| Date |
Logged Dive # |
Location |
Diving with |
Trainees and buddies |
| January 14, 2006 |
707-708 |
Sanya, Hainan, P.R.China |
William Divers, Jenny and a local divemaster |
I traveled to Hainan to try out the diving there.
Hainan is the place to go in China, a southernmost tropical point in a country
largely gripped by winter in January. The day I arrived I was shown a hotel
beachside center where hoards of Chinese customers were being herded into
try-dives. As I had some experience, I was offered a place on a boat with other
experienced divers, but the crowded conditions and inflated price, over $100
for two tanks, didn't appeal. That evening I checked on the Internet for the
reaction of others who'd dived Hainan and read some horror stories about poor
vis, poor gear, and divemasters breaking coral and handling the animals. So I
slept past the $100 boat departure and was planning to leave town next day
without diving when out looking for breakfast I came across the William shop
pictured above. The folks there were willing to take just me diving at my
convenience from a beach not in Sanya itself, and the cost though not cheap,
was 2/3 the price of the hotel cattle car operation. So I was assigned Jenny
(in the picture) who arranged the boat and divemaster at the nearby beach.
We made two dives. The first was in abominable vis, and in a stiff
current the divemaster decided to have us swim against at about 12 meters
depth. Fortunately the three of us were highly competent and managed to stay
together while making progress into the current, but we saw almost no fish and
not much of interest at all, and it was cold and I was glad when 45 min later
the divemaster signalled we should ascend with 100 bar left. We returned to
shore where Jenny introduced me to a friend who worked at one of the beachside
restaurants and I was given a coconut to drink and eat, no charge. Then we
rejoined the boat and the divemaster took us to a point on the opposite side of
the bay we'd dived before. Here the vis was marginally better and there were a
few of the typical reef fishes. Still it was not a particularly stimulating
dive until at the very end we encountered a big fish that turned out to be a
baraccuda who had a few dozen friends who kept circling us at the top of the
reef, though we could only make them out as they swept within a couple of
meters of us. Well, it was fun and it gave me a glimpse of Chinese diving.
William was a good PADI shop, well equipped, and followed the best of standard
practices as far as I could see, well geared to the lone diver, and recommended
if you're going to dive Hainan. |
| January 25, 2006 |
709-710 |
Nha Trang, Vietnam |
Coco Divers |
My book warned that diving was not good in Nha Trang
into early January, but now it was end of January, and I had my eye on the
weather once I had reached this far south in Vietnam. The wind was whipping and
the waves were big, with white caps visible the day I arrived in Nha Trang. But
at the dive shop they said the vis was ten meters and I booked for the next
day. The diving was inexpensive, about $35 with entry to the nature reserve,
and included breakfast and lunch at the shop in town before and after diving.
From the shop they took us to the port where sturdy boats were departing loaded
with tanks and divers. All seemed headed for the same destination, a bay of an
island out of the wind. I was buddied with an instructor and we descended into
vis so poor that I put a finger on his tank so as not to lose him. We went down
to 20 meters or so but there was no improvement, and my guide signaled us to
surface. I think he wanted to regroup and move to a different place but the
boat had already moved to the bay downcurrent from us and the other divers were
who-knew-where so we re-descended and made do. The current and surge were bad
and I don't recall much of interest on the dive. We two instructors at least
managed to have a dive, but another diver cut his hand when he got washed into
a cave, and a guy named Javi from Spain seemed a bit put off at the idea of
making a second dive there. Which we did anyway, since we'd paid for it. We
motored across the bay and went for our second dive in marginally better vis.
However, there was nothing to see here either and it was fine with me when the
dive ended. Apparently we HAD hit a bad day. One group of snorkelers with us
said the vis had been great a few days before. |
| February 10, 2006 |
711-712 |
Back home in Abu Dhabi, Old Cement Barge and Bateen
Box (outside Breakwater) |
Arabian Divers, Osman at the helm |
Nice day out diving, Alisha Choquette's first two
PADI Open Water training dives and Dan Batson's Advanced Open Water
Wreck and Underwater Navigation dives. Our first dive was the cement barge
wreck. There were divers down when we arrived, Greg on the Argentina, so we
attempted to drop anchor in the sand off the wreck but on descent found the
anchor to be on the metal near the stern and playing out to the east. Dan
oriented on the wreck and we headed north along the east side to the bow,
touching 11 meters in the process (high tide). There we measured out 30 m. of
line to the west to give Dan a preview of what that distance was in time and
kick cycles (26 for me). We found a chunk of rock at the end of the line and I
upturned it. Must remember that route again in case I want to take other divers
there for a compass nav exercise. As you head west off the bow you pass a
couple of rounded coral chunks to your left and some hose to your right before
coming on the upright rock 26 kicks later. After that we finned south toward
the stern, dropping over the gunwales to the inside of the ship and reminding
ourselves where the anchor was. At the stern I had Dan lead us on a south
heading over the sand. He went farther than 30 meters but managed to return to
the stern ok. After that we communed with the batfish and at 38 min. into the
dive headed up the anchor line for our 3 min safety stop. My computer went out
right as we began our stop, Err on the display, so Dan timed us on the stop and
we ascended to Osman's coffee and bikkies.
