diving in dibba, oman

Large dhows beside small fishing boats

The small port at Dibba, Oman contains a variety of small motor boats and the larger dhow, or traditional boats, used for sailing and diving excursions on the Musandam coast.  Just 28 miles away lies Iran.  As you look across the landscape, pastel stucco buildings are flanked by grey concrete structures under construction, as far as you can see.  An entire city is springing from the ground simultaneously.

There is a small border checkpoint (but not formal border crossing) at Dibba as you cross from UAE to Oman.  Coffee skinned men with foreboding eyes beneath thick black eyebrows peer into your car, glance at your passport, and wave you onward.  In the older section of the small town, only men appear on the streets.  Their colorful head scarfs shield the burning sun.

View of port looking toward Dibba

Small village with mosque

We walked across a small fishing area to find our dhow for our dive trip.  It was at the end of a row of dhows, so we followed our South African guide Greg as he jumped from one to the next.  Cushions and pillows, situated around the perimeter of green artificial grass carpet, invited us to relax.  As our dhow slipped out of the port, we passed the varying beige colors the rocky mountains behind a small mosque and several low stucco houses, highlighted by the yellow rays of the sun.

The turquoise water of the Dibba port turned deep blue as we entered the Arabian Gulf.  Rocky limestone mountains met the sea throughout the entire journey.  Here and there a stunted tree defied the parched earth.

About an hour later, a blue inlet cut a neat circle into the mountain range;  at the far side was a small white sand beach and beyond it, a handful of concrete block shacks nestled into the mountain.  White crabs scurried across the sand and shot into holes.  A sea turtle glided through the shallow water.  Later, our guide would assert we should not assume the people living here were poor; they could make a couple thousand dollars per day selling tuna and other fish at the local port.  These traditionalists had chosen the simplicity of a life accessible only by boat over the comparatively bustling life of Dibba.

Fishing village at inlet, team learning dive skills near beach

I see Dory! (blue tang)

In this lovely place, we learned simple diving skills:  breathing with a regulator, removing and replacing the regulator, hand signals for communicating, removing water that leaked into the face mask.  Then we rode to the mouth of the inlet for a short dive in waves that bounced us up and down, then crashed against mountain rocks.  Under the thick, salty water, I saw a variety of sea urchins, angelfish, small jellyfish and a blue tang but their colors were muted.  I also saw an abandoned fishing net that looked like an igloo made out of rusted chicken wire - several blue fish swam inside.  It took me a little practice to figure out how to equalize my right ear and to move deeper in the water using full exhalations.   In the end, I managed to dive down about 8 meters.

We returned to port as the sun set.  In the deepening light, men milled about the port and the stench of fish hung in the heavy air.  They stared at us as we gathered our belongings and hurried back to our vans for the 3 hour ride back to Al Ain.  #ibmcsc uae

Learning dive skills, L to R:  Felipe (Columbia), Stephan (Germany),
Ritesh (India), me (US), Sheela (India)

Getting my certificate from instructors Greg (L) and Ryan (R),
both from South Africa

Corporate Service Corps UAE Team 2