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,
The next virtual club night on Zoom will be 7.30pm on Tuesday. Again, Robin has organized this and if you want to join please let us no. This is actually a good opportunity to catch up with some of the 406 exiles as well as current divers, something I’d like to continue, even when the current problems are over. “Once a 406, always a 406” might sound a bit trite, but it does seem that a lot of people retain an interest and sense of connection to the club even long after they’ve moved on elsewhere. -------------------------------- To nobody’s great surprise, the curfew rules have been extended until further notice. The government continues to maintain that this is to do with sterilizing the country and there are still photographs in the papers of cybermen walking the roads at night spraying chemicals around. I suspect it’s more to do with keeping the crowds from congregating at Al Rolla Square, Al Fahidi and other places but whatever the reason, nobody with any sense could possibly argue with it. Since the preceding paragraph was written, the curfew in Dubai has been further extended to 24 hours for a two-week period. The rules as to who is exempt from this and how you prove it are changing on an hourly basis to all round general confusion. -------------------------------- The Dara bell saga seems to have gone quiet for a while and I don’t know the final outcome, if indeed there was one. In the meantime, past Chairman Peter Blanchflower has sent the following: With the recent ringing (in absentia) of the Dara bell and with Dara Day approaching (08apr), I happened to browse the inter-web. A few familiar reports popped up but I had not come across this detailed initial report by the Foreign Office. The report is logged in the UAE National Archives and provides a great deal of detail including some correspondence between senior officials around the time of the report. This could occupy a few hours during lockdown. Read on.... https://www.agda.ae/en/catalogue/tna/fo/371/157049/n/102 -------------------------------- Peter’s reference to “Dara Day” is a reminder that 8th April 1961 was the date on which a bomb exploded on the vessel while it was riding out a storm causing the deaths of 238 people. On the same day in 2011, members of BSAC 406, DSDC and ADSAC did a 50th anniversary dive on the wreck which was widely reported in the local press. Next year marks the 60th anniversary. Perhaps something similar should be organized, circumstances permitting. I’m guessing most of you are familiar with the Dara story but if not, there is a short account on Wikipedia under “MV Dara”. This page also has some links to other sites concerning the ship and its sinking. -------------------------------- 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 (almost) every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar. See you there.
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Welcome All,
Regrettably we have concluded that to continue diving in the present circumstances is no longer tenable and that therefore, diving will be suspended until further notice. The UAE is not yet enforcing a lock-down comparable to the one in the UK but are nevertheless encouraging people to stay at home unless necessary: “In order to preserve the health and safety of the community, Sharjah Police urges the public not to socialize, avoid public places, to follow instructions, and to stay at home.” This follows a similar statement from the federal government which sounds reasonable rather than confrontational but is backed up with a threat of fines or jail terms on “violators”. If this wasn’t enough, all UAE hyperbaric chambers have been closed for emergencies unless you can prove you don’t have the virus. This would presumably require two weeks quarantine before you could be recompressed which isn’t very useful. Current advice from BSAC HQ is to suspend club activity. With the situation and official advice changing daily (and not always consistent), we will keep a close eye on what’s happening but it’s presently impossible to say when we can get back in the water. I'll keep the log active with more videos' from the archives. Committee members will have new profiles on the contacts link and updates of the marine environment in general to keep us all in touch with bubbles and o2. For now, stay safe where ever you are in the world and look forward to reconciling with my dive kit. This then, might be the last dive report for a while: The original plan for the weekend was a camp-out on Moon Island but this was called off in the face an unfriendly weather forecast and general uncertainty as to whether we’d be allowed out to sea at all. The second fear proved unfounded, but Saturday morning did indeed dawn wet and miserable, so the right call was made. Instead we made a more routine trip to the Jumbo and the Mariam Express. We couldn’t complain about the sea state. It was flat calm nearly all day and we made good time out to the site. The anchor scored a hole-in-one straight into a rectangular opening that would once have held a porthole. The viz was also pretty good on the wreck, say 8-10m. There was a plume going down the line, but it cleared by the time we hit the bottom. Allen and Connie coming later saw three marble rays. Graham and I were not so lucky, but we did see some large barracuda at the stern end by the prop. The second dive was on the Mariam Express. This time the anchor landed off the wreck but only 5m away and it