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. |
Welcome All,
With the weather not looking too good in Dubai / Sharjah last weekend we made one of our periodic visits to the east coast, diving with Divers Down at the Miramar resort in Al Aqah, Fujeirah. The sea state wasn’t great over that side either and one of the biggest challenges was getting through the surf with all our gear and into the dive boat which was anchored a fair way out in water too deep to stand up. After a couple of goes, I made it, losing only a water bottle in the process but it wasn’t a comfortable experience. The first dive was on Inchcape 1, a small boat purposely sunk in 30m of water. The wreck is small but attracts a lot of fish life and the viz is usually good. The water felt remarkably warm for the time of year, although a wet-suit was still necessary, which made it a comfortable dive. There was a Cornet fish hovering around at the bottom of the anchor line and there was the usual shoal of Snappers. There was also a couple of puffer fish inside the wreck, some Crocodile fish and a Seahorse on top of the wreck. Interesting to note that sightings of Seahorses can be logged with the Sea Horse Trust (UK) The link below provides a method for reporting the sighting such as dive site, location, details of the Sea Horse. I'll add a further link for divers to use the log and general information about the protection of Sea Horses worldwide. The second dive was on something called the “New reef”, which is actually several artificial reefs of varying sizes formed from various bits of wreckage and linked by a series of ropes. The biggest reef is the first one you come to at the bottom of the line. This was inhabited by a lot of fishes of various species and we hung around here for a while before venturing off. The best sighting was a Stingray hiding under an upturned boat, although it didn’t come out of its hole to give us a better look. DSMB’s are pretty much essential at this site since unless you stay very close to the main reef, the chances are that you won’t find it again. Having paid the bills, we headed to the bar for a little light refreshment. Many thanks to Peter for organizing the trip. ---------------------------------------- Our friends whose origins lie north of Hadrian’s Wall will no doubt not need reminding that this weekend will be Burns Night, the annual celebration of the life and work of the Scottish Bard. To those of us of Sassenach origins, the poetry can be almost incomprehensible but I’ve not been averse to the odd “wee dram” or several in honour of the occasion. To all our Scottish friends, have a great evening. Some hae meat an canna eat, And some wad eat that want it; But we hae meat, and we can eat, And sae the Lord be thankit. -------------------------------- Joining BSAC: New members to BSAC can join Sharjah Wanderers Diving Club via the website, https://www.bsac.com/membership/select-branch/ . If you enter Sharjah, the club appears. Existing BSAC members can renew by logging into MyBSAC or using this link, https://www.bsac.com/membership/rejoin-today/ ---------------------------------- BSAC general website: https://www.bsac.com/home/ DAN insurance website: https://www.daneurope.org/home The Dive Club meets every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar. See you there.
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Welcome All.,
Caveat; Spelling mistake in the video above - at least I got the correct year I think..... Anyhoo........below is this week's log from our DO Ian Hussey. Happy New Year to everyone, now that it’s upon us. With the festivities out of the way, I can pronounce the 2020 diving season up and running. We’re still a bit short of numbers but four is enough for a dive and Nick, Allen, Cara and I were all anxious to get back in the water. Having established last time out that Karen’s Dhow still existed, we decided to give it a proper visit. First things first though. SP312 needed more cleaning than normal after a few weeks on dry land and all four tyres on the trailer needed some air. Also, although we didn’t discover it until the boat was launched, the steering needed a top-up of hydraulic oil. As soon as the boat was in the water, the soggy steering was apparent but after some discussion we concluded we could get out and back without too much of a problem and sort it out back at the club. Thus, we set off slower than normal and on a slightly erratic course out to the wreck, which we anchored at the first time of asking. No complaints about the conditions: it was a neap tide, the current was virtually nil all day and the sea state, not high to begin with reduced to almost flat calm by the time we had finished. It is however, emphatically now wet-suit weather. I was just about OK in a 3mm but 5mm is probably best. Karen’s Dhow is not a huge wreck and it’s fairly broken up and flat; if you want the excitement of deep wreck penetration, then Karen’s Dhow is not it. It does however have some nice fish life and it was good to dive something fairly unchallenging after a few weeks off. Nick and I were first down the line and found the anchor close to the engine block. There were some barracuda circling above us and swimming round, we saw snappers, angel fish, batfish, bannerfish and one medium size hammour. There were also a lot of silver fish whose name always escapes me. (Cara told me, but I’ve forgotten again). I picked up a glass plate which was the dhow’s main cargo of which there is an almost inexhaustible supply. Allen and Cara also came back with some glassware and also a crab that had become entangled in some nets. Allen spent about twenty minutes on the boat with knife and scissors, cutting it free. Gloves were necessary as the ungrateful little sod had a tendency to