Just returned from Ras Al Hadd in Oman, basically a nine hour drive each way including stops for the border crossing and lunch etc., from Dubai.
Organised by Barracuda Dive Centre in Fujairah, 12 of us drove down in various vehicles from Dubai, Fujairah and Abu Dhabi.
I drove down with my buddy Joan from Dubai, leaving at 06:30 and arrived at 15:30. Another couple had driven down on Thursday morning in order to get another couple of dives in, something I considered but Joan couldn't afford an additional day off work, so we left on the Friday. Most of the others left around lunchtime from Fujairah and Abu Dhabi, arriving in Ras Al Hadd late in the evening, and really missing the amazing scenery from Muscat onwards on the coastal route via Sur, which is spectacular.
We dived with Arabian Sea Adventures (ASA) run by Faisal Araimi, the only dive centre in Ras Al Hadd.
Faisal is an underwater photographer and has a similar passion for nudibranchs as myself.
ASA is a small operation, basically run from a shack on the beach at Ras Al Hadd, nothing like the ops run off the east coast of the UAE. Only air is available and the larger of the two boats he has is basically suitable for a maximum of 10 divers for a one tank dive.
We dived four sites on Saturday and Sunday mornings, only three of the group did the night dive on Saturday night, as most of us were pretty tired. Weather conditions were not perfect on Saturday and it was pretty choppy on the second dive with a 30 minute boat ride back to the dive centre.
Saturday dive sites were:
Shark Point 1: 18-19m depth, flat terrain with maroon coloured weed. Water temp was 23C (all weekend) and vis 20m+ fantastic to see the bottom when descending.
Quite a few nudis (I was shooting macro) and loads of fish.
Goniobranchus tinctorius found in the first five minutes of the dive
Cement Barge: Amazing, but slightly reduced vis due to an increase in surge, which was felt down to 15m. The wreck, which is 100m long, starts at 9m but it was really difficult to take photographs at that depth. Loads of nudis, mainly Hypselodoris carnae, but also H. dolfusi spotted too. The highlight for me was when Joan spotted the Bubble Shell, Hydatina physis, one of my bucket list slugs
On Sunday morning we dived
Shark Point 2: Basically the same terrain as Shark Point 1, but a bit shallower. Only a few nudis, but several octopuses were spotted including this one that really didn't want to come our of its den,
Coral Garden: This second dive was at a much shallower site (13m) and calmer, as well as being less than five minute boat ride from the dive centre beach. Vis was amazing again and the corals incredible, I was wishing I had brought a wide angle set up, but hey, another time. We came across a massive tailless ray as well as several octopuses and quite a few nudis too.
By the time we got back and packed the car for the journey home it was already 1pm and with a nine hour trip ahead of us we had to leave without saying our goodbyes to Faizal who had to get his boat out of the water and deal with that side of running a dive centre.
The initial drive to Sur was slow, Sunday is a working day in Oman as their weekend is Friday / Saturday, and we had to deal with more traffic than our journey from Dubai, which was particularly bad on the outskirts of Muscat. Once past Muscat, Joan drove to the border where we changed over again and I drove the final leg back home to Dubai.
Certainly planning for a longer four / five day trip next time once the water warms up a bit and we don't have to wear 7mm wetsuits.
Organised by Barracuda Dive Centre in Fujairah, 12 of us drove down in various vehicles from Dubai, Fujairah and Abu Dhabi.
I drove down with my buddy Joan from Dubai, leaving at 06:30 and arrived at 15:30. Another couple had driven down on Thursday morning in order to get another couple of dives in, something I considered but Joan couldn't afford an additional day off work, so we left on the Friday. Most of the others left around lunchtime from Fujairah and Abu Dhabi, arriving in Ras Al Hadd late in the evening, and really missing the amazing scenery from Muscat onwards on the coastal route via Sur, which is spectacular.
We dived with Arabian Sea Adventures (ASA) run by Faisal Araimi, the only dive centre in Ras Al Hadd.
Faisal is an underwater photographer and has a similar passion for nudibranchs as myself.
ASA is a small operation, basically run from a shack on the beach at Ras Al Hadd, nothing like the ops run off the east coast of the UAE. Only air is available and the larger of the two boats he has is basically suitable for a maximum of 10 divers for a one tank dive.
We dived four sites on Saturday and Sunday mornings, only three of the group did the night dive on Saturday night, as most of us were pretty tired. Weather conditions were not perfect on Saturday and it was pretty choppy on the second dive with a 30 minute boat ride back to the dive centre.
Saturday dive sites were:
Shark Point 1: 18-19m depth, flat terrain with maroon coloured weed. Water temp was 23C (all weekend) and vis 20m+ fantastic to see the bottom when descending.
Quite a few nudis (I was shooting macro) and loads of fish.
Goniobranchus tinctorius found in the first five minutes of the dive
Cement Barge: Amazing, but slightly reduced vis due to an increase in surge, which was felt down to 15m. The wreck, which is 100m long, starts at 9m but it was really difficult to take photographs at that depth. Loads of nudis, mainly Hypselodoris carnae, but also H. dolfusi spotted too. The highlight for me was when Joan spotted the Bubble Shell, Hydatina physis, one of my bucket list slugs
On Sunday morning we dived
Shark Point 2: Basically the same terrain as Shark Point 1, but a bit shallower. Only a few nudis, but several octopuses were spotted including this one that really didn't want to come our of its den,
Coral Garden: This second dive was at a much shallower site (13m) and calmer, as well as being less than five minute boat ride from the dive centre beach. Vis was amazing again and the corals incredible, I was wishing I had brought a wide angle set up, but hey, another time. We came across a massive tailless ray as well as several octopuses and quite a few nudis too.
By the time we got back and packed the car for the journey home it was already 1pm and with a nine hour trip ahead of us we had to leave without saying our goodbyes to Faizal who had to get his boat out of the water and deal with that side of running a dive centre.
The initial drive to Sur was slow, Sunday is a working day in Oman as their weekend is Friday / Saturday, and we had to deal with more traffic than our journey from Dubai, which was particularly bad on the outskirts of Muscat. Once past Muscat, Joan drove to the border where we changed over again and I drove the final leg back home to Dubai.
Certainly planning for a longer four / five day trip next time once the water warms up a bit and we don't have to wear 7mm wetsuits.
