Staying Home Sucks, home
Thuwal ruins - panoramio
Thuwal, the nearest town, 15 km away. Photo: juhotski, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Al Fahal North

Dive site · Saudi Arabia

Advanced divers and up

Is it worth the trip?

77Good out of 100 for your dates

Home sucks

2 days tie for best

Each day of your trip, out of 100

Tue 3 · 79 out of 100

Sea
0.3 m
Wind
7 kn
Gusts
11kn
Air
31°C

Wed 4 · 78 out of 100

Sea
0.3 m
Wind
7 kn
Gusts
11kn
Air
30°C

Thu 5 · 77 out of 100

Sea
0.6 m
Wind
4 kn
Gusts
7kn
Air
30°C

Fri 6 · 77 out of 100

Sea
0.5 m
Wind
7 kn
Gusts
12kn
Air
30°C

Sat 7 · 79 out of 100

Sea
0.3 m
Wind
2 kn
Gusts
8kn
Air
30°C

Sun 8 · 77 out of 100

Sea
0.5 m
Wind
8 kn
Gusts
15kn
Air
30°C

Mon 9 · 64 out of 100

Sea
1.2 m
Wind
13 kn
Gusts
24kn
Air
29°C

Tap a day for sea, wind and water. Full forecast

Forecast: next 10 days

Full forecast
  1. Mon 278, good
  2. Tue 379, good
  3. Wed 478, good
  4. Thu 577, good
  5. Fri 677, good
  6. Sat 779, good
  7. Sun 877, good
  8. Mon 964, good
  9. Tue 1070, good
  10. Wed 1171, good

The site in five facts

  • Down to 20 mits deepest
  • From a boathow you get in
  • Advancedand up
  • Water 30 °Crash vest or 1 to 2 mm
  • Faces Wswell from there reaches it

Full forecast

every day, every number

The score doesn't know currents, the visibility on the day or your certification.

Suits Advanced divers and up, as a dive guide states it. Scored for Advanced divers.

Sea and wind forecast and score for each day at Al Fahal North
DayScoreSeaWindGustsAir
Mon 2Nov78, good0.4 m6 kn9kn31°C
Tue 3Nov79, good0.3 m7 kn11kn31°C
Wed 4Nov78, good0.3 m7 kn11kn30°C
Thu 5Nov77, good0.6 m4 kn7kn30°C
Fri 6Nov77, good0.5 m7 kn12kn30°C
Sat 7Nov79, good0.3 m2 kn8kn30°C
Sun 8Nov77, good0.5 m8 kn15kn30°C
Mon 9Nov64, good1.2 m13 kn24kn29°C
Tue 10Nov70, good1.1 m7 kn16kn29°C
Wed 11Nov71, good1.1 m8 kn17kn29°C

Sea is the waves near the site, in metres; wind and gusts in knots. "Boats in": gusts that keep dive boats in. More

Tide

  • Mon 2 NovLow 06:45 −0.2 mHigh 13:37 +0.0 mLow 19:36 −0.2 m
  • Tue 3 NovHigh 01:33 −0.0 mLow 07:57 −0.2 mHigh 14:45 +0.0 mLow 20:46 −0.2 m
  • Wed 4 NovHigh 03:16 +0.0 mLow 09:00 −0.2 mHigh 15:35 +0.1 mLow 21:43 −0.2 m

Local clock times; heights about mean sea level. On open coasts the times are usually within a quarter of an hour; in bays, estuaries and on the Gulf of Mexico they can be an hour or more out. Slack water, the safest time to dive where there is current, is about half an hour either side of each high and low. Tide: EOT20 global ocean tide model, Hart-Davis et al. 2021, DGFI-TUM (doi:10.17882/79489), CC BY 4.0. Times and heights computed by us. A model, not a tide table: check a local table before you go.

Forecast updated . It refreshes every three hours. Forecast data: ECMWF, DWD, Météo-France and NOAA, served by Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0). Changed by us. Generated using E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information.

Map

the site and its town

Each place wears its best day on these dates: green good, amber fair, pale red poor, as the key says.

The map needs JavaScript. Every place on it is listed on this page, and each place's page links to Google Maps.

