Oman Diving January 31, 2005
Posted by Mark Gilmour in : Dive Reports, Scuba diving abroad , trackbackOman January 2005 Dive Report.
One of the reasons we chose Al Sawadi Beach Resort as our destination was because of the dive centre on site which dived the nature reserve The Daymaniyat Islands.  There are a multitude of spellings for Daymaniyat. The dive centre goes with Dimaniyat so that’s what we’ll go with. Dimaniyat Divers operate from the private beach of the resort and so we found out over the 10 days we were there, they were subject to any weather front coming in from the North over Iran. It just so happened that for most of the time we were there, there was a weather front looming over Oman from the North. So our most productive day’s worth of diving ended up being our first day.
Saturday 22nd January 2005Â
You can’t complain too much when your first dive of the year is in temperatures of 23 degrees and 15m visibility and this was poor weather in Oman.
Our first dive was to the aptly named Police Island amongst the Dimanyat Islands, nicknamed such as it houses a small police station to watch over the nature reserve.
We meet at the dive centre at 8am and proceeded to check in and get the low down on the procedures at the dive centre. At about 8.30 the old beat up and battered blue Series 1 Landrover pick up made it’s way up the beach with a puncture. Half an hour later it reappeared with a fully inflated tyre ready to load our gear on to take down to the boat on the beach. As there is not jetty as Landrover would go out slightly into the surf and then the crew would load the gear onto the boats. Our boat for the day was the twin-engineed Noora. The largest dive boat ran by the centre. Her sister boat had been capsized overnight just a few days previous and had been recovered onto the beach. Noora easily swallowed up the six divers, one instructor and two boat crew that made up our party. We made our way out to the islands about 30 minutes down the coast.Â
The weather front from the north which would blight our diving had brought a plankton bloom to the area and so the normally clear blue water had a tinge of green to it, which made me feel right at home. As a result there was an abundance of aquatic life on the reefs.  After kitting up in the lull of one of the small bays of the island we dropped in on to the Police Run reef on the north of the island.Â
Exiting the boat from the rear step we descended to about 10m and made our way along the reef from West to East gradually descending to 15m. This was my first opportunity to use our new camera and housing setup. Following many recommendations we had gone for the Olympus 5050 and housing and judging by some of the pictures, it had turned out to be a really good buy. Being the first dive with it, it took a little while getting used to it but on the whole we are pleased with some of the shots.
On this dive we managed to spot some large moray eels, in particular one big lardy fella who was not being moved from his perch on the back on a large boulder at the base of the reef. Also spotted on this dive, we saw Puffer Fish, Clownfish, Trigger Fish, a shoal of Squirrel Fish perusing through the hard coral of the reef.
Our second dive of the day was also on Police Island but on the West side of the island, slightly sheltered from the prevailing weather from the north. This was a 40 minute dive to 16m on the Hyat Reef. After an hour and half on the surface enjoying Sarnies and drinks provided by Samir our guide from the centre, we kitted back up and waited our turn to get in. This time, we were first in. Quick check on the surface and down we went. Roger took the lead and we descended straight down to 14m. We gently made our way up and down the reef investigation touching 16m after about 10 minutes. The water was a barmy 23degrees which just felt fabulous having come from 3deg back home in the UK.Â
Our main encounter on this dive was another large moray this time nestled within the hard coral. We managed to get a couple of pretty good pics of him. Also we managed to catch a glimpse of a relative swimming freely, something I had not seen before. Roger continued to lead on this dive as we made our way around the point of the island. As we came towards the point the reef started to shallow towards 10m and at the point itself was about 6m. After a few minutes Roger gave us the sign that it was time to ascend as he was down to 30 bar.Â
After waiting for what seemed like hours but in reality was probably only 10minutes for the others in the group to surface, we started the boat ride back. Normally should only take 40 minutes, but unfortunately on the way back one of the engines threw a rod and that was that, we putted back on a single engine. At least we didn’t have to row or swim.