We then went to the
breakwater, Bateen Box. Vis on the wreck had been limited, just a few meters,
but at the b/water we could see the bottom distinctly from the boat. Winds were
calm but a tidal current was beginning. Alicia and I kitted first and went down
on the shot line Osman had dropped for us and we ascended twice in CESA
exercise. Dan was then to join us but he couldn't find his new integrated
weights. He had complained of being bouyant at the end of the previous dive and
now we knew why. Osman called Greg on his mobile and found that his divers had
recovered the weights and were heading back to port. Sure, they could drop them
by our location. Alicia and I did surface exercises while waiting for Greg's
boat to pull alongside ours and return Dan's weights. Talk about
service!
We all entered the water and finned to the bateen box. I had
Alicia do her OW Dive #2 exercises there and then got Dan to do a square
pattern. The current was noticeable in the 3rd leg and on the 4th we found
ourselves swept past the box about halfway into the 30 meters. Dan had been on
track though so we congratulated him and continued on our dive. I had decided
we'd try and head upcurrent and if that was not possible we'd surface and I'd
get my SMB which Osman had got from my bag for me (by good BCD was being
serviced and the one I was using didn't have rings for clipping in my usual
panoply of reels and etc). The current was stiff against us as we moved around
the point but it was bringing in the fish life and water clarity was good so we
kept at it. We found half a dozen brown delta shaped rays half buried in the
sand and the impressions of several others. It was hard to distinguish the
actual rays from their impressions except that the rays had a bulbous bit at
the back and their eyes blinked. Apart from that the only way to really tell
was to run a hand under the skirt. The rays tolerated that nicely, and even
allowed us to scrape some sand off to see some coloring. I think I'll call them
ostrich rays because they really believe if their heads are in the sand they
must be invisible no matter what is goosing them. Apart from the interesting
reef fish life, banners, snappers, angels, etc. and the rays, we came on a
school of a couple dozen batfish. These are big, friendly and graceful fish,
and seen together are truly beautiful. So we were pretty happy with our dive
this day on the breakwater. 40 min into it with air just then dipping into two
digit bar, we turned and half-drifted back to the boat anchor, where I had
Alicia go out of air and surface with me on alternate air source. Our dive time
was around 50 min (less than 10 meters) |
| Thursday 09 March 2006 |
713-714 |
Abu Dhabi, Delta Buoy and Bateen Box (outside
Breakwater) |
Arabian Divers, Osman at the helm |
Day 2. Thursday 09 March 2006 Weather Sunny and
warm. Wind The wind will be light southeasterly at 5-8 knots at first, becoming
a moderate northwesterly of 10 – 13 knots later in the afternoon.
Temperature Max 29°C Sea State 1 - 2 feet inshore and 2 - 4 feet offshore.
Alisha Choquette's final two PADI Open Water training dives for
CERTIFICATIONand Dan Batson's Advanced Open Water Boat and Underwater
Naturalist dives.
Delta Buoy was a great dive today. Vis was decent,
I spotted the site a little near the buoy so down the anchor went to the north
but thought it might be to the northeast a bit. I was right, it was. Just north
of the the anchor there was a pipe with a knot at one end pointing the way back
to the anchor, and north of that (following compass rather than instinct;
either would have got me there but only one way to get me back) a sandy
area with a ridge just starting to the east. I followed that and soon entered
the gully I was looking for, 10.5 meters.
