East Coast, Jumbo & Neptune

23 April
The weather relented  so we went out to the Jumbo and came back with not just one but two anchors that might come in handy one day. The viz was pretty good too. Not so lucky with the dyslexic dhow which we couldn’t find. The area seems to have been dredged – there was no sand but a lot of silt. After groping around in almost nil viz for 15 minutes I gave up. We went instead to Karen’s dhow and brought back some of the handmade steel nails holding it together. We couldn’t find any copper ones this week.

On Saturday, 24, Ian, Cathy and PJ got another chance to dive the Sharjah Aquarium. They were able to get up close to the two new black-tipped reef sharks as well as Gordon the guitar shark who gave a head butt at one point – just making sure we understood who was boss. Not strictly a club dive that one but we like to show off sometimes.

9 April
A very nice trip to the Jumbo and Neptune on Friday the 9th even if an engine problem on 125 almost stopped the dive before leaving port (for some of the divers anyway – I’m sure 312 would still have gone!). The sea is warming up now and the wetsuits are getting thinner. It was good to fill up two boats as well. Particular thanks for this one go to Mike Rowse who, although not fit for diving, nevertheless volunteered not just to tow a boat but also drive one. This enabled us to go down in one wave, thus bringing cheer o’clock forward by an hour or two. 

2 April
Last Friday the second we were out on the east coast, diving Martini Rock and Shark Island. This meant an early start although not early enough as the dive marshal underestimated the time needed to transport divers and their gear between the port and the beach. The end result was that the final wave of dives had to be abandoned. Apologies to those affected. Once on the beach we found ourselves sharing space with a party of boy scouts who suggested we might like to move elsewhere! (We didn’t). The dives were good with plenty of marine life even if not much of it was large. It was also nice to see that someone is taking care of Martini Beach at last. The place was pristine compared to the industrial tip it resembled last time I was there.