took only a few seconds to haul the anchor over and secure it. Compared to the Jumbo, the viz was disappointing, but we did manage a circuit of the wreck. A turtle seems to have taken up residence in an opening on the hull side of the ship, towards the stern. Again, Allen and Connie were the lucky ones. The hole was empty when Graham and I looked in earlier. After that it was back to the club for a few refreshments. -------------------------------- There was an interesting message from Rob Gill last week: I think we all need a bit of normalness at the moment and a weekly email from BSAC 406 really does add a bit of normalness to a world that currently seems to be falling apart. I was struck by this because Graham made a very similar comment on the boat, about normality in the face of extraordinary events. How long we can sustain this normality remains to be seen and it might not be in our hands indefinitely but if we can keep it going without threat to anyone’s health, we will. The above paragraph was written before the turn of events described at the top of the page. The answer to the question posed was therefore: “not very long”. Just the same, I’ll try and get an email out once a week with updates. If anyone out there has something interesting they’d like to pass on, I’d be grateful for the material. -------------------------------- I’ve heard nothing on the Dara bell saga this week, but thanks are due to John Lewis, Gavin Halling, Alan Locker and Clive Frost for responding to the request for information. I will be fascinated to find out what the final verdict will be. ------------------------------- 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, In writing this email, I am conscious of the fact that for most people there are currently more pressing concerns than the ups and downs of Sharjah Wanderers Diving Club. Those of you who are current members will be aware of the precautionary measures that the main club has put in place to avoid the spread of the coronavirus and I would ask you to respect these absolutely. The alternative would be a complete shutdown, something that cannot be completely ruled out if the authorities so decide. For the time being we continue to dive but whether this is sustainable in the short to medium term remains to be seen. We are fortunate in that Diving Officer from the medical sector, we are better placed to make informed judgements. Nevertheless, we are always subject to government decrees, which could take the issue out of our hands, particularly with the situation changing on a daily basis. Allen has written the following account of last week’s dive: Again, our beloved Land Rover needed some coaxing with sweet words and patience to start. When that didn’t work there were other choice utterances and gnashing of teeth which seemed to work. Come back Mike, all is forgiven. We had a new diver along this weekend from Ireland. After buddy pairing, we headed for Taha. Seas were kind and we made it in good time. A nice little wreck lying on its side. Due to it punching its way into the sand it makes it a little difficult to find on the sonar. But after quite a few passes with not much to see we dropped anchor, threw over the buoy and hoped the little GPS flag was spot on. Thankfully it was. A little crescent shaped ridge has developed around the wreck as a result of it setting into the seabed which combined with the slight current made for a nice little drift dive. The viz was good and there was lots of life to see including shoals of juvenile Barracuda, Groupers, Snappers and Arabian Spine Cheeks. A large Leopard Stingray also put in an appearance for both dive groups. We then headed to Neptune where the viz had improved even more to the point you could see most of the wreck on the descent. There was however a moderate current running by the time we entered the water. Again, there were shoals of Seabream, Trevallies and Barracuda. I did wonder at the wisdom of my dive buddy heading directly for the very large Sea Snake I had just pointed out. After a tap on his shoulder we took evasive action and left it alone. The wreck has opened up a little and there are a few nice penetration points and swim throughs which the other group ‘squeezed through’. All in all a terribly enjoyable day. In his own words, our new member from Ireland ‘was glad to get his ears wet’ again. I’m sure we’ll see him on the boat again. We were met by Nick and his mother who was over from the UK to visit. They had just come back from Fujairah where they had been snorkeling. With the boat washed down and the gear drying on their hangers there was only one thing left to do really . . . . A warm welcome to our new diver who was making his first dive with us. The first of many we hope. Elsewhere, the saga of the “Dara” bell continues. It started with an enquiry from John Prescott of the British India Staff Group, concerning a bell for sale, purporting to be from the Dara. Last week I heard from John Lewis in Alaska: “I can’t say that I ever heard of the bell being recovered in my time with the club from 1974. It wasn’t in the old Ajman club when we relocated so a bit of a mystery.” This week I got a further message from Gavin Halling in Canberra: “I agree with John. During 1975 to 1979 the few items that we recovered were portholes. Certainly, if there was a bell, we would have dinged that. One of the portholes and storm cover adorns our entry porch… (See below). The glass is not intact, but it does allow an appreciation of how thick it was. 