use its freed claws to attack its rescuer. It did at least give me a chance to tell the joke about the prawn and the crab: Lady prawn to gentleman crab, her fiancé: Oh Crab, how wonderful to see you walking forwards, not sideways like you normally do. You’re doing this just for me! Crab: Shut up, I’m pissed. With sincere apologies for that, we move on to the Mariam Express. The Mariam was a cargo ship that went down in 2005. It was a fabulous dive for a few years until a winter storm resulted in it punching through the hard but thin upper strata into the goo below. Much of the internals of the vessel are now inaccessible as a result you can still swim through the cargo hold and there are still coffee sets to be had for anyone who’s interested. Last time on the wreck there were some eagle rays swimming around and we were naturally hoping for a repeat. In this we were disappointed but in compensation, a turtle seems to have taken up residence in an opening on the hull side. Nick and I spotted it, but it was still there when Allen and Cara went down for a look. After that it was back to the club for a couple of refreshments. Sadly, Davidson didn’t get to join us as scheduled as he was out hiking but perhaps next time. He and his wife are due to meet up with a few 406 exiles in London next week and no doubt a few photos will be headed this way. Joining BSAC: New members to BSAC can join Sharjah Wanderers Diving Club via the website, https://www.bsac.com/membership/select-branch/ . If you enter Sharjah, the club appears. Existing BSAC members can renew by logging into MyBSAC or using this link, https://www.bsac.com/membership/rejoin-today/ Join BSAC and claim your free dive! (406 members only). ---------------------------------- BSAC general website: https://www.bsac.com/home/ Remember also: DAN insurance website: https://www.daneurope.org/home ---------------------------------- The Dive Club meets every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar. See you there. Welcome All, These days, our former DO, Geoff (as above), is almost a one-man dive club. He has sent the following summary of his year: For those interested, short videos of my adventures through 2019 can be accessed via my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClr5huKQCFK5kGlb_lTNe1w?view_as=subscriber . Looking back on 2019, it has been quite an active year for me including some new dive destinations and bucket list items ticked off. In the early days of January, with several weeks of UK gloom ahead I booked a week at Beaches resort in Turks and Caicos for early February. The dive shop there did not support rebreathers so this was a week of relaxing open circuit diving in warm, crystal clear water with abundant sea life, including Caribbean Reef sharks on almost every dive. In March, Andy Balthrop (another 406 exile) joined me on a trip to Malta diving with our friends at Dive Systems Malta. For those that have not visited Malta there is an abundance of wrecks to explore, and although the marine life is not as plentiful as in other locations, we did get to see octopus, some great wrecks and a sea tunnel. In April, I headed out to Pula in Croatia with the boys from Nuttys Dive Centre in Essex for some cold-water rebreather diving on a selection of WW1 wrecks with ‘Diving Center Shark’. Although we lost two days due to bad weather (still a little early in the season) we managed some excellent dives on a variety of wrecks during the day, and enjoyed the local seafood and accompanying libations in the evening. May was a relatively quiet month with just a trip to the National Diving & Activity Centre (NDAC) in Chepstow with some fellow rebreather divers from BSAC 365. NDAC is an inland flooded quarry that has some interesting sinkings, including aircraft, military vehicles and assorted boats / trawlers. With the benefit of the rebreathers and “devil gas” (trimix to the uninitiated) we banked a few 70m dives, although burning deco time in 8 C water is no fun without suitable undergarments in a dry suit. NDAC was the “warm up” for something that should be on every divers bucket list – diving the wrecks of the German High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow, Orkney. Fortunately, three places on MV Huskyan became available at short notice, so myself, Roger and Paul from BSAC 365 took advantage and had a memorable week diving these historic wrecks. If considering a trip to dive Scapa Flow, I strongly recommend going with Emily and the MV Huskyan, excellent captain, superb dive vessel. July saw me returning to Grenada with my long suffering “dive widow” wife Dee. Although I like visiting new places it is difficult not to go back to Grenada. As a destination it has everything a diver could want, plus Dee was happy that I would disappear each day for a few hours, leaving her in peace. Grenada has an abundance of outstanding reef and wreck diving, complimented by equally impressive island life. If considering a visit to Grenada I recommend diving with Eveline Verdier at ScubaTech, a member of the PADI Women’s Hall of Fame. In early August I was fortunate enough to meet up with some fellow 406 Exiles (Derek, Robin, the Daltons and Cara) for a few refreshments in the ‘Pirate’ quarter of Wapping, East London, where several 16th century public houses line the River Thames. As a break from the diving programme, I headed out to the Balkan states in August to climb the highest peaks in Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro. This is a wonderful and currently unspoilt part of the world and highly recommended for those with wanderlust! In September, a few of us including 406 exile Mike Dalton and his lovely wife Zulfa headed to Plymouth for a weekend diving some of the many wrecks in the area. Although the Saturday