Last Tuesday was Harry and Karen’s last fling in the Dive Club (for now at any rate) and we all had a few drinks to see him off. My memories of their previous leaving parties are a bit hazy but this one was good and we look forward to the next one!

At the weekend we got back out on the water. The initial target was Karen’s Dhow, which we dive quite a lot these days – there’s plenty of fish life and it’s nice to bring back some glassware for the mantelpiece. We hooked a bit of coral rather than the wreck itself but Mike D and Derek followed the right bearing (and field of debris) and found the wreckage.

For the second dive, we decided to investigate some co-ordinates we have been given courtesy of Mr Lugg. There are three targets close to the dhows so this seemed like a good opportunity. At the zero point, there was nothing visible on the echo sounder but trawling round we did indeed find something interesting on the seabed. Unfortunately, despite a couple of circular searches, nothing was found apart from a few stray bits of timber (part of another dhow?). Still, whatever it is won’t go away and we’ll be back sometime for another look.

One thing to note: when reporting in to the coastguard at Al Khan, he told me that in future only Emirates ID cards will be accepted as identification. Whether this will be enforced rigidly only time will tell.

One for the diary: a camp-out is planned for 27th April. Details to follow.

Harry Adamson – co-builder of the dive bar – will be having his latest leaving do at this week’s dive night – Tuesday 27th March. Karen apologizes for the short notice but explains that this time she didn’t want him to find a new job at the last minute. Come along and say farewell!
Regards
Ian

Another one-tanker on the Dara last Friday. In truth that wasn’t the original plan. We’d decided – perhaps optimistically in hindsight – to go to the Neptune and Jumbo. Even on Thursday evening there were signs that the weather might not co-operate on that one and by Friday morning, the forecast had deteriorated still further. Reasonable sea-state in the morning but picking up to 6-9ft offshore in the afternoon said the recorded message and past experience (not to say common sense) tells you that you don’t want to be around when that happens.

 One of the benefits of the Dara is that it’s only 11km from Hamriyah, meaning that you’re not too far from shore if a quick exit is required. We hooked the anchor close to the bow for a change and it took a few minutes to work out exactly we were. Once the bow was found all was clear and we also got to see a large stingray gliding into the distance. Again no photos but at least this time Derek and I both spotted it. Derek, incidentally had joined us having just stepped off the plane from Beijing. The viz was reasonable and there was very little current considering it was a spring tide.

After we’d all done one dive the promised rise in sea state was clearly starting to happen so we decided not to push our luck any further and headed back – forced to spend the afternoon with a couple of drinks by the pool. It was tough but someone’s got to do it.

It has been suggested that a camp-out in a couple of weeks time might be a good plan while the weather allows it. Watch this space.

Evelyn and Gordon, Jutta and Peter at the Club