Navigation lights for a small boat in Dubai and Abu Dhabi

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

Steps

Match the boat in front of you to the Dubai guide before you decide what it is doing. The colours below are from that guide. This page does not describe an Abu Dhabi lighting code, because the Abu Dhabi safety map checked on the same day does not print one.

What the Dubai guide says the lights mean

• The Dubai boating safety guide says navigation lights are used at night, and in restricted visibility during the day. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide says the lights consist of a green light on the starboard side and a red light on the port side. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide says those side lights must each illuminate an arc of 112.5 degrees. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide describes a forward white light illuminating 225 degrees. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide describes an aft white light illuminating 135 degrees. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)

Small power boats

• The Dubai guide says a power-driven marine craft less than 12 metres long must show one of the light combinations in its list. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• One combination in that Dubai list is side lights, mast lights and stern lights. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• Another combination is side lights, or combined lights, plus an all-round white light. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide also allows an all-round light for a marine craft less than 7 metres long whose speed is less than 7 knots. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)

The Dubai guide prints more than one range list. Use the row that matches the length of the boat. This page quotes the rows. It does not merge them.

• For marine craft of 12 metres and more, but less than 50 metres, the Dubai guide lists a mast light of 5 miles, except 3 miles when the craft is less than 20 metres, sidelights of 2 miles and a stern light of 2 miles. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The same Dubai page says the illumination range should not be less than a mastlight of 2 miles, a sidelight of 1 mile and a sternlight of 2 miles. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)

Sailing, rowing, and boats that cannot manoeuvre

• The Dubai guide says sailing marine craft should show side and aft lights. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• If the sailing craft is less than 20 metres, the Dubai guide says a combined light may be fixed at or near the top of the mast, where it can be clearly seen. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide says sailing craft less than 7 metres, and rowing craft, should show one white all-round light. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide says the mast headlight should not be used with the combination light. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide says an anchored marine craft of 50 metres or longer should show two all-round lights, front higher than rear, and that if the craft is less than 50 metres the lower light at the rear is optional. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide says a marine craft not under command must show two all-round red lights and, when underway, the side and rear lights. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide says a marine craft restricted in her ability to manoeuvre must show three all-round lights, red at the top and bottom and white in the middle. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• By day, the Dubai guide says two black balls are used for marine craft longer than 12 metres that cannot manoeuvre or cruise. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• By day, the Dubai guide says two black balls with a black diamond between them are used for marine craft with limited manoeuvring ability. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• The Dubai guide says a power-driven sailing marine craft uses a head-down black cone. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)

At night, and when you cannot see

• The Dubai guide says to take extra caution near passenger ships and commercial craft, because bright deck lights make navigation lights hard to pick out, and to stay away from them. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• In restricted visibility, the Dubai guide says to reduce speed to the minimum and proceed with caution. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)

Abu Dhabi

For Abu Dhabi, use the speed rule that is actually printed on the safety map. Do not copy a Dubai light range onto an Abu Dhabi chart.

• 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 all waters at night, from sunset to sunrise. (source, Abu Dhabi, checked 2026-10-28)

A practical example

This is a decision story. It names no harbour entrance, no waypoint and no depth.

After sunset in Dubai, a small power boat sees a red light and a green light ahead at the same time, plus a white light. The skipper treats that as a boat roughly ahead, slows down, and does not cross its bow to "get a better look". If the deck of a large ship is a blaze of working lights, the skipper stays away rather than guessing which light is the navigation light.

The same evening in Abu Dhabi, the skipper still does not invent a Dubai light range as if it were printed on the Abu Dhabi map. The skipper does apply the printed night speed limit, unless a marked zone on the current map sets something else.

Common mistakes

• Assuming a white deck light on a ship is its stern light or its mast light.
• Showing every light the boat has, including a mast headlight together with a combination light.
• Using the under-7-metre all-round option on a faster or longer boat because it is simpler.
• Reading an Abu Dhabi night speed limit as a Dubai lighting rule, or the other way round.
• The Dubai guide says the mast headlight should not be used with the combination light. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)

Checklist

• You know which length row in the Dubai guide matches this boat.
• The Dubai guide says a power-driven marine craft less than 12 metres long must show one of the light combinations in its list. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• Side lights are green to starboard and red to port, as the Dubai guide describes.
• You have a working all-round or mast-and-stern arrangement that the guide allows for this boat, and you have tested it.
• The Dubai boating safety guide says navigation lights are used at night, and in restricted visibility during the day. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)
• In Abu Dhabi at night you have read the current map, not only the general 20-knot line.

When to stop or seek help

Stop guessing when you cannot tell the other boat's lights from deck lights, when a light on your own boat has failed, or when visibility drops. Slow down. Keep clear. Do not invent a light pattern that is not in the guide you are using.

In restricted visibility, the Dubai guide says to reduce speed to the minimum and proceed with caution. (source, Dubai, checked 2026-10-28)

The Dubai guide says to take extra caution near passenger ships and commercial craft, because bright deck lights make navigation lights hard to pick out, and to stay away from them. (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.