was a bit choppy we managed some very enjoyable dives including HMS Scylla and the classic James Eagan Layne. As one last hurrah for the year, I headed out to Grand Cayman in October, primarily to tick off the USS Kittiwake, a regular contender in the top ten wreck dive sites list. Like Turks & Caicos, the water conditions here are ideal – 50+m visibility, 28°C water temperature and abundant sea life. Again, on the rebreather, my dive itinerary included a few 65m dives and one epic 3 hour 46 minute dive. A weekend diving out of Portland had been lined up by BSAC 365 in mid-November but poor weather conditions scuppered those plans bringing my 2019 diving calender to a close with just a short break to visit the Christmas Markets in Budapest in December to conclude my 2019 travel adventures. Looking back, it has been a pretty good year; 55 dives completed with most of these on “the box” (not including several pool skill refresher dives), deepest dive 70m and longest dive 3 hours 46 minutes. Now in my 60th year, plans for 2020 are already in development, with trips to Larnaca (April) and Farne Islands (August) already booked and potential destinations including Costa Rica, Norway and SE Asia on the dance card, 2020 should be an interesting year. Best wishes for a happy, healthy and safe 2020. Cheers. Geoff. Welcome All, Unfortunately, there was no diving last weekend. Wind, rain and high seas conspired to give us a lie-in. There was so much rain in fact, that we could almost have launched the boat in the club car-park. Let’s hope for better this coming Friday. ------------------------------- As expected, the 406 exiles convened in London and I’m sure a good evening was had by all. The end of the night was not without incident… Some of you may remember a couple of years ago, instead of diving, we spent a weekend white-water rafting in Al Ain. A certain diver, who had better be anonymous but for the sake of argument let’s call him Derek, was attempting to navigate back to his hotel room, but found himself instead in a taxi on his way back to Sharjah. Mercifully he had some money in his pocket, but his suitcase was still in his hotel room. There’s a bit more to it than that but at this point we’ll draw the veil. So, imagine my surprise to read the following on Wednesday morning: ![]() Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. ------------------------------- Joining BSAC: New members to BSAC can join Sharjah Wanderers Diving Club via the website, https://www.bsac.com/membership/select-branch/ . If you enter Sharjah, the club appears. Existing BSAC members can renew by logging into MyBSAC or using this link, https://www.bsac.com/membership/rejoin-today/ Join BSAC and claim your free dive! (406 members only). ---------------------------------- BSAC general website: https://www.bsac.com/home/ Remember also: DAN insurance website: https://www.daneurope.org/home ------------------------------- The Dive Club meets every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar. See you there. ![]() Welcome All, There was a slight problem with the email last week with a couple of Gmail batches bouncing back at me for some reason. I re-sent using Hotmail the following day, but I apologize if anyone got the email twice. Whether the problem will recur this week, I’ll discover in about twenty minutes when I press send. There was no diving last Friday, there being too many alternative attractions, but we hope to get a boat in the water this coming weekend. ------------------------------------------ I met up with Peter Blanchflower for a brief chat at the weekend. Peter is a former Chairman. He is over here for his annual shipwreck hunt in Oman with Joff Cottam (another former Chairman) and others. Best of luck! ------------------------------------ The following from Derek Roberts: Ian, BSAC 406 et al; For some crazy reason I have become the admin for a whatsapp group called BSAC406 Exiles. This was set up after a little meet up in London by Geoff P, Robin, Mike D & Zulfa, me and Cara. Then Mike Anthony plus Polly B got added and I realised there are other BSAC Exiles out there who may want to join in. You don’t need to be an Ex or a Xile or a 406 so the membership criteria is pretty low. In fact as Groucho Marx said. I would not want to be a member of any club prepared to have me as a member. Having said that if anyone wants in then let me know but be prepared to set the notification sound off or you will get them at all hours due to time zones and crazy members, see above. Any members want in then email me . All complaints will be stored in file B1N on the Mariam Express. Cheers Derek ------------------------------------ Mike Anthony is on more travels through Southern Africa: Perhaps some more details to come and maybe even a photo or two. Stay tuned for Mike's biking adventures. ----------------------------------- I’ve had some correspondence with BSAC regarding joining online which is a lot easier than sending cheques through the post. I received the following: New members to BSAC can join Sharjah Wanderers Diving Club via the website, https://www.bsac.com/membership/select-branch/, if they enter Sharjah, the club appears (please test), existing BSAC members can renew by logging into MyBSAC or using this link, https://www.bsac.com/membership/rejoin-today/ Join BSAC and claim your free dive (406 members only). ---------------------------------- BSAC general website: https://www.bsac.com/home/ Remember also: DAN insurance website: https://www.daneurope.org/home ---------------------------------- The Dive Club meets every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar. See you there. |
Authors-Ian Hussey and Dive Member Contributions. Archives
March 2023
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