UAE - Dubai, Fujairah

[K.Haroon]

Dubai has many dive centers, the most famous and reputable one being Al Boom Diving. First time I went diving with them was in May 2009. Apart from diving their dive center has some good stuff too when it comes to scuba shopping. Diving however is generally done on the eastern side of UAE i.e. Fujairah. The East Coast provides some of the best diving available in the U.A.E. Currents from the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea provide warmer waters and tropical fish. Al Boom Diving maintains a permanent centre on the East Coast at Le Meridien Al Aqah beach resort and offers a shuttle bus service from their Dubai dive centre.



In Dubai one can try The Mall's Dubai Aquarium and Discovery Centre, developed and operated by Oceanis Australia Group.


Photo Source: staticflickr.com

I went for their shark dive experience here in July 2009. This aquarium officially earned the Guinness World Record for the world's "Largest Acrylic Panel" (32.88 m wide × 8.3 m high × 750 mm thick and weighing 245,614 kg). The acrylic viewing panel is larger than Japan's Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium (22.5 m wide × 8.2 m high and 600 mm thick). Its 750 mm thick acrylic viewing panel can withstand pressure of 10 million litres of water used in the aquarium, but its transparency gives visitors clear views of marine animals on display. In February 2010, a leak in the aquarium caused a partial evacuation and brief shutdown of a portion of the mall. The ten million liter aquarium is one of the largest suspended aquariums in the world and home to more than 33,000 animals. There are over 400 sharks and rays in the tank, including the world’s biggest collection of Sand Tiger sharks. Other shark species include black-tip and white-tip reef sharks, zebra sharks, wobbegongs, grey reefs and nurse sharks. There are also many ray species in the aquarium including cow-nose rays, fan-tails, eagle rays, leopard rays, shave-nose rays and bowmouth guitarfish.