Taha and spearfishing

After last week’s trip over to the east coast, we were back in the Arabian Gulf on Friday. The initial target was the Taha but when we got there we found a boat already moored there and some spear-fishermen on the surface right over the wreck. Deciding to leave them to it, we headed instead to the Pipe Barge which was the closest target we could find on the GPS. There was a boat there too but at least nobody in the water so we were able to get an anchor down. Mike and Derek went down first and came back barely 20 minutes later describing it as the most boring dive in the history of civilization as we know it. “Upturned metal box, no fish at all” was Mike’s succinct comment.

Peter and I decided to give that one a miss so we headed back to the Taha, hoping that the spear-fishermen had gone and indeed they were getting ready to go. This dive was quite a contrast – there were so many fish it was hard to see the ship in some places. Huge shoals of fusiliers and snappers were on the wreck which was quite a sight. There were also barracuda circling the line on the way up.

While we were being entertained by the fish under the water, Mike and Derek had a visitor – a young cormorant that took a fancy to the boat. Later on when they surfaced from their own dive, the bird re-appeared to greet them taking a peck or two at Derek but obviously finding him not as tasty as all that.

For the second dive we headed for Karen’s dhow which is on the way home. Perhaps we had been spoilt by all the fish on the Taha, but the dhow didn’t seem quite as full of life as normal. It was also noticeably cooler so we cut the dive short and headed home. A couple of photos are attached.