Located in the northwestern region of the Arabian Gulf, Kuwait has a coastline of around 100 miles. The coastal waters are generally shallow and are strongly influenced by the extreme climatic conditions - on land, summer temperatures rise above 50 C, falling close to freezing in the winter, and strong winds are comon throughout the year. Sea temperature range from 35C down to 13C - these extreme temperatures are one reason for the limited number of coral reef species present on Kuwait's reefs. The Shatt Al-Arab waterway, flowing down through Iraq, carries high amounts of sediment, large amounts of which are deposited along Kuwait's northern coastline and strong winds and currents can stir up the sediment causing poor visibility. And, if all that is not enough, high rates of evaporation lead to higher than normal salinity throughout the Arabian Gulf - don't forget your weight belt!

We had hoped to be able to dive in the Gulf during our time in Kuwait but unfortunately the weather has been against us and the sea too rough to go out. (However, when I say rough I don't mean the kind of rough seas that we experience in the UK - but the waters around Kuwait are so shallow that even the smallest waves mean visibility of a few feet). However, after meeting Callum Girvan and Sarah Stoneham, who have run the BBR Dive Centre in Kuwait City for the past five and a half years, we were able to do the next best thing – a dive in the aquarium at the Scientific Centre in Kuwait City.

The aquarium is the largest in the Middle East and the exhibit tanks contain around one hundred different species of animal – sharks, rays, tropical fish, live corals and jellyfish. After a dry tour of the aquarium with Tony McEwen, the curator, it was time to get into the main tank with one of the aquarium employees, armed with a stick (we were assured that the Ragged-tooth sharks were quite friendly and this was just a precautionary measure!). The water was a pleasant 22 degrees – unlike the water of the Gulf, which can be as low as 15 degrees at this time of year – and we began our first circuit of the tank. After the initial feeling of ‘wow, I’m swimming round a giant fish bowl’ had worn off, it was wonderful to be able to swim amongst such a diverse collection of fish, particularly as they are used to seeing divers and so were not bothered by us being there. The rock and corals in the main tank are artificial and we soon found ourselves doing what we tell beginner divers not to do – pulling ourselves across the rock to get a closer look at a particular fish, and sitting in the sand at the bottom of the tank, gently stroking the back of the Guitarfish! There are plenty of characters – the Puffer with a penchant for fin straps; the turtles who cannot resist nibbling fingers and ears (hence the need for gloves and hood!); and the six-foot Moray Eel who likes to lie across the legs of divers when they are hard at work cleaning the tank!

Our dive over, we waited for the arrival of the volunteer cleaning team. The volunteer program was the idea of Callum and Sarah – cleaning the tanks has been compared to the task of painting the Forth Bridge and the volunteers make an important contribution. Alyssa Sultan, the program coordinator, paired me with Sarah and, armed with a stick and a scrubbing brush, it was back into the water once more. After plugging in the ‘underwater hoover’ one person cleaned while the other stood guard, keeping an eye on the sharks as they circled gently overhead. It soon became apparent how much work goes into keeping the tanks clean – after an hour of hard scrubbing we had only moved a few metres from our starting point! There are plans to open the aquarium to recreational divers – and with such a high concentration of marine life it must surely rate as one of Kuwait’s best dive sites!

For further information about the Scientific Centre in Kuwait please visit their website – www.tsck.org.kw. For information regarding diving in Kuwait see the BBR wesbite – www.bbrdive.com.