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Thanks to sloth and inattention, I didn’t manage to get an email out last week so this is going to be two in one. Neither Friday went exactly to plan but both were enjoyable trips.
Going back a week, it was confidently stated the sea would be flat calm, so thought we’d take the opportunity and visit Wreck X, a trawler that somehow went down about 45km offshore. Good conditions are necessary if you want to get there and back comfortably. It soon transpired that the promised flat seas were a case of fake news so after a quick conference we changed course and went to the Jumbo instead (itself not the closest to shore of the wrecks that we dive). This turned out to be a good move. What we would have found on Wreck X will never be known but the Jumbo had excellent visibility, something that’s been a bit lacking of late. We had a very relaxed swim around the shoals of snappers, batfish and some other fish that inhabit this wreck. We had intended the second dive to be on the Suitcase Dhow and though we found and hooked it, Brian and Angela were soon back on board reporting a shapeless heep of wreckage and visibility less than a metre. It would be a short hop to the Victoria Star and this seemed like a much better bet. So it proved although even there, the viz was significantly worse than the Jumbo. Closer inshore, I guess, and closer to the Palms and associated seabed disturbance although good viz on the Vic Star isn’t unknown. We also had to wait while an unmarked dive boat (perhaps a family outing?) moved out of the way. They seemed to be throwing divers in the water randomly and we didn’t want to be too close to what looked like an accident waiting to happen. And so to yesterday. The original plan was Jumbo and Neptune, hoping for a repeat of the good viz in the area. This time the weather report was unambiguously poor but we decided to persevere, heading instead to the Nasteran which is closer to the shore. The ride out was lumpy but we’ve had worse and it’s a relatively short journey out there. The Nasteran is an upturned landing craft and is difficult to hook but we sent the anchor down on a buoy and the first two divers (Brian and Angela) secured it into the wreck. Brian had a motive for the trip – he was looking for a lost computer. In this he failed but he did come back with a couple of interesting tales from the seabed, well away from the wreck itself. You never know what you might find. The rest of us settled for some exploration inside and around the wreck. Between dives, we were visited by a pod of dolphins. They didn’t come that close but it was nice to see all the same. --------------------------------- From Petra of DSDC: I was going to ring fence 8 places for 406 for the DSDC dhow trip on 21 September until 10th September. Do let me know names and emails of anyone who is interested in joining us. Nancy is promising bacon butties... swings it for me! We would love to see you on board. We will ask for confirmation nearer the time. -------------------------------- Next week, the Zanzibar party will be preparing for take-off. Nevertheless, there will be some diving locally provided there are enough numbers. Brian will be organizing and towing the boat. --------------------------------- Of marginal relevance to anything but entertaining all the same, it turns out there are a number of organizations out there with the initials BSAC. For example: British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. Or: Biotechnology Science Advisory Committee. My personal favourite is: Black Swamp Area Council. I’m guessing there won’t be 406 branches of this one. -------------------------------- DAN insurance website: https://www.daneurope.org/home ---------------------------------- The Dive Club meets every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar. See you there! Yes, the guy below is Robin Hughes. Well done to those who guessed correctly.
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Authors-Ian Hussey and Dive Member Contributions. Archives
March 2023
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