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Dive
logs for Vance Stevens, P.A.D.I. Open Water SCUBA Instructor #64181
Abu Dhabi, May 5, 2000
Dives 341 and 342 previous page | next page
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Diving with: ADSAC Dive buddies: Bobbi 1st dive /
Al Smith 2nd Others at site: divers from Sharja and from
Dubai |
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Sea condition: mild, minor spray on way out |
Water temp: 23 |
Visibility: excellent, 9-10 meters |
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Wetsuit combo: put on farmer john and 3 mm longsleeve top 2nd dive |
Weight: needed 12 kg |
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Data from dive computer:
Dive 341 – 26.5 meters, 43 min. = http://www.vancestevens.com/divelogs/dtrak341.jpg
Dive time includes 3 min. safety stop
Surface interval – 1 hr 06 min
Dive 342 – 44 min., 27.7 meters = http://www.vancestevens.com/divelogs/dtrak342.jpg
The Ludwig is a wreck 40 nautical miles about
15 degrees off due north from Abu Dhabi.
It is marked with a large buoy and on weekends surrounded by dive boats.
It’s a fascinating wreck. You descend through patrolling tuna into
schools of barracuda hanging about amid the shoals of silver fish at the top of
the wreck. The wreck is on its side
with gaping holes where the dud missiles went through. Descending along what used to be the deck
gets you out of the current.
The best part of the wreck is the top, where
you cling with the barnacles and urchins to the rusty rails (bring gloves) and
relax like a flag in the current while the barracuda lazed about and the tuna
darted in from above, wriggling awkwardly to propel their bulky forms through
the resisting water, to try to grab some little food morsel that might be a bit
far off center of the Darwinian bell curve to elude the attack.
On the first dive, Bobbi and I went to the
bottom 27 meters near the stern to the south, looked for rays in the sand, and
swam along the deck side (west) slightly up current as far as the bow, where we
completely missed the 2-meter ray that everyone said was concealed there. We instead went looking for rays in the sand
ahead of the bow. We followed the lines
and nets up the hull and along the top, admiring the great variety of fish
along the way, till we reached the clinging point, and we enjoyed the rest of
the dive from that vantage. There were
just a couple of tuna about, but they eventually got curious and swam up to
us. We were craning our necks the whole
time. Brilliant and relaxing dive.
Second dive, Bobbi was nauseous, a condition
made worse by the chain smokers not watching where their air pollution was
going. So I dived with Al, who had as
dive marshal decided, rather than go on to the Jassim, to repeat the Ludwig
second dive (if nobody minds, he said) since he’d had a very short dive his
first dive, since one of the smokers had run out of air after 10 min. (I certainly didn’t mind). He decided to buddy with me to show me the
ray. We dropped down the stern as
before and finned on the deck side up to the bow to look for the ray. On that trip we found two tuna playing about
on the bottom right up close to us. But
couldn’t find the ray so we swam up the wreck and dropped down the stern and
looked for rays there as before. None,
so we swam up current the hard way, on the keel side of the wreck. By now, we were down to just a few minutes
bottom time remaining so we finned up along the wreck back to the bow, and
there we popped down a bit to look again for the ray. This put me a minute into deco at 3 meters so I signaled Al and
we moved up the rails to the vantage point where we hung on till Al got to
about 70 bar and I had 3 min. deco on my computer. Then we moved up the line next to a school of barracuda and up
where the tuna were swimming just above them.
At 5 meters I stopped for 3 min as I would a Padi safety stop.
This got me reflecting on the differences
between diving on a wheel and on a computer.
I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to be chasing a computer all the
time. With a wheel I always know exactly
where I stand … well, not exactly, but I stick to depth and time schedules, and
always emerge safely. With a computer,
it seems there could be a tendency to over-rely on it. After this experience, I’ve learned I should
spend my surface interval time doing the calculations I’ve always done before.
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Last updated: May 26, 2000 in Word 2000