Scuba Diving in Atlantis Dubai

I always like to plan things ahead before traveling and I had planned to experience Scuba diving in Dubai but I didn’t know exactly where, until I saw people diving in a giant aquarium in the Atlantis hotel called “The lost chambers”, it instantly made my mind

The Atlantis hotel

It was a summer day in Dubai when I visited the giant structure shaped like a gateway at the end of the Palm Jumeirah. The interior is covered in underwater architecture, with some large glass walls at offering stunning blue views of hundreds of marine animals. I won't forget the quality multicultural cuisine in the restaurant and the peaceful beautiful garden on the coast. In my opinion, just the hotel by himself deserves an entire day visit

Get trained first

After booking your appointment, you‘ll find the dive center is situated at the back of hotel. After filling out and signing the necessary paperwork confirming that you have no health issues, they make you watch a video as an introduction to the necessary precautions
In my case it was the first time in my life I wore a special diving suit, and it felt weird at the beginning. In fact, the suit is designed so that you don't feel the water temperature, even if it’s cold. I spent an hour training for the dive in a swimming pool with a friendly instructor. They taught me how to breathe through the oxygen equipment, how to move inside water and the communication signs

The shark interaction

After the training session we went in a golf cart to the entrance of the diving site. As I put my feet in the water up to my knees, bannerfish started rushing towards me, thinking I would feed them. Indeed this is where they get fed by the crew. We spent some minutes to wear the equipment before we started diving slowly to the bottom just to be welcomed by some small friendly sharks hanging around

The people interaction

Remember when I first saw people diving behind the huge glass wall inside the hotel? It was now my turn to be among the divers and it’s a special kind of experience to have your family members waving at you from the other side. The second kind of encounter is through a glass waterslide that passes through the aquarium, allowing swimmers from the Aquaventure waterpark to slide along

An unforgettable experience

The experience around the aquarium is like a guided tour where your instructor makes you visit spot after spot. What amazed me the most apart from being surrounded by a massive number of diverse marine animals, was the design of the rocky walls and the buried artifacts in the sand. It feels like you're inside a lost room in the ocean

It was indeed a 40 minutes of bliss and one of the most beautiful experiences of my life

Behold the photo album and the video experience