🇸🇦Saudi Arabia

Do not dive without confirmation of accredited dive-center status, skipper/guide credentials, voyage authorization, site suitability, weather, current, oxygen, radio, surface pickup, emergency evacuation, insurance and a no-fly interval appropriate to the dive profile. Ann Ann and remote Farasan Banks walls may require advanced experience; wreck penetration is a separate overhead specialty. Avoid solo breath-hold dives and hyperventilation. Evaluate Jazan and offshore routes against updated border/security notices. If decompression illness or arterial gas embolism is suspected, stop diving, administer emergency oxygen if trained and available, arrange immediate local emergency care and seek dive-medicine advice. Do not self-treat by returning underwater.

Larger cities such as Jeddah have hospitals; Dr. Soliman Fakeeh Hospital advertises a hyperbaric oxygen service and treatment of decompression sickness, but chamber operating status and admission readiness for an individual event must be confirmed. Remote Banks, Farasan Islands and resort islands have longer evacuation chains; charter operators need a written plan for rapid medical transfer and oxygen. Call Saudi emergency services first. DAN maintains a 24-hour international dive emergency consultation line at +1-919-684-9111 after local EMS is contacted. Insurance should cover diving depth, recompression where available, evacuation, and, crucially, any exclusion tied to active government travel warnings.

Saudi protected marine areas are regulated through wildlife and marine authorities rather than one universal tourist reef permit. UNESCO recognizes the Juzur Farasan biosphere reserve for reefs, seagrass, mangroves, turtles, dugong and migratory birds; the Saudi National Center for Wildlife manages protected-area visitor permissions. Follow no-touch and no-take practice; do not stand on coral, anchor on reefs, collect shells/coral/turtle eggs, chase megafauna or disturb nesting sites. Use existing moorings and authorized guides. In the Red Sea resort lagoon, restricted zones and operator regulations may be tighter than a normal public beach.