Al Boom Diving, on the Gulf of Oman, Fujairah, United Arab Emirates
AL BOOM DIVING, OMAN, OCT 2013
Dive operator with attention to safety which I don't knock but one of my travel companions did not get to participate in the wreck dives because although he has logged a lot of deep dives and wrecks he was not Advanced Certified. They did offer a "resort" course and he could have gone with a designated guide but declined. The dive facility resides on the property of the beautiful LeMeridien Al Agah Beach Resort, Fujairah, UAE which is located on the east coast about 2 hours from Dubai which is on the west coast. Al Boom operates on both coasts and offers shuttle service from Dubai to Fujairah. I dove 4 dives over 2 days and we had about 30 feet of visibility which is good for this area and we were spared the surface current which is apparently common over the wrecks.
THE BOATS
It's a water entry from beach to boat and you do have to carry your personal gear. The boat sported twin 250's so it was quick on the flat water. There was not a designated camera bench nor rinse tank on the boat and although the crew of 2 and the captain were seaworthy I was not about to hand off my camera rig to them. We basically had the boat which would comfortably carry 10 divers to ourselves so there was planty of room.
THE WRECKS
The two wrecks are dove as a pair and are less than 30 minutes from the resort. The Inchape I is in 90 feet of pea green water until the visibility opened up over the wreck at about 30 feet. Certainly not the caribbean clear blue water I am use to diving. The Inchape II is shallower and rests in 60 feet of water. The wrecks were moderately covered with soft corals, sponges, polyps, and hydroids. The area remains in recovery from the red tide in the winter of 2008/2009 so we did not see much corals. There were lion fish, not shy here compared to Florida and the Carribbean where we hunt and eat them so much easier to photograph. The wrecks also hosted 3 frogfish, a variety of crinoids, a honeycomb moray, large Arabian angel fish, schools of small fish, and yellow snapper.
The following day we dove Dibba Rock and Sharm Rocks, again a smooth an under 15 minute ride. True to their names these two site were made up of large boulders with a moderate amount of coral growth. It was a pleasure to see many clown fish in a variety of anemonies. For me these dives were a side trip to stick another pin in the map while visiting family in Dubai, but it is not a bucket list destination.
