Musandam – the edge of Arabia

 
“It looks like they are coming back to the surface now – the lights are getting brighter!” The words of the Divemaster disturbed the perfect silence. For the past ten minutes, we had been sitting quietly in the darkness onboard the speedboat, following the lights moving along the cliffs, some ten or fifteen metres below the surface. “Let’s move the boat over and pick them up”.

I had arrived at the anchored liveaboard dive boat an hour or so earlier, just as the divers were getting ready for their night dive. Having spent almost an hour travelling by speedboat on this chilly February evening, I felt at little cold when I arrived, so I turned down the Divemasters invitation to join in the night dive.

Watching the divers returning to the surface now, I regretted that decision and wished that I had gone with them. We were after all in Musandam, and with the best diving in the Arabian region on offer, I should have joined them. But then, we had a full days diving ahead of us in the morning, so I would get my share of time underwater the next day. That is the advantage of going on a liveaboard dive trip.  It does not matter if you sit out a dive or two – there is always another good dive coming up, so you can take it easy and relax a bit.

Back at the “mothership” dinner was just about ready, so all divers would quickly sort out their equipment, grab a hot shower and meet in the dining salon, which is this case meant the top sundeck of the boat. Being new to the group, having joined only on the trips second day, the usual diver-to-diver introductions were done away with, and everyone dived into the buffet the boats two cooks had spent most of the afternoon preparing. Salads, rice, curries, breads and grilled fish. Yum!

Over dinner I learned about the days diving, which had been excellent. The boat, known as the “Al Marsa Brown Dhow”, a modern fibreglass version of a traditional Arabian dhow, had left port the previous evening, cruising overnight to the very tip of the Musandam peninsula in order for the divers to sample the exciting diving this remote region has to offer. Over the course of the day, the boat had then moved south from dive site to dive site and, in the early evening, anchored up for the night in the sheltered fjord of Khor Hablayn.

It was a perfect night. No wind, calm seas and not a cloud in sight and with the rugged mountains growing straight out of the sea, towering thousands of feet above us, it was easy to forget that, if you really wanted to, you could be in around-the-clock bustling Dubai within three hours! But who would want that. This was a completely different world – and a much better one!

The following day was dominated by the dive-eat-sleep-suntan-dive again routine that prevails on most liveaboard dive trips, all while the boat was moving slowly in southerly direction, back towards its base port of Dibba. 

After the final dive of the day, and unfortunately also the final meal, we could see the rugged mountains give way to flat land in the distance and everyone slowly started to adapt to being back in the real world. Accumulated text messages beeping in on our mobile phones, while checking for items such as wallets and cardkeys, for which there had been no use during the past days.

Diving the Musandam is a truly amazing and very different experience which I would recommend to any diver visiting the region. There are daytrips available, but if you have the time, a liveaboard is the best option.

Boat operator Al Marsa operates both daytrips and liveaboards for groups and individuals, and non-divers are most welcome. Al Marsa can be contacted on the following:

www.musandamdiving.com