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Dalma Island is a large island 43 km northwest of Jebel Dhanna ferry terminal.
It has a population of about 10,000 people, many of whom work on farms on the island.
Some information on the island itself can be found at https://dalmaisland.com/?lang=en
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Directions and access:
There are now regular ferries from Jebel Dhanna to Dalma Island, crossing takes appx. 120 minutes.
For Boat Departure / Arrival inquiries kindly call D.O.T on 80088888
For the timetable of the new car-ferry go to https://tickets.admaritime.ae/#/week-schedule
The cost is appx. AED 100 per car plus AED 20 per person.
ID required (either UAE ID card, Driving Licence or Passport) and vehicle registration card.
You need to purchase tickets online at https://tickets.admaritime.ae/#/
A motel is open on the island.
As of January 2025, the prices on a non-holiday weekend night were roughly 300 AED for 1 person and 450 AED for two.
It is decidedly not a top establishment and does not have a restaurant, but it was clean and the beds were comfortable.
Phone the hotel on +971 2 878 1222.
Camping is also possible on the beach in the winter.
Birds:
Might this be the best UAE migrant and vagrant hotspot? The birding potential is huge, but it is rarely visited.
Between 1990-2009 it was visited 1 time.
Between 2010-2015 it was visited 25 times, and that is not a lot.
189 species (excluding escapes) have been recorded as of January 2025.
Notable records include;
- Red-billed Tropicbird
- Black-eared Kite
- Pallas's Gull (regular Dec-March)
- Saunders's Tern (regular spring to autumn)
- Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse
- Namaqua Dove
- Egyptian Nightjar
- Little Swift (wintered 2014/15)
- Indian Roller (!!)
- Bay-backed Shrike (1990)
- Masked Shrike
- Asian Paradise Flycatcher (first for Western Palearctic 27 Oct 2011)
- Hypocolius (regular each winter)
- Calandra Lark
- Lesser Short-toed Lark
- Yellow-browed Warbler
- Great Reed Warbler
- Common Grasshopper Warbler
- Common Blackbird (2011)
- Black-throated Thrush
- Eversmann's Redstart
- European Robin
- Mourning Wheatear
- Pale Rockfinch
- Yellow-throated Sparrow
- Long-billed Pipit
- Buff-bellied Pipit
- Brambling
Birding strategy:
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Be sure to check all of the green spaces, especially the wooded areas around the library and Water Treatment Plant (access may be an issue, but you can ask for permission to walk through the fenced wooded area around the WTP – try showing the Ebird Delma Island page). The large grassy roundabouts at the back of the town area are great for pipits.
Simon Lloyd writes:
Delma seems to comprise of mainly vegetation-less volcanic rock, but there are plenty of plantations and farms around the coastal road. By far the most interesting place was a very long plantation, oddly named the Cornish Forest, that stretched the whole length of the west coast. I successfully gained access in the morning and was able to walk the whole length and back in about 3 hours.
See images prepared by Graham Talbot below.
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