Welcome to BSAC 406 weekly Dive Report. Please contact Ian Hussey if you would like to contribute to the weekly newsletter that is distributed to BSAC 406 members worldwide. In addition, if you would like to feature in the published Dive Report please contact Polly Buckingham. |
Hi all!
Last Friday could easily not have happened. The forecast was 1-2ft onshore, 1-3ft offshore but there was reason to doubt this before we even left the harbor as the wind seemed to be whipping up. Sure enough, once on the water we had second thoughts about the Mariam Express and headed instead to the dhows which are closer. First up was Karen’s Dhow which went down full of glassware some of which has been salvaged and now sits in various living rooms. It usually makes for an attractive dive and this time there were six or seven John Dory’s near one of the two admiralty anchors that lay beside the wreck. There was also a solitary remora looking for something to attach to. A turtle was spotted but not by everyone. The sea state calmed down a bit during the day so instead of heading home, we went to the Bigpro Dhow, which is only a couple of kilometres away. We found ourselves anchored to a fishing pot rather than the wreck itself so we first had to find it which not everyone managed. Those who did saw some more John Dory’s and a lot of snappers. I won’t mention the name of the diver who, having got his regulator back-to-front on his tank, in the ensuing effort to sort the problem out referred to the “two breathing things on the right side”. Could he have meant second stages? That reminds me – Derek has a BCD for sale. It’s a Beuchat Masterlift Sport size S price Dhs 800. Contact him before Friday if interested (or come on Tuesday). An update on Marion Marion is now conscious and talking although she’s a bit confused sometimes. There’s some short and long term memory loss. She has some limited limb movement and complains of aches and pains. She was due an MRI scan this morning – results are not known to me yet. Jim, Alex and Sara are with her and report day-to-day improvement. She is in Sheikh Zayed Military Hospital, Cardiac Care Unit. If anyone would like to visit her, please coordinate with Alissar Elbaba – 050-6289582. Marion is being well cared for at SZMH, nevertheless Jim is looking for assistance, advice and suggestions as follows: “It may be possible to move her shortly - any recommendations in Dubai for rehab? Physio at the hospital suggested Rochester and Neuro Spinal. What might the costs be on a daily basis if you have any idea? Insurance will not last forever – it may well run out mid-September from diving insurance and not sure how her own personal insurance company will react, although a claim has been registered, and medical report sent to both organisations - diving and personal. Marion is only on a Visit Visa, renewed today until 20 September - further renewals can be effected I'm sure. Marion has no family in UK except for son and daughter, Alex and Sara, and a support network there would be difficult to arrange. This is exacerbated by the fact that Alex and Sara live some 200 miles apart. It would certainly be preferable, if at all possible, to keep her in Dubai where her extensive network of friends can assist. Any good advice would be appreciated. I have a copy of the full medical report from SZMH which is extremely technical and I’m not attaching here but I can forward to anyone who requests it. The dive bar is open Tuesday night as normal. See you there! Regards Ian
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"I had planned to dive Inchcape 1 and 2 a week ago with my son, with Freestyle based directly opposite Dibba Rock. Unfortunately Oliver couldn’t join me, and after a very delayed start, Kelvin of Freestyle was unable to locate the marker buoy for Inchcape 1. It became apparent that the very high tide had caused it to submerge, and without a GPS we were wasting our time. So on to Inchcape 2, just off Martini Rock. Kelvin had three novice wreck divers under training, so I left them to it, while I explored this new wreck for me with my camera. Identical to Inchcape 1, but only at 22m, reasonable visibility and no current made this a very pleasant dive including an exploration of the rear hold. Several pairs of morays, including the beautiful geometric moray, a couple of nudibranch too small to properly focus, a lively pair of reticulated filefish and a fascinating ball of juvenile lined eel catfish. Plenty of the usual suspects, Dory and Bengal snappers, hind, fusiliers, and Indian mackerel, but star of the first dive