Can beginners scuba dive at Sporting Club Beach?

Yes. Beginners are taken through a full surface briefing before entering the water and dive shallow, in a small group or one-on-one, with PADI instructor Bassam Boukeili. No prior certification is needed for a guided beginner dive.

Where do the dives take place?

Along the Ras Beirut shoreline from Sporting Club Beach, with deeper underwater features near Raouche (the Pigeon Rocks) when sea conditions allow.

Do I need my own equipment?

No. Equipment is provided or arranged as part of the dive plan, and divers are welcome to bring their own gear if they prefer.

What happens if the sea is rough?

The dive is moved to a calmer route or rescheduled. Conditions decide what is possible; a session is never pushed when the sea is not ready for it.

Learning to Scuba Dive in Beirut

Name: Sporting Club Beach
Address: Manara, Ras Beirut, Beirut, Beirut, LB
Telephone: +961 1 742 200
Price range: $$

You can learn to dive in the middle of Beirut. Not from a boat an hour down the coast — from the rocky shore at Sporting Club Beach, on the same stretch of Ras Beirut coastline the club has occupied since 1953.

This is a short, honest guide to a first dive here: what it is, who runs it, and what actually happens on the day.

Who leads the dives

Scuba at Sporting is run by Bassam Boukeili, a PADI-accredited instructor who has been diving the Beirut coast for years. He takes both complete beginners and certified divers, and the two are handled differently — beginners get a full briefing on the surface before going anywhere near the water; certified divers plan a dive that matches the day's conditions.

Sessions are deliberately small — private, or a handful of divers at most. This is not a conveyor belt.

Where you dive

The standard route runs along the Ras Beirut shoreline, with deeper underwater features near Raouche — the Pigeon Rocks — when the sea allows. The Mediterranean here is rocky rather than reefy: walls, boulders, the occasional fish that has learned the spot. It is a genuinely interesting place to put your head underwater, and very few people in Beirut think to do it.

Equipment is provided or arranged depending on the dive plan, and divers are welcome to bring their own gear.

What a first dive is like

A beginner session is mostly preparation and reassurance. You are briefed on the surface — how the gear works, how to breathe, how to equalise, the few hand signals that matter — before you ever submerge. Then you go in slowly, in a small group or one-on-one, and stay shallow. The point of a first dive is not depth; it is the strange, quiet fact of breathing underwater for the first time.

If the sea is rough or visibility is poor, the dive is moved to a calmer route or rescheduled. Bassam plans around the conditions rather than against them — which is the right instinct, and the safe one. For general context on diving in the country, PADI's Lebanon page is a reasonable starting point.

How to arrange it

Dives are arranged through the club. Start on the scuba diving page, or call the club office on +961 1 742 200 (daily, 08:30–19:00) to plan a session. A club day pass covers your access to the shore on the day of the dive.

Frequently asked

Can beginners scuba dive at Sporting Club Beach?: Yes. Beginners are taken through a full surface briefing before entering the water and dive shallow, in a small group or one-on-one, with PADI instructor Bassam Boukeili. No prior certification is needed for a guided beginner dive.
Where do the dives take place?: Along the Ras Beirut shoreline from Sporting Club Beach, with deeper underwater features near Raouche (the Pigeon Rocks) when sea conditions allow.
Do I need my own equipment?: No. Equipment is provided or arranged as part of the dive plan, and divers are welcome to bring their own gear if they prefer.
What happens if the sea is rough?: The dive is moved to a calmer route or rescheduled. Conditions decide what is possible; a session is never pushed when the sea is not ready for it.