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Diving the UAE
17 September 2025
The the UAE coastline borders the Arabian or Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Much of the diving is on the Fujairah coast, in the east.
Best time to dive the UAE?
The best time to dive the United Arab Emirates is from October to May, but you can dive all year round. Water temperatures range from 22 oC in January to 32 oC in August. July and August are very hot, especially on the west coast, and visibility is lower then.
For Whale sharks you are more likely to see them from March to June in the Gulf of Oman (east coast). Manta rays occasionally visit during plankton blooms in July and August. Turtles next in spring and early summer but you see them year-round. For macro photography of nudibranchs and the like, go for the clearer water of winter.
Snorkeller and whale shark by Paul Flandinette
Travelling to the UAE
Your passport should be valid for a minimum period of 6 months from the date of entry into the UAE. If you have a valid or expired Israeli visa or stamp in your passport, you should not face difficulties entering the UAE as long as you do not plan to work. Check the requirements with the UAE embassy of your country. Books and magazines may be inspected and censored on entry. You must get approval in advance from the UAE Ministry of Health to bring medication.Dive Sites of the UAE
" In the UAE, the better dive sites are: Sharm Rocks, Energy Determination wreck (used to be world's biggest tanker) and a few other notable ones - ask a local diver. Tourists, please be advised that if you ever need a dive chamber in the UAE, you are going to struggle. The only way to get one, is to phone around the offices of the ship-repair companies, and try to "bum" and beg the use of their chamber. There are no readily accessible chambers for the public. And forget about having a chopper evac you "DAN" style- it likely ain't gonna happen, Ace! If you bend, the likely scenario is that you'll be sitting inside your hotel room for hours on end, waiting for a locally-based recreational diver to "beg" a chamber-time favor on your behalf from his informal contact network in the ship-repair industry. "
Dale
Reviews:
" Three Big Rocks lying underwater with Teddy Bear corals. The best dive site in UAE. Many different kind of fishes in the marine life like Snappers, pufferfish, honeycomb morey eel, yellowmouth moray eel, etc. Try to look at the deep site on the rock, you will find a couple of beautiful nudibranch or if you are lucky, you will see also sea turtle on the surface or underwater. "
Sys
"Snoopy Island is an idyllic dive site in Fujeirah. Opportunity to see Black Tip Reef sharks, turtles, and sting-ray. Deeper dives available - but round the island great for a first timer!
We stayed at Sandy Beach Motel - cheap friendly and much more hygienic than the youth hostel! Ask for a sea view! Dive centre is next door. Perfect for a relaxing weekend break to get away from the hubbub of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Professional and fun diving."
Kathryn Harter
"Snoopy Island is a little island about 150 to 200 m out to sea. You can walk to it at low-tide. It's a nice, safe little place for newly licensed Open Water divers, or, for those seeking an easy "sun-bathing and dive day" at the beach. By no means, though, can it be descibed as a "top dive". I have dived Red Sea often, as well as Sipadan and Maldives, and Snoopy Island, although a pleasant little place, is probably about 45% as good as a place like Yolanda Reef in the Red Sea. You cannot even put the names on the same page!
Let's get real: with the average depth being around 10 m, you just don't see pelagics, and, the reef is nothing to write home about either. It might make it into the Top 500 dive-sites if you're lucky. Please forget about diving anywhere in summer (June to August), unless you can handle daily outside tempaeratures of not less than 45 degrees centigrade, and humidity that fogs your sunglasses.
Try diving a place called the Musandam, which is a province of a neighbouring country called Oman - a few minutes boat ride further along the same coast as Snoopy Island. Now THAT is incredible diving! Dolphin sightings are frequent, and the diversity of sea-life could get a few of the Musandam's dive sites into the Top 100 in my humble opinion.
In the UAE, the better dive sites are: Sharm Rocks, Energy Determination wreck (used to be world's biggest tanker) and a few other notable ones - ask a local diver. "
Dale
Reviews:
"A wide range of exciting dive sites a few hours away. Pelagics as well as the reef species. "
Richard
Reviews:
"A very accessible, fairly shallow, small wreck site, but with luck you can find sea horses, frogfish, nudibranch and rays along with the more routine morays, and reef fish. "
Richard
Frogfish. Tim Nicholson
Reviews:
"It's a strange location to try and boast as a number 1 dive site however if you want a dive location that should guarantee over the course of a week the following, then go to Dibba Rock. Visibility is never brilliant - mostly OK. Mantas, Rays, Black tip and grey reef sharks, Whale sharks, All the usual tropical fish in huge abundance plus massive shouls of barracudas, snappers, trevallies. Loads of turtles, cuttle fish, and more. I dived Fujeurah for years - never really appreciating it until I clocekd up hundreds of dives around the world. Fujeirah itself has little to offer - but hey you're only there for the diving. Check out Freestyle divers in Fujeirah."
Brendan Coote
Three pinnacles from 5 to 18 m. Soft corals, usually good visibility, many fish, turtles.
An enormous wreck of a Liberian supertanker.On 13 December 1979 she suffered a large explosion as she passed through the Strait of Hormuz, breaking in two.
The ship lies on the seabed at over 80 m. The wreck is covered in soft corals. The marine life is larger than elsewhere, including large marble rays.
UAE Diving Operators
Have you dived in the UAE? Review the diving centred you used.
Al Boom Diving
Jumeriah Dive Center
Villa 254
33rd Street
Al Wasl Road
Jumeirah 1
Dubai
United Arab Emirates
Tel: (+971) 04 342 2993
[email protected]
P.O. Box 120961
Inside Dubai Marine Beach Resort & Spa
United Arab Emirates
Tel: +971 54 444 6088
Email
604 Al Wasl Rd
Jumeirah
Jumeirah 3
Dubai
United Arab Emirates
Tel: +971 4 3210 104
Email
Inside Emirates
Palace Marina Entrance
Security Gate 3,
Al Ras Al Akhdar Area
West Corniche
UAE
Tel: +971 50 141 3255, +971 2 246 8243
Email
Al Dana Villas
Villa #244
Sharm
Dibba Al Fujairah
United Arab Emirates
Tel: +971 56 5671110
Email
Hay Al Sharq
Sharjah
United Arab Emirates
Tel: +971 52 428 9897
Email
Further Reading
Secret Seas - Discover Oman's Unique Underwater World
- by Paul Flandinette and Michel Claereboudt, Mazoon Publishing, 240 Pages, Hardback (2021)
Featuring 195 photos and 160 species, this beautiful coffee table book shows Order from the author, Paul Flandinette.
Reef Fishes of Oman
- by Richard Field, 2013, 99 pages, e-book for Kindle
Photographic reference guide helps divers identify the reef-dwelling fishes of the UAE. Well-written, it tells you exactly what you need to know to identify the fish in the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of the UAE and Arabian Sea. A snip at just 5.99 Euro. You can also download this as an app from the apple store or as a a Kindle book.
Read our review of Reef Fishes of the UAE
Your Comments
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