Oman in February

[Mike Veitch]

Can anyone fill me in on what to expect diving in Oman in Feb?

No idea what the locations i will visit are but would like to know what sort of creatures and reef to expect?

Thanks

 

[Waterbaby09]

Hi,

I was looking for reports too, but for March of 2010. Hope someone will reply as someone on Scubaboard must have been.

Fingers crossed.

 

[TomFlaherty]

Hello Mike and Waterbaby

We've just returned from a fortnight's diving in Oman. We spent a week on a liveaboard in the Musandam Peninsula (Red Dhow) and then dived out of Muscat with Euro Divers.

The Musandam is very remote and ordinarily you'll be the only dive boat up there. The terrain is extraordinary. I would characterise the diving there as being narrow in biodiversity but there in great abundance. Everywhere you go there are football pitch sized shoals of tuna chasing bait. We even saw them diving on a few occasions. We saw several species of shark, scorpion fish, stone fish, more morays than you could shake a stick at, turtles, sea horses, squid, octopus and vast shoals of fusiliers and the like. There was very little in the way of small critters. The vis at best, was average and there were times when it closed in very quickly. On one dive (which was abandoned) I could just about make out the end of my fins! I'd be happy to provide you with a more detailed overview of the liveaboard if you want.

The diving in Muscat was much better than we had expected - indeed in some ways it was better, although we were unlucky with the weather.

I think it's worth pointing out that this isn't necessarily "easy" holiday diving - there's the odd bit of current there and the viz can be very poor.

Happy to answer any questions you might have.

BTW the Omanis were wonderful hosts and Muscat is a fabulous city

 

[Waterbaby09]

Hi Tom,

Great to get a reply at last. You have certainly backed up what we have read, summed up as "great place, shame about the visibility." However, that's never stopped us, so please would you let me know - as we only have one week or maybe 10 days, which of the two destinations did you like best? we have done a lot of diving and are realistic about liveaboards versus land-based.

Many thanks and good to have you on Scubaboard.

 

[Teeden6]

Does anybody happen to know of any hyperbaric chamber locations in Oman?

 

[TomFlaherty]

Hi Waterbaby

From a purely diving point of view I'd recommend the Musandam. It's remote, relatively uncharted and it feels more like an adventure. You'll also be getting three or four dives a day in. The downside of course is that you're on a liveaboard and the people you meet will have a great bearing on the week. We were really lucky in that we shared the boat with some really nice folk. One (very experienced) couple we met from Germany summed the Musandam up nicely - not a place to come to if you only can dive once a year and need more or less guaranteed viz and sightings. If you go there knowing this and are adventure minded then I don't think you can go wrong. Being buzzed by Iranian smugglers in the Straits of Hormuz certainly makes for better post holiday anecdotes!

We then decamped to Muscat and stayed at the extraordinary Al Husn as a treat. We were knackered after a week on the dhow (four dives a day, no hot water, no Nitrox etc). I wouldn't put you off diving out of Muscat and the same German couple who stayed at another resort were also impressed with the diving there.

As I said, if you need a more detailed appraisal of the boat then let me know (food, itinerary, quirks etc).

Cheers

 

[Waterbaby09]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for this and at the moment, I think it's enough info. We are waiting on a few other things to get sorted and may look at booking for later this year. Would be highly amused to hear the smuggling story - if you don't want to post, understood, but you could send privately.

BFN.

 

[Waterbaby09]

Hi Teeden6 - have you tried doing a web search on a chamber?