Daymaniyat Islands

Pete and Zan had arranged for the 4 of us to go out snorkeling to the Daymaniyat Islands during our week off. They contacted Global Scuba, located in the Civil Aviation club right by The Wave. The Daymaniyat Islands are one of the best places to dive and snorkel in Oman, so there's a few different tour companies that offer trips. Global Scuba happens to be one of the closest to the Islands making the boat ride shorter. It only took 45 min to get there.

We met our boat captain/diver masters, Yousef and Sofie, and set off for the islands at 8:30. There were 5 divers and us 4 snorkellers onboard - a marine biologist from Kuwait, a father and son from Dubai, a professional photographer from Turkey (living in Muscat), and a gentleman from Germany. We lucked out having the marine biologist with us as he told stories about his dives around the world - Maldives, Bali, Sudan, Bahamas, South Africa... basically everywhere. He was also telling us how the Daymaniyat's were formed, so we got our money's worth on this trip! All were very interesting people and figured it must be a great spot since most of the others had traveled a long way to dive here.
The first stop was 'The Garden of Eden' where we dropped off the divers and then we were dropped off on the other side where it was less choppy. The coral and fish were amazing! I don't know the names of what we were seeing, but it was very cool, definitely better than around Al Fahal island and Bandar Khiran bay for snorkeling. We then went to a second spot where it was much deeper and the coral was terraced all the way down. The divers said it was really good and saw a leopard shark, some eels, and lots of colorful fish. We were on the lookout for a whale shark on the way back (from the boat), but didn't see any. Supposedly they are fairly common in these waters.
It was a great way to spend the morning. It cost 44 rial (120 cdn) for 2 which included water and a light lunch. 

At the Civil Aviation club

My hair is not normally that crazy

Arriving at Daymaniyat Islands

Side with 'The Garden of Eden'

The divers getting ready

Very clear and warm water

See you on the other side!

The boat was really unsteady, we almost fell in!

2nd snorkeling spot

Yousef and Sofie, our Global Scuba guides