Visit Date: September 2008

Did Martini rock and Dibba Rock on 21st Sept 2009.

Started out at 6am for a hour picking up everyone then a 2 hour or so trip to Fujeirah

I used my kit, apart from air and weights. Only bad points were that the cylinders had crossed up threads on them , 1 cylinder was completely hopeless, and the boat staff were replacing a lot of o-rings for some students on the boat completing their open water, with a big kitchen knife whilst on a boat. Hmm.. Buddy had air leaking from his HP hose to his pressure guage, so the kit could have been maintained better, and the cylinders need re-threading with a die-set. Some of us use DIN fittings so we should all think about the next diver when we kit up.

Currents at Martini Rock are strong - so you need to get down and out the current, amusing seeing the big schools of fish swaying around with you.

Dibba Rock is the jewel in the crown though - an awesome purple coral garden at about 8m with lots of little fish, turtles and some small reef sharks. If you've got a camera - take it here.

Divemaster was knowledgable - and he had this underwater whistle thing to grab attention - would love to know where you can buy them from.

I bought everyone an ice-cream on the way back to Dubai on the long trip back.

Girl behind me on the bus who was one of the students I think had a bad reverse squeeze - her sinuses were in agony by the time we got back to Dubai.

Personally I thought they were good dives and I had a good time. The kit could do with a tighten here, and a re-threading there.

The dive school provided washing facilities for divers and their kit.

Entry to the boat is from the shore/beach - so it's advisable to use a wet/mesh bag and not try and balance a big fat cargo bag on your head like me ! (gulp !)

Management Response from Al Boom Diving:

Hi from Al Boom Diving. Thanks for your comments. You will be glad to know that since your review, we have some great Aqua Lung dive kit available for our divers to rent, as well as a team of workshop technicians that are ensuring the highest maintenance levels of our dive gear. Dibba Rock is certainly a great dive site! The Musandam area is now accessible as well, with daily dives in this un-commercialised area. We look forward to seeing you back in the water soon! Thanks - The Al Boom Dive Crew

Visit Date: October 2008

Probably, a lot of people who have dived with Al Boom Diving have had a reasonable experience, but I am afraid, not me.

I decided to do a 2 dive package on the East Coast. I was picked up from my hotel at 5.20am and returned at 11.00pm. Nearly 18 hours to do 2 dives, although I was told that I would be back for 7.30pm. The trip to Dibba (Oman) is about 2 hours each way. Not a problem and I am not complaining about this.

At Dibba, we boarded the Dhow for another 2 hour trip to Lima Rock. On the trip, we were asked to complete a form detailing our certifications and medical history etc. Some divers had their cards checked, but neither me nor my buddy. We could have put anything down. We arrive at Lima Rock and the group of 20 divers are going to be split into 4 groups, but it is a scrum, with everyone trying to get prepared at the same time. Why they cannot organise that one group at a time kit up, I don't know.

We are in the water now, with Junior, and descend to 35 metres with visibilty of 2-3 metres. We saw nothing apart from a shoal of Barracuda at the end of the dive. Junior cut the dive short because of the current and we ascended to deco and then surface and find that we are in the open sea probably just under a mile from Lima Rock.

Junior starts to panic as we cannot see the dhow or dive boats. He tries to raise his DSMB without success. We take it from him and raise it. He tries to blow his whistle, which he must have got from a Christmas Cracker. We saw the boats occasionally, but spent an hour bobbing around in quite a strong swell. All the time, he is saying "This is a disaster que dios me ayuda". Well after an hour God must have heard him, as we were spotted by the dive boat and picked up. Apparantly, he got his directions wrong. We should have dived with Lima Rock on our left, not on our right. Simple understanding on how to use a compass would have told him that and a better dive briefing would have been helpful.

The second dive was meant to be at Lima Rock, but they felt it was getting too rough, so we dived Ras Lima, which went fine, but there was not much to see.

The problem here is that they are using some Filipino dive masters, who have probably completed their certification in double quick time, but do not actually have much open water diving experience. The second problem we found out is that the dive masters have to supply their own safety equipment. Therefore, the reason for the Christmas Cracker whistle. According to one of the other dive masters, Al Boom Diving do not supply any safety equipment, the Dive Masters have to buy it themselves - so bring your own. Also, on the Dhow, there was no fresh water to clean your kit or yourself.

In fairness to Al Boom Diving, they realised the problem they had caused, acted quickly and refunded the costs of the dives and 2 additional ones we were going on, but cancelled.

Management Response from Al Boom Diving:

Hi from Al Boom Diving, I see that your review was written in 2008, thanks for the feedback, we do value it in improving the service to our divers. You will be glad to hear that we have a earlier schedule and a later schedule running now, and the day takes no more than 12 hours - including the transfer time from Dubai to Fujairah or the Musandam area of Oman. We run a dhow trip and speedboat trip in the Musandam, enabling divers to explore this un-commericialised area. We are also partnered with the Golden Tulip Resort in Dibba, with great dive and stay packages - as well as discount for divers on the food and bev. From April to September we are expecting to see migrating whale sharks in the area. We hope to see you in the water soon! The Al Boom Dive Crew

Visit Date: October 2008

Very friendly

Skill of dive masters in view of orientation has to be improved!

Relying on own skills and orientation the trip became a success.

Management Response from Al Boom Diving:

Hi from the Al Boom Dive Crew - Thank you for your feedback, we do always value comments on how we can improve our service. Our dive crew undergo continuous training to ensure that they deliver quality information on the local diving, and safety and enjoyment are our top priorities. We do hope to see you again, so that you can re-evaluate the dive experience with Al Boom Diving. See you in the water! The Al Boom Dive Crew