One finger scrolls the page; two fingers move the map. Pins are our own positions. Map OpenFreeMap, © OpenMapTiles, data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

More diving near here

4 places

About

the place in full, sources, credits

About Al Fahal North

A reef dive. It goes down to 20 m. You get in from a boat. It suits Advanced divers and up, as a dive guide states it. The coast faces W: swell from the W reaches it, and wind from the E blows out to sea. No dive centre within 50 km on the map: book a liveaboard or a boat from further off. The sea is about 25°C in February, its coldest month (3 mm wetsuit), and 32°C in August, its warmest (rash vest or 1 to 2 mm). The town to stay in is Thuwal. Within 5 km we also list 1 dive site.

  • What it is Reef.
  • How deep Down to 20 m.
  • Getting in From a boat.
  • Who it suits Suits Advanced divers and up, as a dive guide states it.
  • Dive centres No dive centre within 50 km on the map: book a liveaboard or a boat from further off.

Water about 30°C: rash vest or 1 to 2 mm. Typical sea temperature for the time of year, not a forecast.

Visibility about 15 m. Typical for the time of year, estimated from ten years of NASA satellite water clarity, not a forecast. Clearest in Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep (about 15 m).

The score is the conditions only: the journey, the price and the partners never change it (how we score, how we earn).

Rough cost (estimate): about US$1,230–US$2,400 each

about US$1,230–US$2,400 each · 6 nights, 2 sharing: flights, hire car, stay, food.

Our estimate from typical public prices, not a quote: check the real prices before you book (where they come from). Prices are about, in US Dollar (USD): our pound figures at the European Central Bank's rate of 2 November 2026.

How we worked it out 
Rough cost per person for this trip
WhatHow we worked it outEach
Flightsreturn ORD to JED, estimated from distance and season, changing at LHR, full-service airlines, with a hold bagabout US$711–US$1,480
Hire car6 days, sharedabout US$101–US$174
Stay6 nights, a mid-range double, sharedabout US$201–US$329
Food7 days eating outabout US$221–US$416
Totalabout US$1,230–US$2,400

Guided dives are not priced yet: we have no sourced price, so it is not in it. Prices from public sources, checked in 2026.

Where to stay: Thuwal

Ad Links marked Ad may pay us if you book. You pay the same, and they never change a score. How we earn

Closest

Thuwal

about 30 min by car · 1 place to stay

See 1 place to stay in Thuwal · Booking.com

About Thuwal its beds, food and every spot near it

Nearest town: Thuwal, 15 km. We have not checked places to stay in Thuwal yet. The nearest beds we have counted are in Rābigh, 55 km away. Search before you plan on staying there.

Drives are estimates. Prices are about, in US Dollar (USD): our pound figures at the European Central Bank's rate of 2 November 2026.

Getting there: about 23h 30m

About 23h 30m door to door from Chicago

Fly ORD → JED, changing at London Heathrow Airport (LHR), then 1h 35m by road

An estimate, one way; the journey never changes the score.

In the water

Dive centres nearby

No dive centre mapped within 50 km.

Dive centres: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Credits

What you might see

Too few records at this site itself, so these are the animals divers and surveys have recorded at other sites within 25 km in the last 15 years. A record says someone saw it there, not that you will.

  • Pseudanthias squamipinnis

    Seen in 4 records.

  • Pygmy Toby Canthigaster pygmaea

    Seen in 3 records.

  • Dusky Cherub Centropyge multispinis

    Seen in 3 records.

  • Six-line wrasse Pseudocheilinus hexataenia

    Seen in 3 records.

  • Pseudochromis fridmani

    Seen in 3 records.

  • Pycnochromis dimidiatus

    Seen in 3 records.

Records: OBIS (Ocean Biodiversity Information System, IOC-UNESCO) and GBIF.org (1 November 2026, doi:10.15468/dl.jeesns), from the datasets named here, CC0 and CC BY records only. Names: WoRMS and GBIF; common names from the Catalogue of Life, the GBIF Backbone and Wikidata. Largest datasets here: d6af0fac-8a21-4d77-8872-f10d471fc0cf; e4dacf5c-6bfa-493e-8699-d65c31435107. Credits

This week's visibility and the current no free forecast gives. Ask a dive centre before you book.

Saved: this link opens the same trip

Email itRemind me to book

The link holds the trip itself: nothing about you is kept. Check the forecast again before you book.