We had seen our first sea
snake by the anchor while Alisha was doing her skills. The snake, perhaps
really a poison eel judging from the fin along its body, meandered into what it
hoped might be holes all around us, coming quite near, but otherwise completely
ignoring us, eventually moving off. As we entered the gully we found ourselves
surrounded by young barracuda shoaling left while yellow snappers schooled
right in a swirl about us. The yellow theme was picked up by the black spotted
grunts and black/yellow striped bream, and the angelfish with the yellow
splotch on the tailfin. Big hamour raced ahead and along the ridges of the
gulley till we came to the sandy patch at the end and the family all turned out
to greet us, big papa positioning himself before us in the sand, the family all
milling about nearer the rocks. A puffer hovered overhead and then a big lone
tuna came into view, deliberately on the prowl. We saw another snake eel and
then a true snake with black and beige banding. Vis was good and it was a
cracking dive. We ended by retracing out the gulley till it ended, then heading
south over the sand to the pipe that pointed the way to the anchor. At that
moment Alisha showed me 50 bar and I pointed ahead, as the anchor was just then
coming into view. At 50 min I had the pair practice buddy breathing up the
line. We stopped at 5 meters and did an advanced dive safety stop (each on
his/her own reg).
The slight swell was getting to my students and we
opted to do the second dive at the breakwater. Vis was poorer here though water
temp was a slightly warmer 23. The rays from last time had moved on and there
were no bat fish. High tide had been at 8 and we were 2 and a half hours into
the slack, so we decided not to fight the current around the point but went
back along the wall past the box and then back to the box where I'd left a
weight, from Alisha's belt, to help her with her hovering. 55 min into the dive
we started our ascent from just 6-7 meters, did a token safety stop, then
continued to surface near the boat. |
| April 4, 5, 6th, 2006 |
715-720 |
Sabang, Mindoro, Philippines |
Geert, owner of Triton Divers |
On Sunday April 2 I was in Malolos just north of
Manilla for Neil and Connie's wedding and Monday I made slow progress with them
with a long stop at Connie's sister's in Manila and finally took a bus to
Batangas, stayed at Traveler's Rest next to the Other Place where I wolfed down
2 dozen mussels for just 90 pesos, not even $2, and about that much worth of
beer, three of them. First thing in the morning I was at the harbor for the
8:15 benga to Sabang, and after taking the little shack with a porch over the
lapping water at the very end of the catwalk at the far east end of the beach,
700 a night ($12), and grabbing my mask, fins, wetsuit, everything but my
bathing suit in fact, but no matter, I walked the ten min to the other end of
the beach through the familiar, friendly little waterfront town, and arrived at
Triton Divers where I found Geert with no customers, so he said, let's go
diving, and we did for the next three days.
We did the familar spots, me
always following Geert. He always asked where I wanted to go, but I just said
wherever you want. I figured wherever he would enjoy it would work for me. I
don't remember the names of the spots except the Canyon of the northeast point
seemed to figure into most of our dives. That was our morning destination, and
sometimes we swung by on the afternoon dives, doing as many as 4 'sites' on a
single dive. My favorite place is always shark cave. I wouldn't have minded
passing by on every dive, but we only dropped in once. Bonus, there were two
sharks inside, the big 2.5 meter one and a smaller 1 meter one, both just
resting. On our way to depth I peeked in another overhang and there was a shark
in there too. On one of our dives, we dropped in right over a school of tuna
that swirled about us on the way down. Even Geert was impressed. Other than
that we found a couple of sea snakes, a crocodile fish, lots of nudbranchs and
other colorful slugs. New to me were the mantis shrimp. There were a few
currents, and we nudged deco now and then, but mostly they were just fun, easy
dives, refreshing 26-27 degree water, usually hitting 30 meters or so then
working our way up through the big fish stations at the canyon, maybe ducking
through the hole in the wall, then wrapping up in the shallow waters along the
reef admiring the many triggers, nice clown triggers there and big emperors?
can't remember, the aggressive ones.
One day I drummed up some business
for Geert. I got William and Kim, Neil's kids, to do a discover diving session
with Geert, and the two of us took them beneath the boats in the harbor to some
coral bommies at 10 meters-ish. Wasn't all that exciting but always nice
working with students, and what else is there to do in Sabang but dive? |
| April 13-14, 2006 |
721-724 |
Martini Bay, Martini Rock, Shark Island |
7 Seas, Elias one day and Triciana next |
This weekend I did a complete 2+ day O/W course for
David Hunt, son of a colleague of one of my former students who had recommended
me to him. David came to my house the Monday before and watched the first DVD,
having read the first module in the book. He took the first quiz and we went
over equipment assembly, and he took the DVD off with him and watched the next
two modules at home. Apart from that, the entire course was conducted over the
weekend in Khor Fakkan.
