Technical diving · Aqaba
The 100 m+ club
Few divers in the world have been below 100 metres. Here are the ones who dived there from Aqaba.
Where it started
The first recreational trimix dive in Aqaba took place on 31 May 2007. Rod Abbotson and Everette Ingram dived the Aqaba Blue Hole at the Power Station to 102 m. Their bottom gas was Tmx14/33, with air as travel and decompression gas and EANx60 for the final stages, for a run time of 84 minutes. Two deep pinnacles drop from 70 m to 90 m, with a slope to a deep wall at 100 m. The dive went from one pinnacle to the other along the edge of the wall.
Exploring these depths takes a lot of tanks, excellent buoyancy control, lots of dives and full trimix certification. Patience is one of the most important qualities of a technical diver.
The records
| Diver | Depth | Dive |
|---|---|---|
| Rod Abbotson | 167 m | Deepest dive from Aqaba, closed-circuit rebreather, July 2011, with Mark Ellyatt, Huw Lovell and George Ionita |
| Dorit | 144 m | Deepest open-circuit dive in Aqaba, 2009, and the deepest female diver in Jordan and Israel |
| Amjad Sulaibi | 136 m | Deepest dive by a Jordanian, open circuit, November 2016, after six months of preparation. An earlier dive to 122 m on 23 May 2016 had set the previous mark |
The 100 m+ list
Dives to 100 m and beyond with Dive Aqaba, from the deepest down. Names are first names, as the divers were presented on our old site.
| Diver | Depth | Dive |
|---|---|---|
| Elliot | 120 m | With Rod and Amjad, after full trimix training |
| George | 120 m | With Rod on Pelagian rebreathers, to the top of a deep crevasse off Neptune’s Wall that is still unexplored |
| Warren | 115 m | At the end of a visit with several deep tec dives beyond 110 m |
| Roel, Alan, Thaer and Valerie | 111 m | A team dive after a week of warm-up dives and planning |
| Daniel | 110 m | On a Pelagian rebreather, after completing the PSAI 100m Explorer course |
| George | 106 m | During the preparation dives for the Super Falcon project, with Rod and Steve Grace |
| Five technical instructors from Eilat | 105 m | At the Power Station, enjoying the reef all the way up during decompression |
| Eyal | 103 m | With Rod and Boaz Somorai |
| Valery | 103 m | On rebreathers at the Power Station, with Rod and Warren |
| Everette Ingram | 102 m | The first recreational trimix dive in Aqaba, 31 May 2007, at the Aqaba Blue Hole, with Rod |
| Ahmad | 101 m | 2011, one of many tec dives with us that year |
| David, Richard, Naka, Phil, Nick, Matt, Amanda, Tarek and Wael | 100 m | Dives with Rod and Amjad after trimix training and several weeks or weekends of warm-up dives, between 2009 and 2014 |
Your turn?
After you gain your Tec Trimix certification, our team can help you build up experience gradually and prepare for greater depths. If you want a planned route to 100+ m, read about the Tsereve Challenge.
The Dive Aqaba challenge
The Tsereve Challenge: Everest in reverse
100+ metres is the Mount Everest of scuba diving. Far fewer people have dived that deep than have stood on top of Everest. Our six-day programme takes you from 65 m to 100+ m, a little deeper every day.
Final programme: five days of technical diving, helium, boat and logistics, an achievement certificate and a Tsereve t-shirt.
Plan a technical dive
Tell us your certification and the depth you have in mind. Call or message us on WhatsApp: +962 79 669 9008.