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Dive Logs for Vance Stevens PADI open water scuba instructor #64181 Dives 480-481 May 9, 2003 Musandam, Oman North face of Fishhead Rock / The Cavern swimthough

Diving with: Froglegs
Dive buddies: Dusty and Bobbi
Others in dive party: Jerry and ...
Conditions: perfect
Visibility: 4 - 5 meters or so
Wetsuit: cold on 1st dive with just lycra skin so added 3 mil Typhoon top, still cold
Weight:8 kg-ish (overweight)
Diving from:Capt. Ahmed and the Turtle Dive Logo boat

Friday, May 9, 2003

Fishhead Rock is just a short way from Lima Rock, which we were going to dive except that Capt. Ahmed's boat developed a steerage problem as we were making our way north from Fishhead, so we returned to Fishhead and, as often happens on these trips, let poor maintenance of the boats we hire dictate where we dived.

My 480th Logged Dive since 1991

Dive site: North face of Fishhead Rock
Training conducted: none

Data from dive computer:

Interval on computer from previous dive: nil, first dive of day

Time down on dive computer: 10:54
Max depth: 24.4 meters
Time started up from chart: 44 min
Dive time from computer: 44 min
Min Temp: 23 degrees centigrade
No-stop time left on computer: 19 min
Nitrox 21% (normal air), no deco

Description of dive:

I've been here often with BSAC, who generally dive from the point (the crest of the fishhead) back south along the shallow boulder-stewn bottom with its many swimthroughs and tableaux with tiny fry speckling soft-coral encrusted crannies where fish like to hide. It's a pretty dive but there's not usually much to see.

Jerry's dive plan was to drop at about the same point (actually, some divers went in mid-wall but I had the boat take the rest up closer to the point) only head northwards around the wall and end up in the opposite face. This turned out to be a deeper and more interesting dive. The depths kept drawing us down into the depths off the point, where we encountered some current and had to beat our way back. Other than lots of the usual fish we didn't see anything remarkably interesting there, but coming up the north wall we found a big black ray wary in his lair.

I was carrying my pony tank hooked to my BCD (and dragging hoses all over, then gathered them up, but must do s.t. about better hose stowage). Dusty was the breather on this dive so at 100 bar he took the long octo hose from my main rig and I went over to the pony. When my main rig was nearing 50 I put him back on his tank and then he and I went shallow and sucked down to around 30 with Bobbi having more than that when right at the end of the dive I saw a turtle and went after it. Bobbi and Dusty saw a ray at about the same time and stayed put. We regrouped and surfaced well back of the point, but also well short of an hour, because of our exertion against the current.

Pressure group out, from tables or wheel:

Surface interval: - 2 hrs 15min

My 481st Logged Dive since 1991

Dive site: The Cavern swimthough
Training conducted: none

Pressure group at start of repetitive dive: ?
Data from dive computer:

Time down on dive computer: 13:57
Max depth: 17.3 meters
Time started up from chart: 61 min
Dive time from computer: 62 min
Min Temp: 23 degrees centigrade
No-stop time left on computer: 51 min
Nitrox 21% (normal air), no deco

pic

Description of dive:

I've dived this site a number of times as well, but again Jerry had a slightly different plan. He had us put in well to the north of the cave and had us work our way down to it. I thought it was a mediocre dive but a lot of the others exclaimed how great it was, Dusty among them, who enjoyed the dive because it had so many fish. Again there was nothing particularly remarkable except that right before the cave there was a group of cuttlefish that the Mainland HHH types swore were copulating. I've seen rays in the cave before by lighting up their eyes in my torchbeam, but wouldn't you know, the torch I had fiddled with on the first dive while distractedly gathering up and sorting all my hoses was left back on the boat the second, and was found sitting bright yellow atop my dive bag on return topside. So our passage through the cave was done on minimal light, and there wasn't much beyond except for more of the same which, as I've said, Dusty enjoyed.

The ride back home was prolonged because Capt. Ahmed's other boat had developed an engine problem, so we puttered back on reduced throttle, finally reaching Dibba UAE port at around 4:30 p.m.