Scuba Diving in Oman

While my dad was in town, we had to go scuba diving as he is the reason I became scuba certified in the first place.  Scuba diving is my second most expensive hobby as it will cost $100+ each excursion + cost to get there + you should dive once a year to stay current or else your dive company may not let you dive without doing a re-cert.  My most expensive hobby?  Traveling.

There are some great diving locations in Oman, and they are not packed with tourists.  If you leave from al Mouj or Mussanah, you will most likely be diving at Daymaniyat Islands.  If you leave from Marina Bandar al Rowdha (like we did), you will either be diving at Bandar Khairan (where there is a ship wreck) or at Fahal Island (which is where we went).

I was very excited to go to Fahal Island or "Shark Island" as it is referred to typically.  This is not because of sharks there.  In fact, we didn't see any sharks.  Children have taken to calling it Shark Island because it looks a bit like a shark sitting in the water way off Shatti beach.

Getting near the island!  Yes, my dad will always represent Georgia Tech.

Stephen preparing to submerge.  Poor guy didn't feel good, so he only dove once.

Passing the Sultan's palace.  You can't go inside, so you might as well enjoy the view from the water.

We dove with Octopus Diving Center, but if I were to go again, I would choose to dive with Euro Divers instead.  Despite the name, Octopus does not have a dive center.  We met and filled out paperwork on the boat.  We did not know this going into the day.  Because they operate off the boat, they cannot take credit cards.  And because we didn't know this, and poor Stephen was driving all over the place looking for the "closest" ATM to get cash after our dive.  By the way, the closest ATM is not close.  Luckily, a coffee shop had recently opened at the marina so my dad and I drank a couple of coffees each while we waited for Stephen to return.  Other issues included having us get suited up before the pre-dive talk which caused 2 to get sick and 2 more to get nauseous.  And the gear seemed hodgepodge.  Some of the tanks were not compatible with our equipment, and I didn't even have a depth gauge as part of my equipment.  I wasn't too concerned since I don't go below the dive master and neither dive was deep, but still sketchy.

But in the water, the dive was great!  We wore full suits, and I was shivering on the second dive.  Our dive was in March, and I believe that peak season actually starts in April.  I'm sure the water is warmer in the true summer months.  There was more coral than my dad expected.  He had low expectations after diving in the Canary Islands.  We saw the largest eel I have ever seen, and it was fully out of the rock!  We saw a couple of rays.  One we startled, and he swam away with the sand he was buried under still on top of him.  We also saw some Omani clown fish that are unique to this region.  They are bigger and darker than Nemo.  (Hmmm... what name should we give to Omani clown fish?)  And so many fish!  We seemed to start in a large school of fish.  There were fish that were always in pairs, puffer fish, and this cool fish with a shredded tail.  As we were diving, it occurred to me that this was a brand new diving experience for me in a new ocean with completely different fish.  Here, lion fish are welcome as they have natural predators (unlike in the Caribbean).

One of our rays.  The picture does not do his size justice.

The ray we startled, still swimming off covered in sand.  Plus, see all the fish!

There were some of these submerged vessels for encouraging coral growth.

Our giant eel, except he looks tiny in this picture.  His head was easily a foot in diameter.

Omani clown fish in their anemone.

This beautiful, blue fish had a really unique, shredded tail.  Sorry about the coloring on this picture, though.

Probably the largest puffer fish I have seen in the wild.  I shall call him Hagrid after Harry Potter and a puffer fish at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi where I got the idea.