had to be the butterfly ray, spotted by Kelvin. The second dive found me a triple spot shrimp goby peering out of a hole, and a sand lizard fish. I descended a ladder to the forward hold, for a dramatic interior shot, before finding another pair of morays well concealed around the edges of the deck. I finished the dive buddying one of the novices while Kelvin and another diver surfaced. He conveniently found my compass, dropped un-noticed onto the sand when its wristband snapped. Perfect diving conditions for photo opportunities, more than compensation for a poorly organised start. After the fun of all this, with Freestyle have recently begun speed-boat trips up to Musandam, I circulated members with a proposal to put a few of us together last Friday. Dragging Oliver from his work, we were joined by Derek, Geoff, and 20L Alex. On the boat at Dibba Harbour, Oliver met an old friend from schooldays in Zimbabwe, radio DJ Sarah Kililea, among the eight other divers. Departure was set for 8.30am, but as usual there had to be one diver to hold up departure (ID difficulties at the border). Notwithstanding, it was a friendly lively bunch lining the sides of a new Omani dive boat under Freestyle dive-master Tom, and captain Ahmad as we sped northwards, into increasingly choppy conditions. Al Hablayn is the largest of the inlets on Musandam’s east coast, and out two dive sites were at its northern and southern extremities, Ras Dillah and Ras Sarkan. The latter has seen some recent whale-shark sightings (unfortunately not for us). Below the overshadowing cliffs of Ras Dillah, Oliver and I free-descended to some 13m below rough surface conditions to a peaceful sandy bottom abutting the rocks. Unfortunately my mask filled with water, stinging eyes troubling me for the start of the dive. Oliver quickly spotted a sizeable honeycomb moray, and soon I was also shooting a starry moray. He was close to a swimming ray – but I missed it! We experienced some very beautiful underwater soft coral landscapes, through a variety of thermoclines, and a small cave swim-through. I don’t think I have ever seen so many and such large bannerfish. A profusion of red-tooth triggers and a number of parrotfish species added to the dive. After 50 minutes we were on the surface, close to cliffs, and out of sight of the dive-boat – way beyond the others, where we were bounced around uncomfortably for over 15 minutes before pick-up. Then a serious soaking as we crossed turbulent waves to the southern Ras, to find a sheltered cove, to de-gas and enjoy a magnificent lunch (for those who were up to it!). Buddy and I descended quickly at Ras Sarkan, to get ahead of the pack, but, quickly distracted by an anenomefish and her tiny offspring, we soon found ourselves back in a queue, the inevitable product of a full boat on a wall-dive in a comfortable current. Fins, bottoms and occasional explosions of bubbles always threatening to spoil that perfect shot! Another swim through a narrow cleft in a beautiful coral landscape. Large yellow bar angelfish, and then an impressive but solitary emperor angelfish below a rock overhang – the first I have seen. I watched Oliver almost nose on nose with a devil firefish, before I found a second. A series of really cold-hot thermoclines then marked the dive, with butterflies and Sohar surgeonfish, before we found ourselves in the dark shade below a cliff. A pair of batfish flitted between the groups of divers, and as we moved away from the rocks for our safety stop, watched Derek, Geoff and Alex drifting past with the current. Back on the boat and de-kitted, suddenly a pod of maybe a dozen bottlenose dolphins, old and young, surfaced beside us. Quickly unpacking, and donning fins and snorkels a few of us were back in the water, hoping for a contact that never came! Immediately afterwards our professional dive master Tom, managed to fall overboard, losing his rash vest in the process. He climbed in over the stern to hearty applause. I assume that Freestyle will extract an appropriate fine! Homewards, the pair of 200HP engines seemed to struggle, but at least it was a comfortable slow ride back to Dibba, entering the port at 5.15pm. All in all, an excellent day out, seamlessly organised by Freestyle. Mind you they could still learn a lot from BSAC406!!" Peter Jackson July 2011 This comes to you from the not-so-sunny UK where I’m spending a couple of weeks. The diving goes on regardless and the dhows were visited last Friday. Mike tells the story: “Due to a couple of unforeseen events our numbers were depleted by four from the nine whom originally