We started out at 6 in the morning on the drive
across the UAE. I went over the academics for modules 2 and 3 in the car and
David read over the book and took the two quizzes before we reached 7 Seas dive
center. We went by boat to Martini Bay where we found excellent conditions for
confined water training. We did the skills for Module 1 in the shallows there
and then returned to shore and dis-assembled and re-assembled the same tanks.
We then did our first o/w dive as a shore dive from the shallows along the cove
wall almost to Martini Rock. We saw brown and white morays foraging in the
rocks, and a large school of barracuda at 8 meters. I kept the dive time to 30
min so we'd have air for the next 2 confined water modules.
On surfacing
we found that our boat had left to bring tourists from the port but Mhmd was
neaby with Kathleen and Peter and Allistair so they came and got us and took us
to shore, where David and I did the skills for the next two modules in the
calm, clear water off the beach, returning to shore in between to exchange
tanks, esp. since mine had more air. Bobbi, who had accompanied us on our first
dive, had stayed with Mohammed's boat and when we surfaced from our confined
work, there was no boat around. We were making our way back to the beach when
Elias reappeared with our boat with Bobbi and a German tourist, a lady who it
turned out had aborted her first dive, but her husband (Manfried) had gone with
Mhmd on a checkout dive and was still down with him. Back on board the boat, we
went to collect Manfried with plans to all dive Martini Rock. When we got him
back on the boat, Manfried wanted to wait an hour till his next dive, not
convenient for us, and there was a language problem at first but Peter passed
by in the water to translate and we agreed to commence our dive on Martini Rock
as soon as Manfried had smoked his cigarette. We calculated that is dive with
Mhmd, 14 meters for 25 min, had put him in about the same pressure group as
David and I, with our earlier dive plus our three brief training modules, as
Peter had explained in German to Manfried.
The Martini Rock dive was
quite nice. I planned a 16 meter max dive calculating that we could stay for 41
min. As usual for Martini rock, it was covered in moray eels and scorpion fish,
and green and yellow and purple corals. We perused the canyons, where I had
David do his Module 2 skills, with feathery rainbow wrasse flitting overhead.
On exiting the canyon we came on a turtle and I was able to get above and
behind it and follow it closely out of its vision. At the deep end we found
pipe fish in the sand, and there was a pair of large nudibranchs crawling in
the anenomaes. We continued around the rock through a shoal of snapper where
David signalled low on air, and we began our ascent after about half an hour
down. We had a prolonged safety stop at the top of the rock where the purple
coral atop the rock was especially beautiful.
After cleaning gear we
checked in at the Youth Hostel. David watched the module 4 DVD there and module
5 at dinner at the Yacht Club in Fujairah where we'd gone on a "happy" bus that
Kathleen had arranged for us. Once back at the hostel, Bobbi and I went to
sleep but David took his module 4 and 5 quizzes before bed and we went over
them in the morning. Mohammed again provided us our own boat accompanied by a
pair of French tourists out for snorkeling. David and I started with our swim
test in Martini Cove and then went to the beach for Module 4 and 5 training and
skin diving. We consumed almost a whole tank in the two confined water shore
dives, so we might have been down 40 min in total, including chasing a turtle
with a remora under it, and while the boat was at anchor in 7 meters we did our
CESA there. We then moved to Martini Rock and did a very nice dive there,
taking David to18 meters this time, diving 40 min I believe, seeing more
morays, pipe fish, scorpion fish, lion fish, etc. etc.
There were a lot
of divers at the surface when we came up, all excited because someone had just
spotted a whale shark. We drifted far from the boat looking for it, and Mhmd
came and got us and took us back to our boat, still moored at Martini Rock. We
then moved over to Shark Island and dropped in at the southeast point for a
one-way trip along the south facing rocks. Vis was better than usual there,
esp. considering that they are extending the harbor, and the animals appeared
in schools, with one part of the dive dominated by coronet fish, another with a
dozen puffers milling about overhead, and toward the end, a trio of cuttlefish
appeared. We ended in the shallows, 50 min at about 12 meters max. The BEST
part of the dive for Bobbi and I was after ascent, snorkeling at the surface,
at the southwest point, where we saw three 2-meter large black tip reef sharks
zipping about in just a meter of water right close to the island. They moved
fast but we could keep them in sight for seconds at a stretch, and in their
random movements they sometimes came right at us before veering off, not
aggressive, just curious. They are often sighted there (by snorkelers). |
| April 21, 2006 |
725-726 |
Damaniyites |
Damaniyite Divers, Al Sawadi Beach |
I had gone to Muscat Wed for a conference and Bobbi
had taken the bus down Thu and joined me at the Best Western right across from
the Hyatt in tranquil Shatt al Qurum, Muscat. I had a jog there in the a.m.
