Shoaiba, Saudi Arabia

Jeddah was the place where I learned scuba diving and with our diving club we often used to spend our one and a half day weekends diving. Driving our preloaded 4x4’s out of town on the main highway in the early afternoon within 90 minutes we would be out in the desert heading south on quiet roads. Stopping at the last filling station and shop, a remote derelict looking place that sold everything imaginable - food, hardware, kitchenware, car parts, tyres and just about everything imaginable in an Aladdin’s Cave of junk. We used to pick up barbeque coals and cases of bottled water, stretch our legs and buy egg sandwiches made at the back of the shop. The eggs were scrambled in oil with herbs added and made with a kind of pitta bread and used to be absolutely delicious.

Continuing our drive we would see the sea we were heading for miles before arriving, but it was a mirage. Somehow due to the heat, sun and clear air the sea was projected and appeared in front of us, in light blue, where there was really only sand. This happened many times along this road.

We would arrive at Shoaiba sea shore mid-afternoon and set up camp. There was rarely anyone or anything else in sight, just blue sea and golden sand for many miles in every direction.

A large walk-in square canvas tent that would sleep 12 was erected and then the diving gear unloaded. After a late afternoon dive on the coral reef we would have a barbeque and then sit on the beach talking under our bottle gas burning lamps.

The ladies would sleep in the tent and the men outside under the stars on fold up camp beds. I remember so vividly that when the last light was extinguished, and especially on moonless nights, the wonder of the stars. With no light or air pollution at all, the sky was just ablaze and I would lie there until sleep finally came just staring at the magic of it all, with silence all around and just the gentle lapping of an almost flat sea.

One night I awoke to a scuffling sound and switching on my torch saw thousands of crabs scuttling away through the sand away from the torch light.

Up with the sun, we would draw lots so that two of us remained to prepare breakfast whilst the rest had an early dive. When coming out of the sea after our dive we would be met with the aroma of breakfast - eggs, beef bacon and sausage cooking in an enormous frying pan on a bottle gas burner.

The diving here was perfect, crystal clear water with an abundance of coral and fish life. Occasionally we saw huge turtles that we could swim with and hold on to their shells whilst they pulled us along.

After an afternoon dive we would pack everything up except the kettle and burner, then sit and watch the sun set over the sea whilst having a mug of tea, before setting off back to Jeddah.

Note: Since the above in the late 80’s, the world’s largest water desalination plant has been built at Shoaiba where we used to dive, along with a power station, tanker terminal and small support town. The lighting from the 24 hour operation of the plant and the town can be seen for miles and the damage to the sea life and beach from its operation is apparently extensive.

The environmental effects of desalination - BBC News