Yemen

[nipi]

Has anyone dived in, or does anyone have any information about diving in, Yemen? Thanks.

 

[Christian]

Haven't been there, yet, but have done some research. Would also appreciate info from people who have been there recently.

The only liveaboard I could find operating in Yemeni Red Sea was the Katerina M - owned and run by an italian. I saw her (ship) in Port Sudan in 2001 and then she was being restored after having spend some time under water. Don't know if she made it back to Yemen, but information from various travel agents suggest so. Anyway the packages offered was only 5-6 days cruising and diving with only two dives a day, and if you wanted to extend it to 12-14 days and three dives a day, it got ridicolusly expensive.

Anyway there are a few very promising dive areas in Yemen. The most famous is Hanish Islands which has been closed until recently due to a long dispute between Eritrea and Yemen over the islands. It was settled in 2000, I believe, and Yemen took control over the islands. Another area is the Zubayr Island group which is located in the middle of the rift valley and supposedly have first class diving. I have also heard that the island Jazirat at Tair in the northern part of the Yemeni Red Sea have spectacular diving.

Heavy shark fishing through the years has ufortunately taken its toll on the number of sharks on Yemeni reefs. Yemeni shark fishermen are notorius in the Red Sea. I believe there has also been chineese shark trawlers in yemeni waters.

Good luck and please share any info you can get hold off regarding the diving in the Yemeni Red Sea.

cheers

C

 

[sharkdiver00]

Hey Christian, I really would appreciate if you could share any good info you get, especially if you go dive in Yemen waters. It is one of the places I have wanted to go visit for a long time.

many thanks,
Maria

 

[AbuK]

I am specialising in irrelevant replies at the moment so here goes another!

I know very little about Yemeni diving though the Farasan Islands which lie off the Saudi / Yemeni border are visited frequently by divers from Saudi and the reports are mixed, most cannot stop raving about the amount of large pelagic activity, mantas galore and shark central. Having said that others report it as being disappointing, possibly as a result of the hype, but also maybe something to do with the time of the year visited. I'm going in a month or so, hence will be able to provide an even more irrelevant update!

 

[Christian]

The Farasan Archipelago is huge, so there is for sure diving of all kinds of quality. However what differs many of the areas in Yemeni waters from the Farasan Archipelago, is that they are located close to the rift valley and have deep water in close vincinity. The Farasan archipelago (like the Dhalak Islands of Eritrea) sits on a continental shelf and has mostly shallow waters.

cheers

Christian

 

[AbuK]

Cheers for that Christian, very interesting!

Have wanted to go to Yemen since 1990, Hadhramout, Ma'rib dam and San'a in particular, so looks like I now have an additional reason!

 

[Christian]

Thank's AbuK, I think so too. There are a british couple Tamara and ...Alex?... (the guys sure name escapes me) Double who has very much experience in Yemeni waters. i have tried to locate them but failed. But in articles they have raved about the diving. Some people I have talked to who has been there has been somewhat disappointed, but on the other hand I have heard people who has been to Sha'ab Rumi and the Brother Islands and also been disappointed. Usually it is due of inexperience (can't dive the sites the right way), or they go in the wrong season, or just really bad luck. Sometimes a combination of all three.

So where in Saudi are you diving? Is it possible to get to any off shore sites along the Saudi coast. There are a swedish fellow diver who lived in Jeddah and worked as a dentist for 9-10 years. He has written a few articles and had several UW-pictures published in various magazines, his name is Erik Bjurstrom. Any bells ringing?

cheers

/c

 

[AbuK]

Agreed, that seems to be the general consensus about Farasan as well. I think much has to do do with people's preconceptions, but also the time of year and depth. each to their own!

Saudi has quite stunning diving. I have dived Jeddah, Al Wajh, Shu'aibah, Qadhima and spend as much of my time as possible in Yenbu - heading to a mountain of an island off Um Lujj tomorrow. Never dived there before but the fishing is apparently excellent, hopefully a good sign.

Most (90%) of the diving I do is off shore and again the majority of the time our boat is the only one around. There is talk of the country seriously opening up for dive touirism next year and there are already some charters operating to the Farasan using liveaboards. I would seriously recommend diving here before it gets as over-crowded as Egypt.

Jeddah has some good sights Ms Mary, Ann Ann, Champagne, Swiss AIr and Aquarium but most of the rest of the popular sights suffer from over fishing and pollution (sewage, construction and cement factories).

 

[AbuK]

Sorry don't know anything of your mate Erik!

And skip diving in Jeddah just head to Yenbu or beyond!

 

[Christian]

Ok, thanks for the info. Just curious about a few more things, hope you don't mind replying:

How far do you have to go out from the coast to find the really deep waters in the Jeddah area? Any areas you're aware off where there are deep water near shore? Are there any sites comparable to Brother Islands and Deadalus reef in Saudi waters=small reefs far from land (pollution, sewage, construction ...) that rises up from abbyssal depths?

And about preconceptions. In the places I mentioned in previous posts, I believe you really can't have too high expectations. Unless they are unrealistic. Tropical diving doesn't get much better. I have dived many so called world class sites in the carribean, the red sea and the indo pacific, and have to say that you must have done something wrong or have had really bad luck (or both) if you end up disappointed. Or maybe you should get another hobby.

cheers

christian