How My Kids Found Their Sea Legs: Scuba Diving In Oman

Pristine reefs, calm waters and abundant marine life make Oman perfect for scuba diving, says Lucy Cleland.

Oman Is The Latest Scuba Diving Hotspot – And It’s Teen-Approved

It was either four legs or sea legs when I was growing up. Spoilt, I know. Ponies – and all the delicious paraphernalia that came with them, from hoof oil to supple tack – stole my childish heart. Hours disappeared in a haze of plaiting manes, brushing tails and tidying stables. The sea barely featured, apart from swimming in the grey swell off the South Coast. I could have learned to sail, had my father been more persuasive. I stuck to terra firma…

My children, 14 and 11, have chosen differently. After snorkelling last summer and glimpsing turtles, eagle rays and parrotfish in Finding Nemo glory, they were hooked. They wanted more – and that meant learning to scuba dive. I’d tried it once years ago and embarrassingly failed to equalise, so the hunt began for somewhere they could learn, with my husband alongside them, while I could have an equally good time pottering.

Enter Original Diving, part of Original Travel, the go-to for bespoke scuba diving holidays that combine first-class stays with epic underwater adventures. Being May, our options were limited: the Far East was too far; the Maldives felt excessive for a week. Then Oman appeared on the shortlist – a sliver of Arabia lapped by the Sea of Oman, fringed by rocky outcrops and still under the radar for most divers.

Unlike the crowded reefs of Asia and the Caribbean, many now scarred by bleaching and overtourism, Oman’s underwater world remains largely untouched. Calm seas, excellent visibility, dramatic rock formations and a dazzling array of marine life make it the perfect place for beginners. No jostling for space, no overrun dive boats – just sunlit waters to explore safely.

‘Oman is one of the most exciting destinations for novice divers,’ says Michele (Miki) Pedrelli, head of diving at Extra Divers Qantab, the dive school close to our resort, Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah. A man who has ticked off some of the planet’s most fabled dive sites, Miki says that Oman’s coastline offers 20 of the best locations he’s seen. We were in the right place.

Preparation began long before we boarded the plane. Original Diving recommends SSI certification over PADI for a streamlined route to becoming a certified Open Water Diver – the golden ticket to dive anywhere. Completing the online theory at home meant no hot and wasted classroom hours on arrival, so after some bribery, cajoling and phone confiscation, the children sailed through 100 pages of instruction, videos and quizzes

While I holed up at Shangri-La Al Waha – the most family-friendly of the three hotels that make up the 124-acre Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah resort – arranging tours of Muscat, riding in the desert and enjoying the odd massage, the others headed to the dive school.

(c) Marcelo Barbosa

The training is meticulous, so a platform had been constructed and suspended 12 feet underwater in the marina from which all of the dive drills could be practised safely and in a controlled environment. Miki carefully explained each of the drills that had to be followed and executed without mistake before anyone was allowed to move onto the next stage in the open water. This opportunity came early the next morning, when they all boarded the Qantab’s 38ft dive boat and powered out to sea.

And what a sea. Minutes after leaving the marina, a pod of dolphins flanked the boat, cresting and diving at the bow. Over the next two days, the children completed four dives, each around 40 minutes, reaching depths of up to 12m (the maximum for under-12s). They emerged wide-eyed and buzzing after glimpsing turtles – one huge one – moray and conger eels, stingrays and a crimson octopus curling like ribbon through the rocks.

There was one dicey moment: my son succumbed to seasickness on the way out to a dive. The golden rule? If you vomit underwater, keep your regulator in, or risk inhaling seawater and drowning. Thankfully, his green gills disappeared.

Finally, Miki announced they had passed all the practical elements of the course. Spirits soared – until he revealed there was one last hurdle: a written exam. Fifty multiple-choice questions later, they emerged triumphant: three new Open Water Divers, complete with certificates and a newfound sense of confidence and independence – both in and out of the water.

‘They’ve grown in stature,’ my husband told me later when I’d returned from exploring Muscat’s labyrinthine souks. Having the wits and confidence to assemble your own dive kit and plunge 40 feet below the surface, knowing full well that a small mistake can lead to a deadly safety problem, is no small feat.

Which is why I’m still sticking to two legs – or four – but I’m thrilled they’ve found their sea ones.

BOOK IT

Original Diving offers five nights at Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah, B&B, from £2,075pp (shangri-la.com) including flights and a three-day SSI Open Water diving course (originaldiving.com). For more on Oman, visit experienceoman.com.

Lucy’s return flights from London Heathrow to Muscat had a carbon footprint of 1,725kg CO2e. ecollectivecarbon.com