Our Al Aqah PADI PIRA Gold Palm Resort dive centre is based within the Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort on a two kilometer stretch of pristine beach on the UAE’s East Coast.

This brand new, purpose built dive center has quickly taken the role as the leading dive operation in the UAE. The facilities include retail shop, air-conditioned classroom, changing rooms and showers, full equipment rental and equipment cleaning facilities.

The center offers the full range of PADI courses as well as daily dive trips to either the local dive sites or Musandam.

The center also caters for snorkelers and can arrange anything from a short trip to a local site to a full day snorkeling in Musandam.

Divers and snorkelers from outside the hotel are welcome to join our trips, but why not combine your dive trip with a stay at the Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort. The resort offers packages that include diving and accommodation. Check it out on www.lemeridien-alaqah.com

Martini Rock – Situated in Khorfakkan this is a site that can be dived “anytime, any place, anywhere”! Large submerged rock pinnacle with max depths reaching 20m on the deepest side, shelving up to 12m in parts. This is a marine protected area as the rock is covered in soft corals such as black coral, whip coral and soft pink tree corals. Most divers immediately notice the amount of moray eels, lionfish and scorpion fish, they can be found everywhere on the rock. This is a good place to spot turtles as well as schools of snappers, triggerfish and pick handle barracuda.  The top of the rock rises to within 5m of the surface so makes for a very good profile as you can make a nice safety stop at the end of the dive.

Inchcape 2 (Wreck) – This was a decommissioned crew boat which was sunk in 2001 to make an artificial reef. The wreck was donated by Inchcape Shipping services and now lies in 22m of water, upright, and with her bow facing north. The amount of life on the wreck is amazing and what’s even more amazing is that the anti fouling is still like new! Here you can see schools of striped eel catfish, lizard fish, porcupine puffer fish, blue lined snappers and jacks. There is a nice variation of soft corals and this site makes for a very colorful night dive for more experienced divers.

Sharm Rocks – About 5 minutes boat drive from Le Meriden Al Aqah Resort lie three rocky outcroppings not far from the town of “Sharm”. The site ranges from 12 – 6m meters depth but is also a protected area and as such has a very high concentration of marine life. You can swim around the rocks or through the sand channels finding all sorts of fish like stingrays, trevalley,  squirrel fish and bi color parrotfish. We get small black tip reef sharks and occasional eagle rays which also make it a great place for snorkelers.

Inchcape 1 (Wreck) – Another wreck donated by Inchcape Shipping to make a dive site. This one lies about 5 minutes boat ride directly out from the hotel and max depth reaches 32m. She is laying upright with her bow facing south, and is fully intact. This is probably the best site in the area and can be quite challenging due to strong currents depending on the tide. First thing to notice is the huge school of snappers covering the wreck and the large jacks and trevalley patrolling the wreck. We have a resident Giant honeycomb moray which lives in an old AC unit, his name is Fred and he makes a good subject as a photo opportunity. There are sometimes very big cowtail stingrays and yellow fin barracuda as well as red snappers, trumpet fish, file fish and scorpion fish.

Dibba Island -  Dibba is the last fishing town before you reach the Musandam, and Dibba Island probably the most popular site for both diving and snorkeling. Depths range from 15m along the wall to 3m close to the rock itself, there is a huge amount of hard coral to be found here including table corals, porous mountain corals, brain coral and a large field of raspberry rice coral. We have seen just about everything here including black tip sharks, eagle rays, devil rays, guitar sharks, stingrays. There are too many reef fish to mention as well as 56 resident turtles which can be found sleeping in nests on the rice coral field. This is also a well protected area, so fishing, collecting shells, touching marine life is prohibited.             

Opening hours: Daily 09.00 to 18.00

Tel: +971 (0)9 204 4925

Fax:+971 (0)9 204 4912




Email:abdiving@emirates.net.ae