signed up but nevertheless the remainder showed and we had a good day first going to Karen's dhow. Sergey and Sa'ad dived first and reported plenty fish and a turtle. Cathy, Andrea and Mike then went down to fairly limited visibility and the usual blizzard of yellow snappers. But there was a big shoal of jacks and some friendly slow moving John Dorys. The highlight was a green turtle about 65cm along the shell and carrying several barnacles. It appeared totally unafraid and swam round us getting so close that Mike had to back off from an exploratory nibble - must have been the red overalls! Some film was taken so you will be able to see the truth of things. It manoeuvred itself under the rudder post and then appeared to be scratching its shell - perhaps in an attempt to clean it. We moved on to the No prop dhow where initially anyway the viz was a bit better than the earlier dive. John Dorys came very close. Towards the end we were swimming in a soup of non stinging jelly fish. Such was the density that we had great difficulty finding the anchor again. Sergey proved to be a good driver on the way out although he discovered that speed was not the right thing when trying to drive on to a wreck coordinate. Quote of the day goes to a lady who asked for help getting her gear onto the boat citing that her heavy lift gear was away in the UK! Returning to the Club we met Orla for the first time. This is the lady who has allegedly tamed the wild man Dan (800 years of oppression) Orla's unexpected arrival was Dan's excuse for not coming diving and in the circumstances he can be forgiven. Simon and Sarah and Mike from the Valleys also turned up at the social. Tee bone steaks were consumed and the Moores also polished off a plate of ribs. Simon was hungry!” While this was going on a separate trip was heading up the Musandam. These words from PJ: “Freestyle Divers have recently begun speed-boat trips up to Musandam, I circulated members with a proposal to put a few of us together last Friday. Dragging Oliver from his work, we were joined by Derek, Geoff, and 20-litre Alex. (NB - for those who’ve never dived with Alex, his tanks would not look out of place at Cape Canaveral fixed to the back of a space shuttle). On the boat at Dibba Harbour, Oliver met an old friend from schooldays in Zimbabwe, radio DJ Sarah Kililea, among the eight other divers. Departure was set for 8.30am, but as usual there had to be one diver to hold up departure (ID difficulties at the border). Notwithstanding, it was a friendly lively bunch lining the sides of a new Omani dive boat under Freestyle dive-master Tom, and captain Ahmad as we sped northwards, into increasingly choppy conditions. Al Hablayn is the largest of the inlets on Musandam’s east coast, and our two dive sites were at its northern and southern extremities, Ras Dillah and Ras Sarkan. The latter has seen some recent whale-shark sightings (unfortunately not for us). Below the overshadowing cliffs of Ras Dillah, Oliver and I free-descended to some 13m below rough surface conditions to a peaceful sandy bottom abutting the rocks. Unfortunately my mask filled with water, stinging eyes troubling me for the start of the dive. Oliver quickly spotted a sizeable honeycomb moray, and soon I was also shooting a starry moray. He was close to a swimming ray – but I missed it! We experienced some very beautiful underwater soft coral landscapes, through a variety of thermoclines, and a small cave swim-through. I don’t think I have ever seen so many and such large bannerfish. A profusion of red-tooth triggers and a number of parrotfish species added to the dive. After 50 minutes we were on the surface, close to cliffs, and out of sight of the dive-boat – way beyond the others, where we were bounced around uncomfortably for over 15 minutes before pick-up. Then a serious soaking as we crossed turbulent waves to the southern Ras, to find a sheltered cove, to de-gas and enjoy a magnificent lunch (for those who were up to it!). Buddy and I descended quickly at Ras Sarkan, to get ahead of the pack, but, quickly distracted by an anenomefish and her tiny offspring, we soon found ourselves back in a queue, the inevitable product of a full boat on a wall-dive in a comfortable current. Fins, bottoms and occasional explosions of bubbles always threatening to spoil that perfect shot! Another swim through a narrow cleft in a beautiful coral landscape. Large yellow bar angelfish, and then an impressive but solitary emperor angelfish below a rock overhang – the first I have seen. I watched Oliver almost nose on nose with a devil firefish, before