THE UNTOUCHED SOUTH
On the south coast of Oman, about an hour’s drive from Salalah, is the Extra Divers centre in Mirbat. The picturesque town and its idyllic bays are a well-kept secret for divers and anyone else seeking an oriental ambience without the tourist traffic. The Extra Divers dive centre is attached to the Wyndham Garden Hotel and offers boat dives on surrounding untouched dive sites with an incredible abundance of fish.
Due to the weather, the diving center is closed from May 1st - October 10th.
Diving/Dive spots
So far 20 dive sites have been found – many others are waiting to be discovered! The dive sites are enormously abundant in fish. There are fantastic reefs with lobsters, rays, octopuses and large pharaoh cuttlefish. In addition, there are two shipwrecks that are ideal for diving. The Chinese wreck and the Marriott wreck serve as artificial reefs for numerous shoals of fish. The region is also known for its kelp forests. They grow in the summer due to the cold currents; then, during the warmer winter with water temperatures between 24°C and 28°C they die off. Turtles, torpedo rays, blue-spotted rays, eagle rays and guitarfish, along with numerous different moray eels, including the rare dragon moray eel, are among the other highlights. Macro enthusiasts will be in their element, too – there seem to be almost endless varieties of nudibranchs. The dive sites are suitable for divers at all levels of proficiency.
From November you can come across large pods of dolphins that might be accompanied by the boat. During the dolphin season the Extra Divers centre offers snorkelling tours almost every day to a beach that’s just over an hour’s drive away. While snorkelling there, on almost every tour you can marvel at the dolphins in their natural environment. From January to April there’s even a chance of coming across whales or orcas on diving trips from Mirbat – a unique experience!
The dive centre is located right on a beautiful sandy beach. It consists of a reception, shop, classroom, two bathrooms with showers, outside showers, workshop, compressor room, equipment room, wash basins and a comfortable terrace.
Boat dives from the two fibreglass speedboats are arranged every day. Special tours are available for snorkelers. The offshore island, Bird Island, is ideal for snorkelling. The boat leaves in the mornings at around 9 o’clock and returns to the jetty after two dives. The dive sites can be reached in 5 to 15 minutes. In the afternoons guests can enjoy an extra dive.
Team & Education
The diving center is under professional management by Guillaume CHAPUIS who speaks fluently several languages and is also Scuba Diving Instructor.
GIOM and his experienced team will make you discover more then 25 spots from the beach or by boat in a colourful underwater landscapes of corals and wrecks full of tropical fishes species, turtles, morays, rays, lobsters and more.
Extra Divers Mirbat provides diving courses and specialty courses from entry level up to advanced open water diver level according to SSI Scuba School International standards. Training is currently provided in English, German, French, Italian and Arabic.
Guillaume CHAPUIS
Extra Divers Mirbat - Branch Manager
Email : mirbat@extradivers.org
Cel. Phone & WhatsApp : +968 9394 1883
Facilities
• 30 sets of Aqua Lung equipment
• 120 12-litre aluminium tanks (DIN & INT connections)
• 2 L&W compressors
• Nitrox available for purchase at 3 OMR per tank
• reception / shop
• workshop
Payment on-site
OMR, Euros and Dollars are accepted.
Please note that Oman generally does not accept US dollar bills older than 2007!
Highlights & Specials
Kelp forest from October 'till December swarms of fish, big encounters like humpback whales and many kinds of sharks, 2 wrecks and a fantastic macro-world.
For divers during their last day of holiday or for those who like to enjoy the feeling of swimming with completely wild dolphins, we organize a tour that starts directly from your resorts and brings you in a typical Omani beach where we will test how big is your smile when you will see the dolphins so close to the beach and waiting to swim around you after few recommendation of your guide.
