All activities / Scuba Diving / Jeddah
Scuba Diving in Jeddah
Saudi Arabia's Red Sea gateway, a port city whose UNESCO-listed old town of Al-Balad still stands in coral-stone and carved wooden lattice, fronting a coastline of fringing reefs, walls and shipwrecks that has only recently opened to visiting divers.
Why here
Jeddah sits on one of the least-dived stretches of the Red Sea, and that is exactly the draw. Just off the Obhur creek north of the city lie more than thirty sites, a mix of fringing reef, steep walls and wrecks, most of them reached on a short boat hop rather than a long crossing. Beginners start on the Cable Wreck, a hull that went down in 1978 and now rests upright at around 24 metres, while the larger Ann Ann drops toward 32 metres for more experienced divers. The corals are dense and the fish life is intact in a way that heavily trafficked Egyptian sites no longer are, because Saudi tourism only opened in 2019. From here liveaboards also run south to the remote Farasan Banks, some of the least-explored reefs in the sea.
Best months
The water is warm and divable year-round, but the pleasant topside season runs from October to May; high summer is punishingly hot on the boat. Visibility is generally strong and there is little current on the inshore reefs. The Farasan Banks are best from December to May, when the liveaboards move south. Water temperatures sit in the mid-20s Celsius in winter and warmer through summer.
Getting there & around
Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport is a major hub with wide connections. The dive centres cluster around Obhur, roughly 30 to 40 minutes north of the historic centre, and run day boats on Fridays and Saturdays with two or three dives per trip. Bring your certification card and logbook; centres rent full kit and teach the PADI course ladder. A liveaboard is the way to reach the Farasan Banks, and those trips book out well ahead for the December to May window.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (2)
Dream Divers
OutfitterDream Divers was established in 2001 and operates out of South Obhur in Jeddah, running both day boats and the liveaboards Dream Master and Dream Island. Its vessels follow the seasons, working the remote Farasan Banks through the winter and the reefs around Yanbu in summer, reaching sites well beyond the range of a day trip. A PADI centre, it offers scuba, freediving and snorkelling courses and is one of the longest-running dive operations on the Saudi Red Sea.
Red Sea Divers
SchoolRed Sea Divers is a PADI Five Star IDC dive centre based in the Al Hambra district of Jeddah, running daily boat trips to the reefs and wrecks off the Saudi Red Sea coast. Divers reach sites such as the Cable Wreck, a beginner-friendly hull that sank in 1978 and sits upright at around 24 metres, and the deeper Ann Ann. As an Instructor Development centre it teaches the full PADI course ladder from Open Water through to instructor level, and rents and services equipment on site.