In the past, I've been diving in Muscat (semi-Northern Oman) and the Musandam Peninsula (very-Northern Oman in the Straits of Hormuz), but I've never been diving in Southern Oman. South Oman is supposed to have a very different ecosystem from the North. It is subject to the Kareef, a monsoon that blows in from around May to September. This brings heavy rain, big waves and relatively cold ocean upwellings. The water gets cold enough (low 20 degrees Celsius) for kelp to grow. During this time, the coastline is mostly undiveable due to the dangerous ocean conditions. I was in Salalah (near the border with Yemen at the Southern end of Oman) in mid-April which is near the end of the diveable season. I went out for a couple of dives on April 12, 2019. The diving here is usually done from shore near the town of Mirbat (about an hour drive North of Salalah). I booked a day of diving with ABT Divers. We drove to Mirbat, dodging groups of camels on the highway. At Mirbat, the paved road ended and we continued along a rough dirt track for about another 20 minutes to Eagle Bay.
Visibility near the beach was pretty low, but farther out it improved to about 30-40' on the first dive (when I took video) and only 15-20' on the second dive (when I took these pictures) because of a plankton bloom brought in by a current. Water temps were 26 degrees in the shallows and 23 degrees below a thermocline at 30' deep. Our maximum depth was around 50'.
