Secrets of the Red Sea: Saudi’s Bayada Island
Bayada Island is just 40 minutes off Jeddah, but it feels a world away—clear waters, soft sand, and coral reefs made for lazy snorkels.
Just 40 minutes off the coast of Jeddah, somewhere between the city’s buzz and the open sea, lies Bayada Island—a stretch of soft white sand drifting in the middle of the Red Sea.
No hotels. No cafés. No built-up beach clubs. Just open water, shallow sandbanks, and a reef-rich coastline that turns a simple day trip into something that feels a little unreal.
You pack light—towel, swimsuit, sunscreen, maybe a cooler—and head out on a chartered boat. Music plays over the waves. Friends lounge on inflatable floats. Someone passes around fresh fruit under the sun. It’s casual and unfussy, all about slow living and salt on your skin.
Some come to switch off completely—toes in the sand, sky above, sea all around. Others slip on snorkels and drift toward the real highlight: the reef.
Just meters from shore, the water opens into a kaleidoscope of marine life and tiny ecosystems humming with color—darting clownfish, silver schools flickering like sequins, coral gardens swaying gently with the current, and the occasional turtle gliding calmly past.
By late afternoon, the light softens and boats slowly begin pointing back to the marina. The island quiets, leaving behind only footprints in the sand and a shimmer in the air.
Perhaps Bayada Island’s charm lies in its refusal to be anything more than what it is—a floating breath of fresh air, anchored in the heart of the Red Sea.
