The Red Sea has attracted many scuba diving enthusiasts, whether they dive in Aqaba in Jordan, Eilat in Israel or the diving centers of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, Hurghada or Dahab, where the famous Blue Hole. In Saudi Arabiawhere the Red Sea meets more than 1,200 miles of its western coastline, scuba diving is nothing new to the locals. However, international travelers like me are only now discovering the recreational diving scene in this Middle Eastern kingdom, as historically its doors have not always been open to tourism.

All that changed in September 2019 when Saudi Arabia’s National Tourism Strategy began – effectively opening borders to the world – as part of a “Vision 2030» initiative of progressive Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Its goal is to work with the private sector to modernize the kingdom, dissolve the stigma of the Western world and diversify the economy so that it is not as dependent on oil. Tourism has always been a sector that has helped grow the economies of other countries, and Saudi Arabia has followed suit and pulled out all the stops, especially now that pandemic travel restrictions are a thing of the past.

That said, commercial recreational scuba diving is growing in popularity as more tourists discover the country, in places like the cosmopolitan beach city of Jeddah. However, arguably the most exciting Saudi diving scene is found off the coast of Hanak, in Al Wajh Lagoon, in the Ummahat Archipelago, where recent and ongoing work Red Sea Global Project (RSG) opened its first phase in 2023 with the St. Regis Red Sea Resort. A Ritz Carlton reserve opened in May 2024 among the limited number of complexes equipped with diving that RSG is developing, all in an approach that respects the environment and regenerative way which aims to boost local communities and economies, and even expand the existing natural environment.

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Under the Red Sea

I went diving with the Galaxea dive shop operating out of St. Regis, where my dive leader Maggie Sutanto, my dive buddy James Barrett and I explored part of the 14-mile outer reef known as Al Jadir (“The Wall” in Arabic) , naturally forming ten channels rich in corals. . Here, there are around thirty dive sites in and around Al Wajh Lagoon, all approved for recreational diving since RSG began surveying the area in 2021 – with many more still to explore. For me and other early adopters, having the opportunity to dive in a relatively unknown underwater region was already an exciting prospect, even before my entry back.

At the Umm Blud dive site – affectionately nicknamed “MJM” after the initials of the divemasters who helped study it (including an M for Maggie) – I marveled at the excellent visibility showing the coral colorful and healthy which supported stingrays, moray eels. and the native Arabian angelfish that caught my eye. If I had been lucky, I might have spotted one of the sharks lurking nearby.

“I have personally seen eight species of sharks, including hammerheads (only once) and tiger sharks,” reports Dr. Sander den Haring, RSG’s associate director of diving operations, who was instrumental in the development of scuba diving in the region. He and his team will continue to study this virtually unexplored area, looking for potential new dive sites, including those with 18th-century shipwrecks, as long as they support coral reefs and healthy wildlife.

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Managing the unexplored

Keen to keep the burgeoning scuba diving scene as bright as possible, RSG Project dive shops strive to circulate through existing sites to reduce any impact on any particular site. Regular, albeit informal, marine reviews are provided to all dive guides to keep everyone up to date with the latest underwater discoveries, which is inherently frequent.

“If you are an explorer, you would like to come here. This area is unexplored, it’s new! » encourages Sutanto to the diving community. “So be part of the exploration, the discovery. »

“In addition to having a healthy reef system with colorful corals and abundant marine life, much of the excitement comes from the opportunity to dive in relatively unexplored areas,” adds den Haring. “International diving has not seen these places and this is truly ‘exploring the unknown’.”