Al Wajh Lagoon and Red Sea Resort Islands

• Use authorized resort and licensed/accredited dive guides, stay in specifically approved marine areas and follow site briefings. The Authority says yacht-based diving/swimming must use accredited diving centers.
• Galaxea conditions identify signed waivers, medical certificates and possible weather cancellations. Check whether the medical form must be completed before travel.
• Demand exact certification, course/instructor, exit options, depths, maximum current, boat support, fuel/communications and surface marker protocols for the planned site.
• Al Wajh field research describes exposed wind events, channel currents and changing lagoon/outer-reef water characteristics. Do not swim into boat lanes or outside an assigned area.
• Require a written emergency plan and oxygen details. Ascend/dive within your training, stay with the group, respect no-fly intervals after scuba, and report symptoms promptly.
• Neither free shore entry, night swimming, overhead/technical profiles nor independent deep breath-hold sessions are verified by the provided operator evidence.

Visit Red Sea's Shebara listing identifies an accessible on-island medical center; its staffing, emergency capabilities and dive-accident treatment capacity were not independently documented. No functioning guest-accessible recompression chamber on Shebara, Ummahat or Shura was verified. Before booking, ask who provides initial stabilization and oxygen, which boat or aircraft carries patients, the receiving hospital, evacuation time assumptions under poor weather and the recompression referral plan. Saudi ambulance is 997; marine Border Guard is 994 according Saudi Red Sea Authority. DAN has a 24/7 diving emergency line at +1-919-684-9111. In an emergency call local responders first; DAN can assist with dive-medical coordination. Check insurance limits, not merely marketing claims.

The lagoon ecosystem includes reef, mangrove and seagrass, bird colonies and turtle nesting habitat. Red Sea Global documented a 2026 mangrove restoration effort; restoration areas must not be assumed visitor attractions. Saudi Red Sea Authority advises visitors not to touch or feed wildlife, collect coral or shells, dump waste, or anchor on coral and seagrass beds; visits to sensitive areas may require authorization. Maintain buoyancy, use only designated routes and moorings, limit noise and artificial light, stay away from nests, never pursue turtles or other animals and follow local guides. Reef-fish marketing and protected-species presence are not encounter guarantees. Photography and drone permission must be checked separately.