enjoying the bird sounds and greenery and return run up the beach, which
they've left as is, unlike what they do to nature in the UAE. I went to SQU,
gave a paper, had a drink or two with Eric Baber and Roland Sussex, returned to
the Uni for dinner with Ali and Misbah Naqvi, and then Bobbi and I went on the
the Suweiq Motel which we expected they'd be holding open for us since we
arrived so late at night. NOT. The place was jumping. The parking lot was
packed with Toyota pickups as well as smarter vehicles. The sound of music
could be heard far and wide, including in the rooms, from the TWO night clubs
there catering one to Hindis and one to Arab local gentlemen. It was too hot to
camp, we'd brought a fan for white noise, and we slept fine in our room after
partaking of a beverage at only a riyal for a tall can, while watching heavily
made up Arab ladies (obviously not from Oman) with bare midrifs gyrate to an
electonically enabled organ grinder. It was an interesting
experience.
Next morning we drove 4 roundabouts back to Al Sawadi Beach
Resort, stopping for dal and sobsi parota and instant coffee at a poor excuse
for a restaurant along the roadside. Soon we were in a boat full of cliquish
Italians and more friendly Swiss, French, and Brits. It didn't matter who we
were with because Bobbi and I did all our dives together. The divemaster Said
gave decent briefings including general direction he intended to take the
Italians so we knew where we should come up and when, after an hour (I'm so
glad I don't do this kind of diving with BSAC, who always surface at 50 min.).
Bobbi and I know the sites, and we're compatible in air and what we like to see
and do in the water, so just me and her make a very compatible buddy pair for a
pleasant day of diving, no students for a change.
Except that it was
cold, 24 degrees at worst, warmer above the thermoclines. We kept both dives to
under 20 meters. The first one on the small island to the west of the one with
the beach (what we used to call Jed, but the DM had a different name for it),
had better vis than the back of Jun, our second dive. We saw similar animals on
both dives: a black and white sea snake, some cuttlefish, a half a dozen or
more big honeycombed morays, one exposed under a ledge, others in cabbage
coral, several yellow mouthed grey morays, a turtle on the second dive, lots of
blue trigger fish, big sweet lips, clouds of reef fish all over the walls,blue
crayfish poking out of lairs in the rocks, a big black bull ray on each dive.
The first ray wandered off when we parked ourselves in front of it, but came
back to check us out and parked itself in front of me. I ran my hand under it
and it swam off. Disappointingly no leopard sharks on these two dives, but
snorkelers reported seeing black tips.
On the second dive, east end of
Jun, we came on a dozen large concrete or ceramic inverted pots dumped or
planted there. They make a good landmark. If seen again head south east over
the coral gardens to find deeper water on the other side where leopard sharks
sometimes hang out. |
| April 27, 2006 |
727 |
Dibba Rock |
Freestyle Divers |
After all these years, they have finally got two
dive shops right opposite Dibba Rock, and it's possible now to leave Abu Dhabi
by around ten and go for a dive at three from either, if you can book space to
accommodate your schedule. Freestyle were happy to have us, and we were
pleasantly surprised at the quality of the operation, and the possibility of
renting modern comfortable rooms there at divers' rates, and sedating urchin
and jellyfish stings with palliative liquids from the off licence there, which
we patronized anyway before heading off to the youth hostel.
The diving
at the Rock was its usual great. Besides Bobbi and I we had Jason, a dive gypsy
photographer <http://www.djunderwater.com; nothing to
do with hip hop> who found us through Froglegs, and Andy Dunn who's dived
with us before, my good friend Erik on leave from Tripoli, and Nicky whom we
put up to choosing her buddy (she chose Andy, to the disappointment / relief /
all of the above of the other males in the group). Nice group.
Andrew
the boatman took us to the aquarium at the northwest corner of the rock and we
dropped in there and ogled the swarms of fish, though the barracuda wasn't
there, and no turtles. We went down to the sand at about 14-16 meters and
looked for rays, saw none, and returned to the wall where there was one green
moray after another. We were getting a bit jaded with morays when near the turn
toward the shallows at the south end I saw a ray and went chasing after it over
the sand. Nicky and Andy followed along with my buddy Bobbi, and we found two
rays nosing each other affectionately in the sand. We hovered around them as
they were quite engrossed in whatever it was they were up to, till eventually
we got too close and they broke off and swam for it in separate directions.
