Dive Trip to Al Leath

by Khaled Alwassia

We meet at 18:00 hours in front of the Toyota workshop at the Jeddah Airport road and then turned to the Makkah - Madinah Highway. After about 8 km we took the exit 2B which brought us to the round about in the second hand car souk. Straight across the round about and then turn right at the first traffic light which comes after about 180Km. Then one third traffic light / flashing lights turn right again. Follow the road to the Al Ahlam Resort.

Here you will find about 10 rooms - 9 more are under construction) a dive shop with Nitrox station and a restaurant.



It is important that you book your dive boat in advance, as the boat normally leaves about 06:00 it is best to arrive the evening before and rest in one of the rooms. But some in our group decided to not pay for the rooms and started the trip at 03:00 hours to be there in time for departure.

The boats available vary from small fishing boat, 36" dive boat, 48" customer built day boat to a live-a-board. You need to discuss what boat you want with the marina as this affects the price, for us the number of divers in the group is the main contributing factor. The price per person for our boat, 2 air tank, one Nitrox 36 and shared cabin was SR 330, so not really expensive.

You will need to bring O2 kits and first aid kit with you as there is nothing on the boats.

The food on the boat is basic but plentiful with fruits, bread and cold cuts and soft drinks. I must say I prefer a hot curry but I survived, self catering of course always an option as well.

The rooms are clean and have a bathroom and a small kitchen. There are thee beds but the resort lets you stay with five in the room. Room cost per weekend night = SR400.

The restaurant is pretty large and has a décor which is a mix of local and western, the waiters do not speak English. The menu is short and simple, fried / barbequed fish and burgers being the main items. When we check out the restaurant they where just out of fresh fish and had only frozen left. Considering local conditions we found it a bit pricy. So either bring your own food or stop at one of the restaurant on Al Leath.

The rooms had small open verandas with chairs, ideal for some late night chatting.

Do not forget to bring some warn clothing the winter month, it get colder then one would think especially if it is windy.

The beds were great, giving us a good night sleep.






We woke at 05:30 got up, no breakfast provided, drove to the pier and stared loading the boat. Here I should say that there is a need to make sure that the boat is good for 16 divers not just registered for 16 passengers. We found the boat we were given to small for the group, something we will tackle on our next trip. But then a bigger boat means more cost.

As we had divers from three different organization / clubs on the trip organization and house keeping was a challenge.

We left the marina for the coast guard and were on the way to the Farasan banks at about 06:40. This is where our luck turned sour, the engines acted up and we took nearly three hours (one extra) to the first dive site.

We arrange that everybody got kitted up in time and then made a mass negative entry.

Blue bottom less depth greets us, good that we took the bearing to the reef.

Visibility is rather low with about 15 metres. Within minutes we see a white tip reef shark sleeping in a small cave. He escapes deeper in the cave as we approach. At about 35 metres lots of hard coral and some wipe and soft coral - lots of variety. The fish life is great, big schools of large groupers.
Then a silky Shark appears and stays for 2 minutes around us. He approaches Horst from behind and passes him centimeters above his head while we have a laugh. Starting our multilevel ascent we see large fan corals and lots of fish. (just look in any Red Sea Guide, it is all here).

A big fox shark and silvertip shark are seen. Then in the shallow a +1 metre hump head wrasse.

My wife and I ascend after sending up the DSMB, no sign of the boat. Other divers reach the surface and join in the wait for the boat. After about 40 min we see 2 divers walking on the island, we decide to try to swim to the boat which is seen in the distance. After what seems a very long time we reach the boat and find out that the engine or out of order and the bilge pump is not working flooding the battery room.

After some deliberation we decide to call it a day after the engines are running again and head home. We are lucky as we have good weather which provides for a slow but pleasant ride.




Reaching the coast guard the engine gives totally up and we are towed to the marina.
Two dive licenses are missing when the coast guard hands the documents back, nothing we can do here really.

The dive operation manager is quick in agreeing to pay back all moneys, including the cabin and rental gear charges. By now it is 18:00 Hours so we have a quick shower in the rooms and head back to Jeddah.

On the way back we get a call, the dive licenses have turned up and we can pick them up next day in the office in Jeddah. As the 2.5 hour drive home is tiring after a long day diving, using Nitrox for the last dive is a real advantage.
While we may have had only one dive the trip was very good as the emergencies where handled and all got back OK.
All in all this first trip to Al Leath was very eventful, but now we have the local knowledge to plan for future trip as the diving was absolutely spectacular.

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