Diving Oman - any comparison to other sites ?

[gorcio]

Hello,

is there any comparison You could think of, when putting diving in Oman (I mean underwater life) in perspective to diving in St.Johns or deep south Egypt ? How's October for a trip to Oman ? Is there good viz, any nice fish at that time of the year
?
How are the reefs , also comparing to reefs in Egypt, especially St.Johns ?

 

[Malene]

hello,
I am just back from one week in Oman.
I don't know the south of Red Sea, only the area around Safaga.
But I can tell you that visibility is (much) better in Egypt than in Oman. There is a lot of plancton and krill in Oman all year long (except a bit less in July and August), so the water is a bit greenish and viz is around 10-15 meters. On the other hand (and because there is so much plancton), there are more fish, bigger schools and bigger fish than in Egypt. Corals are also plentiful.
Although you find the same species (with a few exceptions, of course), it is really a different experience.
Hope this helps

 

[gorcio]

Hi there, certainly it does. In fact, we decided to head to St.Johns instead of going to Oman. After seeing lots of videos on YouTube, reading few other forums as well and googling things out, we decided that for our diving-only holidays we'd rather give St.Johns a shot. Thanks a lot for You post, that makes me feel better about my decision.

 

[AGREN_DIVERS]

I am sure the St. Johns will be exquisite. I was very impressed with the diving in Oman. I jsut got back from diving in Salalah, Oman. The reason that I really enjoyed Oman was the diversity of life in the water. It was incredible. Everything from small to huge. The Red Sea has more colors and smaller, but you would be hard pressed to find better diversity. You have a feeling that you are one of the first people diving some of these areas. The viz was iffy at spots, but the plankton brought in huge fish and schools. We saw 7 different species of eels, two different species of lobster, an octopus, and several different nudibraches. There are frequent sitings of whale sharks as well. As far as the Arabian gulf and Arabian sea, Oman is the best diving (with the sole exception of Iran I am sure, but not going there anytime soon.)