Qatar--Diving and Gulf Area Discussion

[namabiru]

I had a query from someone regarding the diving in Qatar, and several people regarding life here, so thought I'd write a blurb.

To start off, there are 2 dive shops in Doha-- Pearl Divers and World Marine Sports. I have been told of a new one opening, but haven't been yet. Also, just outside of Doha, in Al Wakra, there is a shop which sells personal gear such as masks, etc. We can get things here, but you're often limited on size or brand availability. The last time I needed something, I ordered from a shop in Spain. If ST would ship to me, I would use them (hint hint ).

We also have a branch of BSAC, appropriately called DSAC, which I have joined. DSAC dives virtually every weekend. When the boats can go out, there traditionally is a boat dive on Friday from Doha, maybe one on Saturday from Al Khor, and usually the club dives off shore on Saturday.

The diving around Qatar is, well, diving for diving's sake. The visibility here isn't so good--maybe 5 meters on a good day. The reason for this is because the bottom is all sand, so between currents and oil drilling a lot of stuff gets kicked up. So it goes. Really good gulf diving can be found around Oman.

Right now the water temperatures are 31, 32C. In October, when I first dived, there were temps of 34C. Right now you could, in theory, go out in a bathing suit and dive. Unfortunately, with the water cooling off, the jellies are returning. I have been told that in the winter the temps will drop to maybe 12 or 13C. Winter being primarily January and February here. So it is possible to need every suit here if you live and dive year-round-- bathing, lycra, 3/2mil, 4/3mil, 5 mil, 7 mil, and, yes, even dry.

A lot of the dive sites we (BSAC) use have max depths of 18 meters or so. There are a couple of deeper dives, one to 30 m or so. Most all of our diving is done off the boat. If you leave from Doha, you're looking at an hour minimum to get to sites. However, if you can go up north to Al Khor (one member has his boat docked there), you can hit the further sites with a max of an hour. The barge we're going to tomorrow is 40 minutes by speed boat from Al Khor, but at least an hour and a half from Doha.

There are a couple of shore diving locations. One used by all the shops is called Old Club Reef. It is an aquatic course consisting of artificial reefs, joined together by ropes-- boats, buses, cars, toilets, pipes, etc. What's cool about OCR is you can get on the ropes and just follow along. The headings are easy to follow too--150 out, 270 or so right, and 300 or so back to shore. It's most commonly used for checkout dives, and has a max depth of 16 meters or so.

Once my underwater camera case arrives via sea, I will take some photos.

There is also the Inland Sea in Qatar. This is a good shore diving location, but I haven't been able to get there yet.

In order to dive the Inland Sea, you have to have a 4WD. To get to the remote beaches, you have to have one as well. A lot of the Gulf States are like this. This is why, when you watch movies like The Kingdom, you see so many SUVs.

A lot of club members take advantage of our close locale to other hot spots such as the Red Sea, Oman, Maldives, Malaysia/Thailand, etc. Close, though, does not mean cheap. A round-trip airfare to Egypt can still run USD$300. Even flying to Dubai, 50 minutes away, is USD$250 or so round-trip. However, Maldives, when I priced it, was only USD$400 or so return airfare. Our airfare high and low seasons revolve around the Eid holidays (October and December). Summer is also high season, as everyone escapes the heat.

However, there are two Middle Eastern airlines which are considerably more generous with air miles. These are Qatar Airways and Emirates. With Q-miles, for instance, I can fly anywhere in the Gulf for 6,000 miles. I've booked my trip to KL with Qatar Airways, so will earn enough for a free trip to Dubai, or Muscat (Oman). You can also get the credit cards and earn miles that way.

One can afford to travel frequently here due to good salary and generous time off, so it seems people are always going on holiday. I estimate I'll go on 3 or 4 holidays next year, minimum.

Some American people--many of those I encountered-- have this impression that the Middle East is dangerous, and every person here is a terrorist in disguise. That is so, so wrong. The American media frankly should be ashamed of its collective self for encouraging this stereotype.

Before my exodus, I cannot count the number of times I was asked, 'oh, isn't it dangerous there?' Qatar, and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula, are no more a war zone than Denver is. As a single young woman in a Muslim country, I have been treated better than I was in Tucson, Arizona. For that matter, I frankly feel safer here than I ever did in Tucson. I have no qualms about walking alone at night, or traveling alone.

Yeah, I do get gawked at, mostly by the lower-income construction workers, who come from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, etc. So do many other Western women. But it's only wordless gawking. No lewd comments or advances. No rude references to a woman's body whatsoever. Only silent gawking. Which gets a bit annoying, but easy enough to ignore.

Saudi Arabia has laws which state women must be covered. There is no law in Qatar. Many woman veil out of personal choice, but it is not a law to do so. I can wear my regular clothing to work and at home. However, as this is a Muslim country, one always wears long pants. Some women wear those capri pants out shopping, and I think it's disrespectful. The beach is fine, but not the shopping mall. But no midriffs or lower backs showing. No tight shirts. You can tell someone's just gotten off the plane and has no clue about the culture by what they are wearing.

People here still stop and offer assistance. I stopped my car once to adjust tanks, and sure enough, another motorist promptly stopped to ask if I needed some help. I took a walk late at night, and a Qatari man pulled over and asked if I was okay. People don't stop in the United States. People aren't shooting one another here, or stabbing one another, or committing other violent crime.

Some people may have watched The Kingdom (and, yes, I was shocked by the shirts that chick wore). It was praised as a fairly accurate portrayal of Saudi, by Qataris and Westerners alike. However, we don't live in exclusively Western compounds here. We *are* in compounds, but they're not created to give Western people the Western life. It's more out of luxury than necessity. I've got a spacious apartment in a good location, across the street from a 5-story shopping mall. I live better here than I would have in the States, as a recent graduate, frankly.

We drink Starbucks and go to TGIF, Chilis and Applebee's. We can also go for other foods such as Thai, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Japanese, Korean, Syrian, Lebanese, or a pizza joint. We've got several cinemas which show latest releases. All of these things are equally patronized by Qataris and expats. It's not just an expat thing to go to Starbucks.