Oman - Nizwa elevation

[frogoutofwater]

We're planning to dive a couple of times a day for several days in Muscat and then at Al Sawadi Beach Resort before driving to Nizwa. Does anyone know the elevation of Nizwa? I know that we might have to delay the drive up into the hills for several hours or more, depending on the elevation, but I'd like to get the specifics so that we can calculate the necessary delay. We expect to dive our last dive at the resort around 1 pm (2nd dive of the day), then backtrack to the airport to pick up a rental car (we probably won't pick up the car until 4 pm) and then start driving to Nizwa.

(As I understand it, the boat only goes out once a day for a 2-tank dive. I suppose we could choose to dive the first dive and sit out the 2nd, to give ourselves a little more time, if necessary.)

Thanks.

 

[Ian T]

frog,
It's fairly high country around Nizwa...the town is at about 500m above sea level and the surrounding area is quite a bit higher.
I did a quick search on google for 'nizwa +altitude' and the mean altitude for the Nizwa area is 1800m. There were quite a few websites in several languages (English, French and I think a couple in Italian).
The altitude is close to the limit - at 600m agencies recommend you to follow 'flying after diving'-procedures...
Might be worth it to do the Nizwa trip the day after and sacrifice an afternoon...