Night Dive  Click here for the description of islands
Lisa and I weren’t finished for the day. Alison, a South African Expat, regular diver with Dimanyiat Divers and resident turtle spotter, managed to convince the dive centre to go again that evening for a night dive. It would be my first experience of diving at night.
Roger and Mary took care of the children and Lisa and I headed back down to the dive centre to meet the others at 5pm. We eventually boarded Dimaniyat Divers second boat Tomhal, as Noora was now out of order and would be for the duration of our stay. The sun was just starting to set as we headed out of the shelter of the beach and the Sawadi Islands towards the Dimaniyat Islands. By the time we arrived at Junn Island the first of the set, it was already dark. The night was clear so we could see all the stars and the almost full moon glistened on the surface of the water. We kitted up quickly and over we went. We stayed as a group together, making our way down to 12m first of all then coming off the ledge of the reef down to 18m. We made our way along the West Wall of Junn Island, spotting trigger fish, a large spiny sea slug who marched back into his lair when the torch light hit him. We also came across and not for the last time a large Lobster. At first I wasn’t sure it was a lobster as he had no claws, just huge great long tentacles reaching forward but he stayed and posed for a couple of pictures before we moved on.Â
Unfortunately the excitement of my first night dive proved too much and in what felt like no time I was down to 50 bar, by the time we surfaced a little ahead of the others I was at 40bar. I wish I could of made it last a bit longer. Something to work on. In the end our dive time was 38 minutes. I think Lisa still had nearly 100 bar left.
We all headed back very content, it had been a good days diving, unfortunately the weather turned and it would be another 4 days before we could get in the water again.
Wednesday 26th January
After the successful days diving on the Saturday we had booked to dive again on the Monday, unfortunately mother nature played her hand and diving on the Monday and Tuesday was binned at Sawadi. It was also binned on the Wednesday aswell but by this time we were not happy, so we phoned down to Oman Dive Centre in Muscat to see if they were diving as they had their own sheltered bay to launch from. Thankfully they were so an afternoon dive was arranged for those of us who had been due to go out from Sawadi.Â
We piled into the Land Cruiser and headed the 80km down to Muscat to Oman Dive Centre. We arrived around 1pm and got ourselves sorted and booked in to go at 2.30pm. Our dive site for the day was at the end of their bay on their house reef called Jissah Point.Â
Again most of the dive was spent around the 12m mark occasionally dropping down to 14m. Our main find of this dive was the group of lionfish hanging underneath a large boulder allowing us time to compose a picture that even I didn’t manage to blur. But also Lisa spotted a small Electric ray sat on the seabed, just waiting. Not a large swimming ray but still a ray none the less. Also on this dive we saw a couple of huge Parrot fish, about 2 foot in size, agile enough for me not to be able to get a decent picture but a lot bigger than the ones we had seen at the Dimaniyats.
After again 40minutes it was time to surface, my computer beeping telling me I had no time left at that depth with the air I had left.Â
Back on the boat, it was straight back to the dive centre to pack up our gear and head back to Sawadi.
Thursday 27th January
Again the weather scuppered our plans on this day. We were due to dive with Neil Bedwin (from YD) and ROHSAC, at PDO in Muscat. Unfortunately the weather dealt us the blow of the winchman not allowing the boats to be launched. So a quick phone call to Oman Dive Centre and we were on, they would take the boat out with just Lisa and I. So our own private Charter.Â
The first dive of the day was to Wall Street a little down the coast, but sheltered on a channel coming in of the main headland.Â
We dropped off the boat and in relative calm water at 6m, visibility was quite good considering the swell and the way the sea had been roughed up for the past couple of days. We glided over the reef towards the point of the reef where it would turn north and drop down to 22m, at about 16m and 12 or so minutes into the dive, Lisa lent on an urchin whilst trying to get my attention. Even though she was wearing a 7mm semi dry some of the stings still managed to penetrate her suit so that every time she finned she would be stung again. Reluctantly we turned the dive round and headed back to the boat, we were sure we would have spotted turtles on that dive but it was better to be safe than sorry. So we headed back and Lisa took off her suit so that we can rinse it through and get rid of the stings. Also Kalil our boat driver and surface support, sorted out some anti-histamine and before long we were heading back to the dive centre to drop off the 2 open water divers and their dive instructor. Lisa changed her suit with one kindly lent by Oman Dive Centre and then it was kit up and back out for our second dive.