Andy and Nicky continued in the sand but Bobbi and I returned to the wall and
found a cute little jaw fish who kept rotating toward us but wouldn't go back
down in his hole. We annoyed him for a while and then headed back to the edge
toward the shallows, and there our way was blocked by the passing of a raw
sweeping over the rocks, tail stretched out behind, a graceful sight. I
realized about then that I hadn't set a time for the dive. Bobbi and I had
plenty of air but we figured we'd better go up when we reached 60 minutes. The
others in their separate buddy groups soon followed suit. |
| April 27, 2006 |
728 |
Khor Fakkan: 3 Rocks (or Pinnacles) |
shore dive |
Erik had never made a night dive before so Andy and
Jason and I decided to take him. We had saved full tanks for the occasion, and
we sorted gear so that Nicky and Bobbi could proceed to the hostel in our car
while we pulled off in Erik's and Andy's at the beach opposite 3 Rocks and took
our time kitting up. There was still light as we slipped into the water and
headed east. It soon developed that we were moving northeast and having to work
our way s/e against a stiff northerly current. Jason aborted and returned to
shore. I made use of the waning light to keep my eye on the rocks and when I
found the pink mooring buoy it was dark, as I recall I shined my light on it so
the others could see, while keeping myself in position by clinging to the
mooring line.
When all had made the buoy we caught our breath and
started our descent on the buoy tether line. Near the bottom Andy and I were
recalled to the surface by Erik's signalling trouble by waving his light. We
found that as we had departed from standard procedure, one that I follow 99.9%
of the time, this being the 01% -- we had not buddy checked on shore. We had
kitted as we had dived an hour before and assumed too much, and Erik had no
weight belt. Andy was perfectly trimmed (nothing to lend) but I always carry
extra weight so I gave Erik 2 kilos in his bcd pocket and had him pull himself
down the tether line. At the bottom I dropped another 2 kilos.in the sand. Due
to my steel tank I was fine with the 2 kg remaining in my belt. We put the
extra weight in Erik's other bcd pocket, and he was fine as well, so we
continued the dive.
The dive was not all that comfortable. It was cold
and once we rounded the back of the rock we encountered the current Aside from
a really neat shrimp that was almost transparent except for reddish claws, who
came wandering out of his hole dazed by the light, and some other brine shrimp
and the usual morays and such, we didn't see much. We had surge and poor vis,
not good conditions for Erik's first night dive. Andy and Erick both picked up
sea urchin spines as we poked over the top and made our way through the canyons
I think back out the side of the rock we had come in on, because my compass
heading at that point was reverse what I expected it to be. There was also a
big silver barracuda that swam across my beam as we entered the canyons at the
top.of the rock. In the sand we switched off our lights and churned up the
phosphorescence. After 50 min we surfaced and swam back to shore where a
sampling of our purchases at the off licence were most welcome to counteract
the salt and exertion. |
| April 28, 2006 |
729-730 |
Musandam: Lima Rock and Wonder Wall |
Mario in his new boat |
We were joined this day by Josh Stevens for his
2nd and 3rd open water training dives and his mom Debby (and dad, Frank,
along for the ride). Because of Josh's depth limitations, Bobbi and I didn't
get maximum effect from Lima Rock diving, but we had two pleasant dives in the
area. Vis wasn't too bad, the water was pleasantly cool, and we settled into
Josh's o/w work. He had completed the academics and the first 3 confined water
dives, so we did dive #2 at Lima Rock, working west from the drop off point
instead of east around the far tip as we most often do. The most exciting
feature of the dive was a shoal of barracuda. Then we got Mario to take us to
the beach beyond Wonder Wall and he was patient while Josh and I ran through
the module 4 confined water skills, the module 4 duck diving session, and
module 5 weights and scuba unit removal and replacement both on the surface and
at depth. By then Josh was ready for dive #3, conducted at Wonder Wall Again
his mom and Bobbi and I stayed together. At one point in the dive Josh pointed
over the sand and made ray motions and questioning gestures, like where are the
rays? I had been looking in caves and alcoves and in the very next one I shined
my light in and lit up the eyeball of a hiding grey ray, hard to see, and Josh,
when I got him over, didn't see it at first. But when he finally made it out he