I found a second. A series of really cold-hot thermoclines then marked the dive, with butterflies and Sohar surgeonfish, before we found ourselves in the dark shade below a cliff. A pair of batfish flitted between the groups of divers, and as we moved away from the rocks for our safety stop, watched Derek, Geoff and Alex drifting past with the current. Back on the boat and de-kitted, suddenly a pod of maybe a dozen bottlenose dolphins, old and young, surfaced beside us. Quickly unpacking, and donning fins and snorkels a few of us were back in the water, hoping for a contact that never came! Immediately afterwards our professional dive master Tom, managed to fall overboard, losing his rash vest in the process. He climbed in over the stern to hearty applause. I assume that Freestyle will extract an appropriate fine! Homewards, the pair of 200HP engines seemed to struggle, but at least it was a comfortable slow ride back to Dibba, entering the port at 5.15pm. All in all, an excellent day out!!” These emails are so much easier to write when someone else does the writing! IH First time I’ve seen one of these – it was a fair sized beast, maybe 45cm long. Geoff Only seen one once before. Described it as really ugly looking bug like thing after the dive and was instantly berated for not nabbing it by the more experienced hunter gatherers within my old diving fraternity. Gill& Rob Is that a slipper lobster??? Supposed to be delicious... R I think you are right, Rob ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slipper_lobster Geoff The weather looked a bit touch and go last weekend and with Simon having a second attempt at marshalling – the first having been abandoned due to rough seas – we were thinking that maybe he was a jinx. We went for it anyway and although a bit lumpy on the way out there was no real problem and the sea calmed down during the day.
Destination was originally the Jumbo but this would have taken too long so we went to the Taha instead and did two dives there. Mike and Geoff at last found their way into the engine room and Geoff had the honour of the first circuit. It’s quite small and the access in is very tight but at least we got there. Before we even launched some entertainment was provided by Saad who first missed the turn off Ittihad Road and headed towards Dubai. Having retrieved that mistake, he then turned the wrong way up Al Khan Road and headed towards the industrial areas instead of the harbour. Finally having found the right area, he went the wrong way around the Aquarium roundabout. Mercifully the Anjad weren’t watching! I’ve attached a picture of some of the party in post-dive mode. Note the rare appearance of Chairman Brendan whose attempts at an east coast dive on the Anita in about 90m of water were thwarted by heavy seas – he had to settle for the considerably shallower Inchcape. Some of you may remember Denis Rooney who was a member here before leaving for Qatar a while back. Denis has sent a few words about Qatar diving: “I'm diving away here in Qatar, I got my BSAC Sports Diver in Feb this year which was good. There isn't a huge variety of diving here. The site most frequented by the DSAC club is about 70 km south of Doha and it's called Old Club Reef. It's a man made site, cars, baths, gnomes etc. The reason for its popularity is its proximity, you can drive to the beach in a car and its about 200 m offshore. Our club does a lot of training here. Further down the coast there are a few more sites such as, New Club Reef. There is an inlet sea near to Saudi where you could find Ottmans Reef and Neitoune Reef (a turtle hangs out there). These are all shore dives. We don't have a boat at the minute but are working to sort that out. I also dive with Al Khor dive club mainly because they have a boat. We take the boat about two hours off Ras Laffan (which is about 150 km north of Doha) to sites such as the Eel Garden and Three Barges. Here you will find more sea life, rays etc .” Geoff Patch is looking at organizing a dhow trip up the Musandam. This has been penciled in for 29 July but the date is subject to finalization. Anyone interested or with any other thoughts on this plan, please contact Geoff either directly or through me. Finally, I will be on leave for a couple of weeks starting this weekend but I believe the internet still works in the UK and I trust those still here will feed me enough diving stories and the odd bit of scandal for me to get an email out as normal. |
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March 2023
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