Scuba Diving

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Surrounded by the shallow, warm waters of the Gulf on three sides, Qatar is a great place to learn to scuba dive. If you are an experienced diver, it will be easy to maintain your dive skills while in Doha; you can even continue your dive education with experienced PADI and NAUI instructors!

1 Getting Started
2 Gearing Up
3 Going Diving
4 Instructors

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Getting Started

There are several PADI and NAUI instructors in Doha. Choose your instructor carefully, ask to see their certification and make sure it is current. Word of mouth is a great way to find out more about the various instructors in Doha, their teaching styles, where they do their contained and open water exercises, etc. Prices for the PADI Open Water Diver course range from QR1000 - QR2000, including books, certification fees, and equipment rental. Don't sacrifice comfort-level with an instructor for the price of the course, it could mean the difference between liking or loving the sport -- it can also impact your perceived (and actual) safety in the water.

Alternatively, there is the Doha Sub Aqua Club, an active local branch of the British Sub Aqua Club. DSAC, which has been active in Qatar since 1977, organizes dives many weekends, and offers courses in the widely recognized BSAC certifications regularly, in addition to Skill Development Courses such as Advance Nitrox Diver, First Aid for Divers, Chart and Positioning Fixing, among others.. The club boasts more than 100 active diving members from different nationalities, and welcomes divers from other organizations. They meet every Tuesday evening at their clubhouse to talk about what's going on at the club, to arrange the weekend's diving and to generally socialize.

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Gearing Up

There are three dive shops in Doha, Qatar Divers (in the marina of the Marriott Hotel, 431-3331), Pearl Divers (on Al Merqab street near Doha Clinic, 444-9553) and World Marine Center (near the Qatar National Museum at the Al Bustan hotel, 436-0989). You may have to visit more than one shop to put together your ideal scuba kit (e.g. I got a great mask at World Marine Center, but I bought my fins and boots at Pearl Divers). Ask for a student discount and you should get between 10 - 15% off sticker price, maybe more if you're willing to pay cash. Some instructors have a more significant discount with one/other of the shops and may be willing to buy higher priced items for you (like BCDs and regulators).

Qatar Divers is a certified PADI dive center, offering a large variety of PADI diving courses. Additionally, they host a number of shore and boat diving trips, as well as package deals for diving outside Qatar. They supply Oceanic and Ocean Reef equipment, as well as PADI dive materials and resources.

Both Pearl Divers and World Marine Center rent equipment at reasonable prices - ask about special prices for frequent rentals. As with rental equipment anywhere, the quality varies from somewhat dicey to very good. You can rent single or two-tank set ups with compressed air or Nitrox (at Pearl Divers only). Don't forget to bring your certification card to rent and fill tanks (if you are a student your instructor will usually do this for you). Both shops sell a variety of accessories for night, shore, boat, and other speciality dives. Spear fishing is very popular in the Gulf, you can rent/buy gear at either shop.

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Going Diving

The water temperature in Qatar varies with the ambient temperature, from very warm (+/-80F) in the summer, to relatively cold (+/-65F) in the winter. For summer diving, while you won't need a wetsuit for warmth, you will most likely want to dive with a lycra/neoprene suit to protect yourself from man-of-war, prevalent during the hot months. While you'll find jellyfish year-round, the only ones to beware of are those with tentacles. In the winter, you will probably need a 3 - 5mm wetsuit, but probably never more than that.

You can expect to find a variety of grouper (hammour), crabs, angel-fish, puffers, king fish, and urchins (be careful) with regularity. You may also happen upon rays, turtles, sea slugs, and if you are out on a boat dive, dolphins.

One of the most popular places to dive is called Old Club Reef, a man-made reef, just before Sealine Beach Resort. An easy shore dive, the average depth is 40 feet, you'll be treated to sunken buses, cars, toilets, bidets, and more. Visibility isn't great, it's even worse when there are lots of divers around kicking up sand & silt, but on a good day you can see +/- 20 feet. Navigation is easy, each "sunken treasure" is connected to the next by line. There are no amenities nearby, so bring everything you'll need with you - from water to rinse your gear to a picnic to enjoy on the beach after you're done diving. In addition to your dive buddy, you'll probably want to bring a third person with you to watch your vehicle while you're in the water. You'll find the area deserted in the morning, but around lunch-time it fills up with locals, especially teenage boys on their way to the nearby Dunes. You may also witness women wading in the warm waters fully clad in their abayas and shaylas. If you don't have a truck/SUV/CRV, you won't be able to drive off the main road, so you'll need to walk a bit in order to get close to the reef (walk away from Sealine towards the refinery).

Wreck diving is also very popular in Qatar ...

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