Yanboq Under Water

Saudi Diving Academy

2009-04-25T10:19:00.001-07:00

Saudi Diving Academy is one of many academy that offers various diving course. This shop is located at Al-Semairi, Yanbu Al-Sinaiyah, Saudi Arabia.This academy is owned by Sheikh Muhammad Fauzi and assisted by his son, Sheikh Abdul Kader. My two daughters had recently got an Open Water Diving License from this academy.

Santana, the shop assistant is always there for any query. He himself is a diver. Another assistant is Husein who is always helpful in preparing our gear for diving.

Among various courses that are being offered here includes:-

Open Water Diver
Advance Open Water Diver
Junior Open Water Diver (for children 12 years old and above)
Specialties Open Water - Night Diving, Underwater photographer, Wreck Diving, Deep Diving etc
Rescue Diver - Divemaster

In addition to this, there is also Discover Scuba Diving for those who want to have taste how it feels under water at depth of may be 20 to 30 feet.

Open Water Diver License is your first step to explore the amazing underwater world. This course is only the beginning to a world of discovery and adventure.

A summary of the Open Water Course would be:
5 Theory sessions in the classroom with the aid of the Open Water Videoand Manual and involves some quizzes and a Final Exam;
5 Confined Water sessions in the shallow water or in the swimming pool where you learn to perform some scuba skills (eg. clearing your mask);
4 Open Water Dives - 2 dives off the beach to a maximum of 12 metres and 2 dives off the boat to a maximum of 18 metres, where you'll need to performsome of the skills you would have learnt during the Confined Watersessions; and
A Waterskills Assessment of a 200 metre swim (any style or a combinationof styles) OR a 300 metre snorkel swim with mask, fins and snorkel - notime limit, a 10 minute float on your back (easy!) and some skin diving.

Note: You don't have to be an exceptionally strong swimmer to dive, as long as you are comfortable in and around water.

My third dive in Red Sea

2009-02-20T10:42:00.001-08:00

It has been quite some time I didn't manage to go for a dive. Of course it was due to weather. The cold season just got over here in Yanbu. However, the last weekend I managed to get into the boat and walla.... only Daniel and I were to dive. Initially I was informed the dive master, Kapt Fauzi would be on the trip with his two other students but somehow he cancelled it. So, it was ended up that only myself and Daniel who flew from Riyadh just to get the taste of diving in Red Sea. We were accompanied by another local, Abdulrahman , but he only went for snorkelling to accompany the boat captain.

Anyway, Daniel and I managed to make 2 dives each lasted about 45 minutes. The first dive was not so great but the second one we got the chance to see a moray eel which as usual was hiding in between the corals. Moray eels swim moving side by side and are excellent hunters on coral reefs. Morays usually hide in the reef with just their heads sticking out. It would have been a real thrill we can watch it swims across the corals. Hmm... may be next time.

Unfortunately, most of the photos that I shot turned out to be hazy due to wrong setting! Poor me ... Anyhow, here are some photos which are not excellent at all.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Zuraili/WeekendDive

Discover Scuba at Al-Wasel 7

2008-11-13T20:57:00.000-08:00

This is the spot where my daughters have their first taste of scuba diving. The site was not that great but it was good enough for discover scuba, at least. The site was about 20 minutes by boat from marina RC. Discover Scuba is a first step for those who want to experience how it feels under water. If you do really like it, then you need to enroll for Open Water Scuba Diving Course. Upon successful completion of this course, you will become a licensed diver which will lead you to a new world under.

Moving out from Wasel 7, we went to Wasel 9. This site is much better and we managed to go down to 60 feet. Of course, my daughters didn't join More variety of fishes here as compared to Wasel 7, at least from what I saw. We were almost one hour down there diving through the corals.

For more photos under water, you may want to visit http://picasaweb.google.com/Zuraili/YanboqUnderWaterPt1

Al-Wasel 1

2008-10-24T07:38:00.000-07:00

We went to a spot which is located about half an hour boat journey. Amazing!!! It's a coral island in the middle of the Red Sea. Al-Wasel, that's the name where we went. Al-Wasel means a cluster of coral islands, meaning there are many coral islands surrounding the area and there are more than 10 diving spots just in that area.

Of course, these photos are not professionally taken.

We managed to make 2 dives, each dive took about 30 to 40 minutes with a depth down to 40 ft even though the area is about 60 ft deep. I had a problem with equalizing the pressure that I was not able to go further down. Anyway it was fantastic. The visibility was excellent. Unfortunately, the camera that Pok Lah brought has limited memory of 16 MB, so only a handful of photo shots were secured. Since the camera was a cheap one (SR300), the quality was not that excellent. Will buy the good one later, that's for sure.

The rest of the photos are at http://picasaweb.google.com/Zuraili/AlWasel1

YANBU DIVE SITES

2008-10-22T12:54:00.000-07:00

The city of Yanbu al Bahar , which in Arabic means “Yanbu by the Sea”, is located 300km North of Jeddah, on the same longitude as the Zabargad Islands in Egypt . Leaving the port of El Sharm several dive sites located in the stretch of sea between Al Hasani Island, north of Yanbu and Sha’ah al Abjad in the South can be reached. 8 miles to the West is the Gotha el Sharm reef , a first taste of this untouched sea with its magnificent coral sculptures still intact.

Close by, on the north side of the reef one can dive on the wreck of the Shouna. The epicentre of the cruise is the Seen Reefs complex, found approx. 27 miles from the departure port. Sha’ab al Markeb , Abu Sulul , Mansi , Tawil , Abu Galawa , Shabarir and Testes; each has its own unique characteristics but all have in common the spectacular surroundings and strong presence of large pelagic fish. These dives are considered to be among the best the Red Sea has to offer, clear waters, intact coral, steep walls and many pelagic fish that are becoming used to the presence of man.

Numerous hammerhead, longimanus, white and grey sharks swim freely and undisturbed in these waters. The cruise continues towards the northern reefs and the dives sites of sha’ab Gurush , sha’ab Suflani and sha’ab Sadiki , true coral atolls emerging from the blue depths. Dives around here are exceptional and the untouched atolls provide a fitting backdrop.

By: www.diving-world.com