Saudi Arabia is a controversial holiday choice but for divers it offers some of the world's last virgin coral reefs, says James Montague
If you were a travel agent, you'd probably find that Saudi Arabia is one of the hardest sells there is. The Foreign Office isn't that keen on you going because of the 'high threat of terrorism', particularly against Westerners. And if you can put that risk to the back of your mind, there are the public executions for drug dealers and adulterers to reconcile with your conscience. Oh, and the gender apartheid, too. Ethical tourism it ain't. But Saudi does have one ace up its sleeve, and that's what has brought me here: its Red Sea coastline has some of the world's last virgin coral reefs, and some of the finest diving on the planet.
I've been invited to Saudi Arabia by Dream Divers, which operates a fleet of dive boats and live-aboards in the south of the country. The company wants to expand its client base beyond the region's ex-pat oil workers, and I'm here with a group of German dive tour operators who want to see what this stretch of the Red Sea has to offer.
After we land at Jeddah's King Abdulaziz airport, we start on a two-and-a-half-hour journey south along the road that eventually ends in Yemen. For miles we skirt the Red Sea coastline, eventually reaching the town of Al Lith, which seems to consist entirely of mosques, squat houses and football pitches. It is also home to Al Ahlam Marina, the brainchild of Eric Mason, an ex-pat Brit who set up Dream Divers after arriving in the kingdom 36 years ago.
We meet Eric, a red-headed Cumbrian who converted to Islam seven years ago, on our boat, which is moored in pristine waters. Another two-and-a-half hours later we are entering what is regarded as one of the most dangerous shipping lanes in the world, where pirates buoyed by the anarchy in Sudan and Somalia operate with impunity. Fortunately we arrive without incident at the Farasan Banks, a tiny sprinkling of islands, huge unbroken reefs and perpetual sun.
Just six months ago I wouldn't have been allowed to set foot - or fin - here. In a rare move towards openness, the Saudi government began issuing group tourist visas at the end of 2007. I'm told that I am the first official British tourist to have been granted the privilege. To those in the know it is no surprise that it has taken until now for Saudi Arabia to open its doors, even just a crack. The Arabic phrase that you'll hear most here is shway shway. It distils the Saudi zeitgeist perfectly. It means 'slowly, slowly' or, in the right context, step by step.
But Eric feels it has been worth waiting for. He believes the country has huge tourist potential: 'Jeddah is a melting pot and the seas are unique. There are only two boats working 1,800km of coastline. It's virgin, and you get everything here in greater numbers than anywhere else in the Red Sea: mantas, hammerhead sharks, humphead parrotfish, whitetip and blacktip sharks.'
The Farasan Banks do feel unique. The water is almost jade in colour, and each tiny island is coated in fine white sand. The lack of human interference means that each speck of land is studded with turtle nesting holes and guarded by a single osprey nest, whose inhabitants will attack if you get too close.
But the real magic happens under the water. Long Reef is a huge unbroken wall of bright coral surrounded
by plumes of acid-yellow fish. Al Jadir island, atop its deep trench, is swarming with confident sharks, the whitetip reef sharks flicking towards you before nonchalantly going about their business. And the night dive from Mar Mar island is stunning: its underground wall of coral looks like the inside of a medieval cathedral and is populated by humphead parrotfish the size of small cows.
'This is much better than Egypt because it has much more colourful coral and fish,' says Ralph, a long-haired German death metal fan who used to work as an instructor at Sharm el-Sheikh. 'Yesterday I saw lots of hammerhead sharks. They've probably only seen 50 divers in their lives, so they are still curious. You won't see that in Egypt, because they have 20 boats going out every day.'
After three days in the middle of nowhere, returning to Jeddah feels like an assault on the senses. African women sell illegal kola nuts; broken-toothed Yemenis attempt to offload that day's shipment of the highly addictive drug khat
It feels more African than Arabic. As the crow flies, Jeddah is closer to Port Sudan than to the Saudi capital, and pilgrims from as far away as Indonesia have been passing through here on their way to Mecca for centuries.
This has given the city a more cosmopolitan, liberal feel than Riyadh. As our bus pulls through sprawling suburbs I stop counting the women with their head uncovered when I get to 40.
This year women in Saudi are, for the first time, allowed to travel unaccompanied by a man, and by the end of the year, Eric believes, women will be allowed to drive. This détente is all relative, of course. Saudi still can't shake its suspicion of foreigners (you can't get a tourist visa on your own; you have to be 'escorted') and the kingdom's appalling human rights record will put people off, regardless of how good the diving is.
On the way to the hotel we near the White Mosque and the square where Jeddah's executions take place after Friday prayers. It's a brutal reminder that, while Jeddah contradicts a few Saudi stereotypes, change in the kingdom will meander at its own pace: shway, shway.
Essentials
Dream Divers (www.dreamdiver.net) offers live-aboard trips off the Saudi coast from £1,450 a week, which includes three dives a day, two night dives, tanks, weights, belts, meals and flights with Saudi Airlines. Dream Divers, by law, has to apply for its customers' visas, which cost £39 and can be picked up from the Saudi embassy in London's Mayfair.
If you liked the sound of that...
Pearl diving, Bahrain
The Persian Gulf, with its long sand beds, doesn't have many world-class dive sites. Bahrain is the exception. As well as a host of wrecks and the odd reef dive off the coast, you can also find the country's most prized possession: pearls formed by an unusual confluence of salt water and fresh water springs under the seabed. Well, they were its most prized possession until the Japanese worked out how to make them from scratch. But you'll still find the real thing off the coast of this tiny Gulf kingdom
Daymaniyat Islands, Oman
Oman's stunning Daymaniyat Islands are a state-protected cluster of tiny outcrops surrounded by coral reefs and populated by an astounding array of fish and shark species. If you hang around long enough you could spot a leopard shark. If not, you can console yourself with the stingrays and turtles which famously nest all along Oman's eastern coast.
Socotra Island, Yemen
Most people who decide to dive in Yemen head for its Red Sea coast, but if you're interested in something unusual, head for Socotra Island, off the Horn of Africa. The island is one of the most bio-diverse in the world, sporting more than 300 unique species of plant life.
Socotra has been left unmolested partially because of its isolated position, but also because it has no harbour to speak of. The population has its own language and customs. Shallow waters make it perfect for diving, but huge swells coming in from the Indian Ocean mean trips can sometimes be called off at the last minute. It's worth the risk, though.