This weekend we went on a Dhow trip with Mohammed and Berna (former 7 seas). The dhow sailed from "Dibba North" - meaning you have to enter Oman, but you do not need a visa (it's free to cross), only thing is, that the tour operator needs a copy of passport and UAE visa for the UAE customs to issue a travel permit (it's best to do this 3-5 days prior to traveling.
Arriving at the border the guy with our permits were waiting for us, and it took about 10 min to cross the border - only 2 cars in front of us, no need to get out of the car, just show passports and papers. We continued to the harbor and found the boat - had to cross 6-7 boats hauling along all our equipment, but boat boys were there to help.
Shortly before 9 pm we sailed towards a bay, where we spend the night, and early next morning the dhow continued the sail, while breakfast was served.
Around 7.30 am we reached Lima and anchored up. Geared up and went in the speed boat to Lima Rock (north) - great dive! Viz was good 10-15 m, lots of fish, nudies, rays, morays and colorful corals. Water temperature 23 C.
Dive 2 of the day was "Gilly Island" - very pretty and healthy corals, different kinds of morays, nudies, big school of barracudas and still good viz. Unfortunately I somehow managed to loose my "extra" dive computer:-( Didn't notice until we were in the boat again.
Had lunch and a nap before 3rd dive.
Everyone agreed to go back to "Gilly" for the 3rd dive, to see if we could find the dive computer - sadly no luck. But this time the current was quite strong, so we did see a big barracuda, and more "fish action". I also found 2 very beautiful nudies I have never seen before - big and bright orange - will see, if I can post pictures later. Even with the current, we still had a good viz.
4th dive was a night dive on "Lima Wall", we jumped in just before sunset and had a blast! Pipefish, big turtle, very big trumpet fishes, lion fish hunting, boxer shrimps, big honey comb moray out hunting and lots of fish. Assenting from the dive and swimming back to the boat with the new moon and endless number of stars was great.
Dinner under the stars, was lovely.
Saturday the forecast said it would be windy later in the day, so we started 6.30 am in the speed boat towards "Octopus rock", while the dhow moved towards Dibba.
The early morning dive on Octopus was sooo nice - viz of 15-20 m, lots of nice corals, fish and nudies just very relaxing. Last time we dived here, we found 3 sea horses, but did not find any this time.
After the dive, it was a quite cold sail to catch up with the dhow, we had breakfast while the dhow anchored up in the bay close to "The Cave".
Last dive was "The Cave" - super dive site - found a ray inside the cave, lots of fish and a turtle outside, great viz again.
Back to dhow for lunch and trip back to Dibba port, where we arrived around 1.30 pm.
All in all a fantastic trip - we paid 1000 aed pr diver and 800 for snorkelers + a bit extra to do 1 extra dive (normal is 5 dives during the trip) - great value for money, and I can't wait to go back.
Anyone planning a trip - please let me know!! And if you're looking for great diving from UAE, I would say the easiest is going to Dibba north.
Arriving at the border the guy with our permits were waiting for us, and it took about 10 min to cross the border - only 2 cars in front of us, no need to get out of the car, just show passports and papers. We continued to the harbor and found the boat - had to cross 6-7 boats hauling along all our equipment, but boat boys were there to help.
Shortly before 9 pm we sailed towards a bay, where we spend the night, and early next morning the dhow continued the sail, while breakfast was served.
Around 7.30 am we reached Lima and anchored up. Geared up and went in the speed boat to Lima Rock (north) - great dive! Viz was good 10-15 m, lots of fish, nudies, rays, morays and colorful corals. Water temperature 23 C.
Dive 2 of the day was "Gilly Island" - very pretty and healthy corals, different kinds of morays, nudies, big school of barracudas and still good viz. Unfortunately I somehow managed to loose my "extra" dive computer:-( Didn't notice until we were in the boat again.
Had lunch and a nap before 3rd dive.
Everyone agreed to go back to "Gilly" for the 3rd dive, to see if we could find the dive computer - sadly no luck. But this time the current was quite strong, so we did see a big barracuda, and more "fish action". I also found 2 very beautiful nudies I have never seen before - big and bright orange - will see, if I can post pictures later. Even with the current, we still had a good viz.
4th dive was a night dive on "Lima Wall", we jumped in just before sunset and had a blast! Pipefish, big turtle, very big trumpet fishes, lion fish hunting, boxer shrimps, big honey comb moray out hunting and lots of fish. Assenting from the dive and swimming back to the boat with the new moon and endless number of stars was great.
Dinner under the stars, was lovely.
Saturday the forecast said it would be windy later in the day, so we started 6.30 am in the speed boat towards "Octopus rock", while the dhow moved towards Dibba.
The early morning dive on Octopus was sooo nice - viz of 15-20 m, lots of nice corals, fish and nudies just very relaxing. Last time we dived here, we found 3 sea horses, but did not find any this time.
After the dive, it was a quite cold sail to catch up with the dhow, we had breakfast while the dhow anchored up in the bay close to "The Cave".
Last dive was "The Cave" - super dive site - found a ray inside the cave, lots of fish and a turtle outside, great viz again.
Back to dhow for lunch and trip back to Dibba port, where we arrived around 1.30 pm.
All in all a fantastic trip - we paid 1000 aed pr diver and 800 for snorkelers + a bit extra to do 1 extra dive (normal is 5 dives during the trip) - great value for money, and I can't wait to go back.
Anyone planning a trip - please let me know!! And if you're looking for great diving from UAE, I would say the easiest is going to Dibba north.