This was probably our most successful dive in terms of dive time, as we were able to dive for 55 minutes. The dive was mainly at 11m which meant fairly good vis with lots of coral. Sadly we saw no turtles. We hunted high and low amongst the soft coral and there were huge beds of it, for the elusive turtle that we not seen on the dive trip thus far.Â
Along the dive we came across a trigger fish that had been caught up in a stray fishing net which had broken from the fishing grounds that by the end of the dive we had wandered into, (we weren’t warned to expect that in the dive brief). The first opportunity to actually use a dive knife, unfortunately it looked like we were too late, although he had been struggling when we found him.Â
After a good 55 minutes in the water, I was again low on air and we needed to end the dive, I am pretty sure Lisa could have gone on another 10 or 15 minutes. I am sure she has gills. So we headed to 5m for our stop , it is much more interesting passing the time amongst soft coral at 5m than it is waiting midwater.Â
Then it was back on the boat and the short ride back to the dive centre. Once back on the beach and the kit all washed through, Lisa and I joined in with some beach volleyball with some local. A great way to pass the time waiting for the kit to dry before we packed up and headed back to Muscat and on back to Sawadi.
Saturday 29th January. Â Â Click here for the description of islands
Our final day of diving was also affected by the weather. We had planned two dives out at Police Island again, to try and spot those turtles, but the weather was closing in and it looked fairly ominous. Anyway, in we went on our first dive. Because of the weather we went to the closest of the Dimaniyat Islands, Junn Island. We ended up diving the West Wall again, the same dive we had done for our night dive. Unfortunately no turtles again, but we did come across the Lobster again that we spotted on the night dive, and also Puffer fish. We did however meet a number of Lionfish, two that looked to be either fighting or courting. Who can tell these days eh!! Most of this dive was spent around the 16-18m mark and we did manage to get 47minutes of dive time before the sound of rain on the surface and the sound of the engine signalling the recall called us back to the boat. It had started thundering and lightning. Unfortunately our Omani counterparts are just not used to rain and our diving for the day and then for the holiday was over. To make matters worse, Roger had ended up on the other boat which dived a different part of the island and saw five turtles. Lisa was not at all happy. I would also have liked to have seen them but hey ho, just have to go back!!!!!
Our thanks to Abdullah, Samir and Richard at Dimaniyat Divers and also Michael and the team at Oman Dive Centre who were fantastic in accommodating us at short notice. And if Alison, Sarah, Oliver, Tanja, Helmut & Angelika happen to stumble across this website and read this, it was great to dive you guys, you certainly made it fun as we waited for the weather to pass.
 Whilst we did not get to see all that Oman has to offer in terms of diving, if you pardon the pun, our appetite was wetted to return and experience it again. We would recommend it as a location for a dive holiday, but not too much as we don’t want too many people going and spoiling the vis 
Comments»
[…] Originally Posted by NeilB Ah, ha……literally next door to me. A 5 min walk down the beach. Yannick at Global Scuba is probably the best bet then Diving in Oman he is a 10 min drive away but does pick up at the hotel. The weather can be rough in Jan so you may not make it to the Damaniyats but Fahal is a good backup. Give me a PM closer to your arrival day for all the latest info. Neil As Neil says… we were over there a couple of years ago in January. The Daymaniyats can be stunning. I wrote a trip report on my blog. Mark’s Diving Journal » Oman Diving Mark __________________ Now known as Muppet son of a pikey diver…….. thanks… Experience is something you get, just after you need it Can’t touch this… My Diving Blog / YD Fantasy Football 2006/07 table / My other Blog / Linked In Profile […]