was very excited. There were also some brine shrimp in these caves, which I
always like to see. Josh and Debby seemed very pleased with their day out. |
| May 5, 2006 |
731 |
Dibba Rock |
Freestyle Divers |
We went over to Khor Fakkan again for the weekend,
got to Sandy Beach in time for a swim in the pool, crowded with Russians
drinking by the poolside, and at 5 p.m. met the hashers for a run around the
dam 10 km north of there. It was a nice run, not too taxing, followed by a bbq
washed down by bevvies from the bottle shop at Royal Beach Motel. Next morning
we were joined at coffee around 9:30 ish by Ben and Lekha, my current students,
and Ben's wife Christiane, and their friend Darrin, who'd all driven down from
Ajman that morning for Ben and Lehka's confined water module 1 to be followed
by a dive off Dibba Rock. Horst and Yvonne had just been snorkeling Snoopy Rock
and they'd reported seeing sharks in the northwest corner closest to Sandy
Beach, so since the first order of business was a swim test for Ben and Lekha I
decided we'd take our masks along and we crawled out there. It took us just
over 5 min to swim there, vis was a little hazy, I was first to arrive, Ben and
Lekha right behind me, and right as we arrived I saw a young black tip, a meter
long or so, which I swam after. The black tip didn't try to escape, but didn't
slow down, and I had no fins. I swam after him and got quite close, but he
popped down the reef and disappeared. I turned and asked Ben and Lekha if
they'd seen it. They were just far enough behind that neither had, so I
suggested we go back to the corner of the island the shark seemed to like. We
checked in the shallows and came on to other snorkelers ahead and I figured the
shark wouldn't be there with those people splashing about. So I made a left
turn in the direction of shore, eyes peeled on the reef, and there near the
sand was another shark, bigger, a meter and a half, the mom apparently, as we
saw the smaller one seconds later. I saw Ben's eyes follow that one as it
circled him and swam out of site, and Lekha saw one of them, I'm not sure
which. So that out of the way, we swam back toward shore. I was glad to see my
two students handled themselves quite well in the water, good swimmers and
snorkelers.
Next on the agenda was confined water module 1. I pulled my
car around to the last room before the sea and ran Ben and Lekha through their
first time ever kitting up. They were game but finding gear that fits and
figuring out how it works, first buddy check, and so on is never a
straightforward process. Shortly though we were fully kitted and heading down
the steps to the beach and into the shallow water, leaning back on our inflated
BCDs and strapping on fins. I had them play with the bcd controls and then
follow me on a snorkel tour with all the gear on their backs. Both novices kept
their heads down and breathed through the snorkel, and had no problem shifting
the gear.
I led them in a circle back to shallow sand and told them we'd
put our heads underwater and if that seemed ok, we'd sit on the sand. It went
as planned. My purpose in seeing them sit in the sand was to see if they were
weighted sufficiently to get down. I did have to make an adjustment later,
giving off some of my excess weight, but all was fine, so we continued into the
skills portion of the module, swimming slightly deeper and further out while
conducting reg removal & replacement, reg recovery, alternate air source
breathing, and returning to the shallows for partial mask clearing, spg check,
and 5 point ascent.
All went well, the students were chuffed, we'd seen
some fish, and it was time to move over to Dibba Rock. Our idea behind that
move was do a dive at noon, be back on shore and ready to head home at 2, and
get back to Abu Dhabi by 6. It didn't work that way. Because you can't rush
students in their first confined water module, we were 50 min late arriving at
the dive center, we missed the boat that had just left, and we sat waiting for
it to return for two hours. We went for our dive at about 3, we were out of the
water 50 min later, but we had to wait for the divemaster and his student 20
min more, back to the dive center at 4:30, 5 min boat ride, but then cleaning
gear till 5 and paying the bill for 13 divers, we didn't get started on our
trip home till about the time we had originally expected to be
there.
Anyway the diving was pleasant once we got out to the rock and
started down. Now it was time for Ben and Lehka's first o/w dive .My
students had the predictable ear problems at the outset so all the other divers
(Bobbi and Ursula, Horst and Yvonne, and Christiene and Darrin) went their
merry ways while me and my divers took their time and had a very nice dive.
