Buoys and navigation marks in Dubai and Abu Dhabi

This guide does not replace training, current charts, or weather checks.

Steps

Read the mark in front of you against the Dubai guide. This page does not transfer that code onto Abu Dhabi water. The Abu Dhabi sheet checked with this guide does not describe lateral or cardinal marks.

Coming into a port or a channel

• The Dubai boating safety guide says lateral marks show the starboard and port sides of a waterway when you are heading into a port or a channel: green, cone-shaped, is the right side into the port, and red, cylinder-shaped, is the left side. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide says a boat entering a navigation channel must be aligned with the green buoys. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)

Cardinal marks

• The Dubai guide says cardinal buoys mark north, south, east and west, and that the direction named is the side on which you pass the buoy to avoid the danger. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide says you pass a north cardinal mark on its north side. Its upper half is black and its lower half is yellow. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide says you pass an east cardinal mark on its east side. The upper and lower parts are black and the middle is yellow. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide says you pass a south cardinal mark on its south side. Its upper half is yellow and its lower half is black. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide says you pass a west cardinal mark on its west side. The upper and lower parts are yellow and the middle is black. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)

Safe water, isolated danger, special marks

• The Dubai guide says a safe-water mark means the water around it is safe from all directions. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide colours that safe-water mark with white and red vertical stripes. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide says an isolated-danger mark shows a risk directly under the buoy, such as a sinking ship or a navigational obstacle under the water. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide says special marks pick out an area unfit for navigation, such as a military training area, or construction in a port or around an oil platform. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide colours a special mark yellow, with a yellow X on top, and a yellow light. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)

What you do not do with a mark

• The Dubai guide says not to use a navigational buoy to moor the boat. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide says it is illegal and dangerous to tie up to navigational aids, and to anchor in channels. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)

Abu Dhabi

In Abu Dhabi, follow the current safety map for the zone you are in. The general channel limit below applies only where that map has not set a different speed.

• Abu Dhabi Maritime prints general speed rules for where the speed is not otherwise restricted. A marked zone on the current safety map overrides the general rule. (source, Abu Dhabi, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Abu Dhabi sheet sets a maximum of 20 knots in channels, unless a valid marine event permit authorises something else. (source, Abu Dhabi, checked 2026-10-28)

A practical example

This is a decision story. It names no bay, no coordinate and no depth.

A boat entering a channel in Dubai sees green cone marks to starboard and red can marks to port. The skipper keeps the green marks on the starboard side and does not tie a line to either mark while waiting. A yellow mark with a yellow cross is treated as a special mark, not as safe water.

The same skipper in Abu Dhabi does not assume the next mark uses the Dubai colours. The skipper uses the current Abu Dhabi safety map, and where no other limit is marked, the printed channel speed.

Common mistakes

• Remembering "red right returning" from somewhere else. The Dubai guide, when heading into the port, puts green on the right.
• Passing a cardinal mark on the side that matches its name, from the wrong direction, so you drive toward the danger the mark is standing on.
• Treating a yellow special mark as a safe-water mark because both are "not red and green".
• Mooring to a buoy because it is convenient.
• The Dubai guide says not to use a navigational buoy to moor the boat. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)

Checklist

• You know whether you are heading into the port or leaving it before you read a lateral mark.
• The Dubai boating safety guide says lateral marks show the starboard and port sides of a waterway when you are heading into a port or a channel: green, cone-shaped, is the right side into the port, and red, cylinder-shaped, is the left side. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• For a cardinal mark, you can say which side the Dubai guide tells you to pass.
• The Dubai guide colours that safe-water mark with white and red vertical stripes. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide colours a special mark yellow, with a yellow X on top, and a yellow light. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• In Abu Dhabi you are using the current safety map, not this Dubai list, for the mark in front of you.

When to stop or seek help

Stop and keep clear when you do not recognise the mark, when the colours do not match the shape you expected, or when you would have to guess which side is safe. A mark you do not understand is a reason to slow down and stand off, not a reason to improvise.

The Dubai guide says it is illegal and dangerous to tie up to navigational aids, and to anchor in channels. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)

The Dubai guide says an isolated-danger mark shows a risk directly under the buoy, such as a sinking ship or a navigational obstacle under the water. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)

Sources checked for this guide

• https://pcfc.ae/en/DMA/Marine%20Guides/Boating%20Safety%20Guide.pdf — Dubai, checked 2026-10-28.
• https://www.admaritime.ae/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/abu-dhabi-maritime-safety-maps-general-updated.pdf — Abu Dhabi, checked 2026-10-28.