500 Dive Log Celebrations

Welcome All, 

Another full boat at the weekend which is good to see. We decided to head to the Jumbo and Neptune on the basis that the viz has been good to exceptional lately. In that we were to be slightly disappointed. This is not to say the viz was bad, but it wasn’t quite the clarity of recent visits. Still, the sea was more or less flat, so we made good time out there and the air temperature is pretty much perfect at the moment.
The anchor hooked in near the stern of the Jumbo and we had a leisurely swim around. There was a shoal of Barracuda around the hull side as well as a family of Batfish that were our buddies for a good part of the dive. There were also the usual shoals of Snappers.
The second dive was on the Neptune, where the viz was slightly better (as it appeared to me at any rate – opinions differed). The fish life was similar, if not quite as plentiful and the Neptune now has a lot of openings to explore.

Angela encountered a round piece of metal which seemed worth investigating and ultimately led to her practicing an “underwater bowline with gloves”. I’m not sure the Girl Guides would have given her many marks out of ten. After that it was back to the club for what turned out to be an extended post-dive by the pool. 

A couple of weeks ago, Angela left her torch at the club after the diving. This time, she was determined not to make the same mistake and after packing up announced: “I think I’ve got everything this time!” She then left without her entire dive bag. Cue some choice comments on WhatsApp.

​Last weekend was a landmark of sorts. Since December 2007, I’ve been maintaining a spreadsheet, recording the diving done by the club and Friday was entry number 500. It’s interesting to think what the total would be if everything had been recorded since the formation of the club. For the record, entry number 1 was on 21st December 2007 when we went to the Mariam Express and the Jumbo. The divers were me, Heike Glassner, Peter and Oliver Jackson and John Raven. Of these, Peter and I are obviously still here, Oliver pops in from time to time and Heike has returned to Germany. John used to work at the American University of Sharjah (AUS) but I haven’t heard from or of him for a while.

The weekly email started at around the same time but some of the early ones are missing so I can’t say what kind of day we had.

The Dive Club meets every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar.
See you there!