Daymaniyat Islands

Dive areas you may visit on this itinerary:

Fahal Island: Located approximately 4 km off the coast of Muscat, Fahal is a top dive site offering diverse marine life. Its bays are home to a wide variety of hard and soft corals, while the sandy bottom provides opportunities to spot sharks and stingrays. Another must-see on this trip is the wreck of Al Munassir at Bandar Khayran, where divers can encounter moray eels, lobsters, numerous nudibranchs, and large schools of fish.

Musandam: The waters surrounding Musandam and the Straits of Hormuz provide stunning coral reef diving with more than 30 dive sites. Plankton rich waters attract over 900 species of fish, ranging from cleaner wrasse through to whale sharks. The combination of plankton and strong local currents attract a great range of pelagic species, manta, eagle rays, dolphins, along with whale sharks. Mola Mola, sharks and many species of turtle can be encountered. Several cave systems provide hiding spots for spiny lobster, cleaner shrimp and other creatures, while the sandy cave bottoms provide the perfect daytime resting place for rays and sharks.

Daymaniyat Islands: The Daymaniyat Islands are the jewels for diving in the Gulf of Oman. This string of small, rocky islands north of Muscat are full of coral reefs down to 30m, with an abundance of marine life. Coral reefs cover up to 70% of the dive sites, with more than 100 different species of soft and hard coral, many of which are unique to Oman’s waters. Marine life is abundant with 280 different species of fish, varying from sting rays, turtles, moray eels, leopard sharks whale shark. Green sea turtles & hawksbill turtles are common residents of the Daymaniyat Islands. Bottlenose dolphins, spinner dolphins and sometimes humpback whales can also be encountered. The islands are a nature reserve and an important turtle nesting site as well as a sanctuary for migrating birds.

Commonly visited dive sites in the Daymaniyat Islands include:

Aquarium: The Pearl of the Daymaniyat Islands where you can see everything. Fish in their thousands; schools of jacks, snappers, batfish, barracuda, red-toothed triggerfish. The variety of species is large; huge stingrays and eagle rays, turtles, leopard sharks, endless moray eels, scorpion fish, seahorses and numerous nudibranchs, cuttlefish, squid, and whale sharks can be seen.

3 Sisters: Abundant soft corals, stingrays, moray eels, turtles, mola mola and sometimes leopard sharks pass by.

Garden of Eden: An idyllic landscape with huge blocks spangled with soft orange, purple and yellow soft corals.

June: Table corals, soft corals, colorful fish in the thousands.

Tito's Run: Shallow coral gardens where turtles and leopard sharks are often encountered.

Hayut:  A wall sloping down to 20m and a very good drift dive.  Honeycomb moray eels, stingrays, lion fish, turtles and barracuda are often seen.