Diving in Dubai

[Andy Bloss]

Hello all

It looks as though I'm popping out to Dubai next week on the firm and so am looking at skiving a day off to diving.

I've heard that the diving there can be a bit "variable". Does anyone here have any advice on the best dive sites (my preference tends towards wrecks) and what schools to use?

Thanks in advance!

Andy

PS - Apologies if this has been covered before, I'm not very good at searching the Site and links to previous threads would also be much appreciated.

[recurve]

Most of the diving directly off Dubai is a bit crappy, due to the muck in the water being stirred up as they build the 'Palm' and 'World' offshore islands.

If you can manage it, the water quality is much better over on the eastern (Omani) coast.

Dive opperators in Dubai can either take you local (The MV Dara is quite a nice dive) or take you over to the east, or better yet north to the Musandan, on day trips.

I have only dived with The Pavillion Dive Centre based at The Jumeira Beach hotel (the one shaped like a wave), and rate them highly. Their prices are reasonable, their boats nice, and the staff ready and willing to please.

[Mark Powell]

The diving in Dubai is a bit limited. If you have a day off then I would recommend going to Fujairah which is on the east coast.

I've dived with Scuba International in Fujairah quite a few times.

http://www.scubainternational.net

It's a friendly, english run centre that caters to technical divers. They even arranged a car to pick me up in Dubai, drive me there and take me back in the evening.