would be worth it. Most of these rich countries want to increase tourism, but keep the backpackers out:waterwork , hence the cost, I believe. However, the dive shops there are very helpful in arranging transport and visas, plus the dive packages can be quite reasonable.
Cheers, from frozen Canada,
Erik Y.

The persian gulf is an excelent place to freedive. but might be a tad on the boring side. I spent 16 yrs living in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia and freedive'd the gulf quite a bit, never made it as far south as Oman. The Gulf is VERY salty and unbelivably warm in the summer. lots of SAND SAND SAND. Pica-Pica can be a real problem in some places as the jelly fish multiply rapidly in some of the hot, shallow bays. Great Spearfishing off most of the rigs, quality dive gear is a problem, so bring spare parts.

Willer
Ottawa, Canada

a little info

HI there Pekka,

I was looking into going diving in Oman, scuba diving, and there are some seriously good sites. There are several areas that you can go to, but apparently the best sites are just off the tip of Musandam..(contained within the UAE) which has both the Gulf as well as the Ocean waters to dive. I have heard that the diving is phenomenal around Muscat and that you wont have much difficulty in getting there and finding a dive operation.

I am living right now in Bahrain in the middle of the Arabic Gulf.. and I can tell you that the weather is getting quite hot. The water viz sucks becuase of the dredging of the Gulf, and the water is also extremely salty making it really hard to get and stay down. Definately be prepared for warmer water... it was 20C in December but before that in the summer, it was 34C. The daily temperatures right now are about 30C-40C... just wait until the summer weather hits!

They dont know much about freediving in this area unless you are a spearo... so just be forewarned that it may be difficult to get on a boat and explain you dont need gear!

HOpe this helps a little... if you need more info I can give you some of the sites that I checked out, plus maybe get you and email of some people I know that have gone there. The place is beautiful and amazing scenery.. it would be well worth the trip.

I ended up going to Indonesia instead of Oman.. and went to Bali... but Oman was definately my second option.

Take care
Neeka

BALI !!

Bali, 1982-3. Now THERE'S were I want to be!
What a beautiful place with beautiful people...

sven