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OP
It's my favourite dive area ever, but I haven't been to all that many of the "big sites". My friend from Poseidon, who has dived pretty much every one of the big sites over the last 20 years, surfaced from our first dive and declared it to be probably the best dive he has ever done, at least top 5.
250 USD for a weekend 3 day LOB, unlimited diving, 60-70m walls, huge morays, rays, massive schools of pelagics, regular schools of hundreds of greater hammerheads, whale sharks, mola mola cleaning stations and a frankly astounding variety of soft corals, turtles etc etc.
All that for a (for me) 2 hour drive, and a PCR test hand over at the checkpoint? Worth it, every day. For me at least.
@RayfromTX may also have a thought or two
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It hasn't been "extra special" in my "limited" experience. Perhaps we didn't go to the right places as you have visited there. I have only done day boats not LOB's.
Are there longer 4/5 star LoB's there that do more than the 3 day trips?
Can you bring your own tanks and camera gear through the border without much hassles from both sides there?
OP
Not that I'm aware of, usual LoBs are dhows over a weekend. There was a decent 11 berth schooner (Charlotte Anne) operating 20 years ago but no longer probably because it wasn't financially viable to operate. I did several trips on it back in the late 90s.
On the Dibba side no problem. However when Freestyle opened their place in Khasab it was prohibitive to me regarding bringing tanks and camera gear serial numbers required etc., so I haven't dived up that side yet.
I suppose if one wanted to do a week long, or longer, diving there, they would just keep going out on the 3 day trips few times.
OP
The 3-day trips are only at weekends though, not many customers during the week.
Even off UAE East Coast, very few dive centres operate Sunday to Thursday, probably only Freestyle, Al Boom, Divers Down and Sandy Beach.
Even off UAE East Coast, very few dive centres operate Sunday to Thursday, probably only Freestyle, Al Boom, Divers Down and Sandy Beach.
Al Marsa do 4 and 5 day, even occasional seven day trips out of Dibba. They are pretty solidly booked.
The day boats usually only go up to Lima Rock, which is a nice site, but further North is where all the fun happens. @Diving Dubai was kind enough to let me come on on of their chartered trips right up to the very north, that opened my eyes to what Musandam was all about. Since that first trip with them, I have made a point of going on the boats that are going well North, up to Habalen and at least up to Mother of Mouse.
I have taken my rebreather, bailout tanks, deco tanks and camera gear up almost every time, no issues experienced.
I see your point now, this is what happened when I did the day trips. If I ever go back to that area, I'd consider the longer trips.
Is there an airport or any other way to go to Musandam direct via a flight without having to go to the UAE first (from Oman)?
OP
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