Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
UK-based dive company with a representative in Jeddah. It can arrange most types of
diving.
Equipment can be hired per day (regulators and BCDs SR20 to SR30) although it's be-
coming easier to buy in Saudi. Jeddah has a decompression chamber.
Where to Dive
Jeddah
There are more than 50 dive sites and a number of wrecks (accessible even to inexperien-
ced divers) reached by day boats operated by local dive clubs.
A colourful selection of hard and soft corals.
Offering a good variety of smaller reef fish, including Anthea, sergeant major, large-sized
trevally jack, kingfish and Spanish mackerel.
During the season there are yellow fin, rays, moray eels and turtles.
Yanbu
Lies 230km north of Jeddah.
Boasts outstanding visibility (34m to 40m average).
Hammerheads found at deeper depths (from around 40m).
Wide variety of fish including Napoleon wrasse, blue-spotted rays, moray eels and turtles.
Al-Lith
Lies 180km south of Jeddah.
Giant bumphead parrot fish are a major draw.
Sharks (grey, white-tip and black-tip mainly) seen all year, others (hammerhead chiefly)
during winter.
Large variety of hard and soft corals as well as coloured sponges and sea whips.
Currently, the only accommodation is at
Ahlam Marina & Resort
(
07-733 4112; cabins per night
SR300)
, with a restaurant and a fishing and dive shop.
Other attractions include caverns, caves and islands used as nesting sites by leatherback
and green turtles, and excellent birdlife (including sooty gulls, blue legged boobys, white-
eyed gulls, little bitterns, crab plovers, goliath herons, night herons, pelicans, flamingos,
ospreys and sooty falcon).
Farasan Islands
Lies 40km off Jizan, 722km from Jeddah.
Though visibility is not always perfect, waters around the Farasan Islands can offer the
most spectacular diving of all - the nutrients and plankton attract large pelagic species in-
cluding whales, whale sharks and mantas and on the drop-offs, many hammerheads.
CHILDREN
