Awesome diving in Kuwait FOR REAL

FINALLY a successful dive trip in Kuwait!
I went to Garrouh Island (is it spelled this way?) and it was really nice! Visibility between 0-16 meters was about 8-10 meters and below 20 meters it got really sad... but who cares... the nice stuff is to be found anywhere between 2-18 meters! :)

Here are some pictures:

From top to bottom:

• Stingray (it was actually two of them!) passing right next to the boat. Unfortunately the camera was set to take sepia shots.
• getting ready to "go over board".
• You could see the bottom of the sea (about 6 meters) under the boat!
• The bunch of us just before the second dive.

The drift was quite heavy but this made the dives actually quite easy... go down... balance yourself... drift... keep your eyes open for things to see. :)
On the second dive I found a lion fish hiding behind a big rock. I am trying to get the picture of it from the dive instructor (Ali from KIM Dive Center) that was diving with me.

All in all a very nice trip! Didn't expect it after my bad luck earlier this year!
Good briefings / good equipment / super friendly staff / 'big' boat

I am sure I'll go diving with them again! (there is supposed to be a wreck at Kubbar! anyone got some info on that?!?)

Awsome diving in Kuwait

I am dying to go diving since I didn't go in a veeeery long time. Earlier I tried with the Palms Diving Center and it was not really successful (see my earlier post) so I decided I will go with someone else.

I chose the KIM Dive Center in the Hilton... One should guess that if you do business inside the Hilton you are halfway professional... but again... I was wrong...

Let's start when I first went there.


They are located in one of the chalets and the security of the Hilton wold not let me drive there. They asked me to park in front of Starbucks and go to the reception. I did... The woman at the reception told me it's OK and I should just tell them that I spoke with her and she gave me the OK to drive there. So back to the car to avoid the burning heat. Arriving at the security check the guy told me again:" You not drive zee car inside! Go rezeptian!"
So back to the reception... quick talk with that woman... She sends me back out... I refuse because he would still not listen to me... finally the DOORMAN overheard our discussion and told me that he will get transport for me! So off I go in the golf cart to chalet 500-something...

When I reached there, I saw a sign saying KIM diving center... I walked inside and found myself in the kids "daycare" center... no diving! So my hunt for someone responsible continues ...
Upstairs I found someone that could have been involved with diving, so I asked him if I am at the right place... YES! Found it!! (Just took me around 30 minutes from entering the main gate)

So I tell him what I want, when I want it and that I am a certified Instructor...
He writes everything down on a ripped off piece of paper and I thought: "OMG... I hope this will work out!". I mean they didn't even have a form where they waive liability and take your details .... just scribble down your name and phone number and that it... OK... it DID work.
They called me back to tell me that the trip on Friday starts at 8.30am from the Fahaheel Sea Club and both places are reserved for me.
I asked when I should come with my friend to try on the gear we need to rent from them and we where supposed to come the same day. We did... same problem again reaching them... then trying on the BCD... and that's it!!! No Fins... No Mask... No boots... nutt'in! I thought I heard him say that all of this is in the Fahaheel Sea Club and left it at that...
Thursday night my friend and I cancelled all invitations to 'social events' to get a good night sleep and not to miss diving. The next morning 7.45 am we were on the way to Fahaheel... 8.30 we reached the parking lot and just when I switched off the engine of my car my phone rang.

"Mr. Evil Knievel... I am really sorry to tell you that the trip for today is cancelled. My staff did a mistake and we can't go!". WFT !!! Not only that I missed hanging out with friends the night before... no... on my only day off I woke up earlier then if I have to go to work and drove all the way for them to cancel!!

It was the dive instructor calling and he was just as pissed as I was. So OK I thought ... poor guy... missed quite a lot of business and besides he offered me my money back and a free dive.
My temper slowly settled down and we went for breakfast instead.
The following two weeks we unfortunately could go because of other appointments... but then last Friday we could!
So I called them... made the arrangements with them... cancelled my 'social gathering' (at least kept them to a minimum) and was all excited about finally going diving!
Thursday afternoon ... my phone rings ... "Allo Sir... sis is zee diving center. Tomorrow zhere will be no trip. Zee boat is broken...". WTF !!! It's JULY !!! Season started in April !!!

WHY CAN'T I HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK !!!!

Palms Diving Center ... NO !

Besides being a semi professional race driver / CoD4 Player / bullshit talker, I am also a certified diving instructor (for real! no kidding!).
But just like my career as a race driver kinda stopped, so did my diving career come to a stand still. And this for no apparent reason! I mean, I am living in a country with lots of coast and water and boats and stuff. But still, I am not diving! I even got all my stuff here for which I had to pay a good amount for over weight taking it with me on the flight from Germany!
I used to go diving every weekend and believe me... my relationship back then suffered big time under this! And this was fresh water diving!! No corral reefs, no color full fishes, no depth deeper then 10 meters, no 26 degree warm water, ... NO! Nothing like this!!! Just cold, murky lakes with a few simple fish inside that you usually don't see and lots of algae!

Now last week I decided it's time for diving again! Weather is more or less nice (at least the temperatures) and the diving schools offer trips again. So I went to the Palms Dive Center, with whom I used to go diving with before, and asked them for an available seat in their boat... not only for me but for a good friend as well. Here is what they told me: "NO!"
They didn't say, 'sorry, we are fully booked' or 'unfortunately not this week', ... no... they just said: NO!
WTF! I understand that a lot of people have the same idea as me and all of the sudden feel the urge to go under water and breath compressed air for an hour... and it's OK for me to wait for a week or two (or even three) to get my turn! I am civilised! I stand in line if necessary!!!
But... NO!
I even asked them for a later trip... a trip in two, three weeks... answer: NO!
No explanation given... nothing...

Their 'NO' finally gave me the rest! Because I already told them LAST YEAR SEPTEMBER that they should order a half dry neoprene suite for me. No matter how much it will cost... no matter what color... I was ready to put serious money on the counter for something I might need 2-3 times a year! Even wanted to give them a downpayment to show them how serious I am! But... NO! They promised me every time I called them that they ordered it but it would not have arrived yet... in fact... they never ordered it in the first place!! SUCKERS !!!

So since I am ranting about them already... let me continue!

I know this shop since 3-4 years... in this time ownership or management changed at least 4 times (got along great with the previous Managers)... boats sunk (for real!! But no one was onboard)... people went missing on diving trips (not really... but I would not be surprised)... AND I was not allowed to hand feed fish! I even swam 300 meters to a boat next to us to get some fish bait!! Look... I know what I am doing there! I really do! And there is nothing better to get someone into diving then showing him/her what is down there... and since fish are usually of the shy kind... you need to lure them out! Corall is nice to look at but it doesn't move and doesn't nibble on your fingers! But... NO!
Shit! I even made big time advertisment for them before! Everyone who asked me for a good diving school in Kuwait or organizer of trips I would send there! Not anymore...

So here is what I have to say to the current (mis-)management of Palms Diving Center:

NO! NO! NO!

Not with me my 'friends'... find some other idiots who are willing to pay for your over priced trips to the same reef every weekend...