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, With the sea state looking reasonable and the viz having been awful on the last two visits to the Dara, we decided to head a bit further offshore to the Neptune and Jumbo. Progress was not as fast as it can be, but we got to the Neptune in an hour or so and anchored the wreck at the first time of asking. Diver one and two were first down the line and as the wreck came into view, the first thing we saw was a shoal of Barracuda and some kind of shark swimming slowly along. I think it was the same type as seen on the Taha or Mariam a few weeks ago but we need a couple of photos to confirm what it is. My impression of the viz was that it was better than it was reported to be last weekend but not by much. Maybe 2m or so. We did a couple of circuits, but I didn’t fancy too much exploration in the murk. It turned out we’d been unlucky. Further divers next down the line found viz poor to start with but improving markedly during the dive. Other divers reported seeing almost the whole wreck from the anchor line and presumably must have wondered if some of us needed our eyes testing. It was at this point that we had a visitor. A young sea bird swam up to the boat, looking very bedraggled so we lifted it out to give it a chance to dry out and recover. We were hoping that the good viz would also have appeared on the Jumbo, only a short distance away. Sadly, this wasn’t the case and although marginally better than our dive on the Neptune, the viz was no better than extremely average. My impression swimming around was that there have been some changes to the wreck over the winter. Further dives in better viz may confirm. By the time we were ready to go back, our guest’s condition seemed to have improved. We took the bird back to shore and released it at the port. Whether it will ultimately survive no-one can say but it will have a much better chance near land, food and company than it would, had we left it floating around in the water. It seemed to me that the water temperature has improved since a month ago. Although hardly overall / skin-suit conditions it wasn’t quite the biting cold of February. I made do with a 3mm suit but 5mm is still recommended for the time being. I guess anyone familiar with UK diving conditions will be having a wry smile at this. As previously mentioned about the possible Shark sighting, it was certainly interesting despite the inevitable skepticism when we got back on the boat. Perhaps I should buy that camera after all. I’ve since found the link below which may be of interest for literature about Sharks. This is an informative read and worthwhile keeping in your files for future reference. And so to the club for a glass or two of decompression fluid. A few returning divers amidst the chaos so welcome back all. The 406 Exiles rendezvous in Wapping went ahead so stay tuned for pictures and updates. 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. References Copyright: © 2015 International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Welcome All, This week I'm researching some of the archives related to the demise of the Dara. As featured before, this is a wreck that lies off the coast of Sharjah and a frequent dive site. Previously I featured the ongoing health hazards of the nets that get snagged and our efforts to keep the site safe for divers. This week's feature is on a old newspaper article. I'll post further articles in the next few weeks. This wreck is remembered with respect for those that lost their lives. We as a club promote respect for those in the maritime community and sea farers alike. Welcome All,
Thanks to Allen for this account of the last weekend’s diving: So with the sea state nearing the 1 metre mark we decided to aim for the proximity of the Dara. We gathered at the dive yard, loaded up the gear and with a turn of the key only a non-sustained rumbling was heard from under the bonnet. However, with a little coaxing she sprung to life and we were off. Once in the water, a certain returning diver (who will currently remain nameless) declared an out of date Emirates ID. Again, with a little coaxing and an examination of the epirb we were off again. While the waves were a little bigger than usual their frequency was long and gentle. Coupled with some gentle driving it was more pleasant than expected. We made it out to Dara only a few mins later Paul's head appeared beside the buoy soon followed by the other two. Another unnamed diver hit the sea floor before she saw it, a thoroughly sensible decision to call it was made. After declining to 'hop in and check out the viz' for ourselves, I stowed our kit and surfed our way back to Hamriya. Once back to the club some decided on the relative safety of a brunch in Ajman while others stayed around for the largest Irish sports day on the Wandies calendar. We all know how that ends up. So, we see what next weekend brings. --------------------------------- The 406 Exiles have gone into active mode and are planning a lunch in Wapping this coming Saturday 7th March. No doubt some photos will be forthcoming and I look forward to reading about Derek’s trip to Brighton, Halifax, Land’s End or wherever it is that he ends up this time. Anyone out there who wants to join the 406 Exiles WhatsApp group, contact Derek. -------------------------------- 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. |
Authors-Ian Hussey and Dive Member Contributions. Archives
March 2023
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