Once they got their ears and buoyancy sorted out they followed me comfortably
over the corals and outcroppings. Amazing shoals of fish everywhere, parrots
nibbling at the tasty corals, some barracuda hanging out above the fray, a
school of bat fish. I saw a nesting trigger fish (settled over its nest like a
mother hen), cleaner wrasse going to work on compliant submissive fish of
varying species, clouds of biomass swirling about, feeding in diverse ways,
some silvery with jaws gaping open, others swimming up an down, sifting the
sand at the dip in roller coaster motions, beautiful. I led them down over the
coral wall into the relative cold and gloom above the sand stretches where the
rays and jawfish hang out. But we didn't go there because I got a signal of ear
problem from one of my divers and decided, yeah, a bit cold for me too, let's
turn back. But at a depth of 45 feet on my guage (14 meters) I saw some pipe
fish and dropped down to grab one, and handed it off to the students. We found
our way back into the shallows, came eventually on the boat mooring at 4
meters, continued another ten minutes in a circle over the clacking snapping
denizens living in the fields of coral, and surfaced near the boat, all having
done quite well for a very first day of diving. |
| May 18, 2006 |
732
9 meters, about 45 minutes |
Abu Dhabi, inside the breakwater |
Frank Stevens's small boat |
Josh Stevens (no relation) final o/w dive
#4 for Jr. O/W certification, Glenn also along for fun.
Nice day out, a
bit warm out, but water temperatures quite pleasant. We putted out to the
breakwater in Frank's small but (just) serviceable motorboat and anchored off
the buttress just back from the harbor mouth, in 9 meters of water. I took Josh
down for an ESA, which he performed perfectly (well trained, that boy). We
returned to the deep and took a NNW heading to the breakwater. I trailed a
finger in the sand to make a path back and marked in my mind the configuration
of ropes and other junk at the bottom there in hopes of finding these on our
return and regaining the anchor point. The tide was low but still heading out
so our direction along the wall was westerly against a slight current. We found
a number of gopies with tiny crawfish excavating their lair, and small grouper
(hamour) who positioned themselves in front of us, backed off as we approached,
only made a dash for it at the very last minute. No wonder they end up on so
many dinner tables. The staghorn corals were doing nicely in amongst the
boulders, and sheltered blue and yellow angel fish. Josh had a few exercises to
do. He led us over the sand to the south and right where we stopped we found an
exquisitely tiny blue and black spotted nudibranch scouring the sand for
morsels. Josh led us back to the start point spot on, removed and replaced his
mask for the third time during the dive, and then I made a pass out over the
sand hoping to kick up a ray, but found only a nice anchor, so nice that I sent
my marker buoy up so as to retrieve it later. Josh showed me that he was at
under 100 bar so I led us back along the wall, where we made good progress with
the tide. When we reached the buttress area we came on a shoal of adolescent
barracuda and chased them in and out of view, vis being not so good, only a few
meters. At this point a big energetic tuna began darting in and out of my view,
though I don't think the others saw him. As we passed the buttress I began
moving out over the sand and found the ropes and rocks I'd noted on our way in,
and from there found the trail I'd left in the sand and followed it out to the
anchor point. My newbie divers are usually amazed at how I find my way under
water, and the sudden appearance of our anchor is always a surprise and a
relief for them when they're showing me 50 bar, no idea where they are, while
I've managed the dive to put them at their ascent point right when they need to
go up. But there was no anchor at the end of my trail since Frank had pulled
anchor to fish nearer the rocks, so we ascended up an imaginary anchor line and
waved him over. He took us over to my marker buoy and I went down to retrieve
my reel and then used my bcd as a lift bag to haul the anchor to the surface,
carefully, keeping an eye on my computer, to control my ascent. Up top I
presented the anchor to Frank, who said he could use it aft. |
| May 25-26 |
733-735 |
Dibba Rock on the Thursday; Lima Rock and Wonder
Wall on Friday |
Freestyle Divers in Dibba on Thu / Mike Ralph on
Friday |
Diving with Bobbi in fun dives at the weekend; we
stayed at Holiday Beach Resort and headed over to Freestyle Divers at Royal
Beach Hotel for a Thu dive. I seem to remember some sharks in the very very
shallows on the north side of the rock, what I call the aquarium. The following
day, diving was not brilliant at Lima Rock but Wonder Wall was full of rays,
including a huge bull ray a few meters across. |
| June 1-2 |
736-738 |
Dibba Rock on Thursday; Octopus Rock (the Stack) and
Wonder Wall on Friday |
Freestyle Divers in Dibba on Thu / Mike Ralph on
Friday |
Thursday, Bobbi and I did a dive at Dibba Rock, but
I don't remember anything super. Diving on Friday was Dan Batson's Deep
Advanced Dive for Certification at Octopus Rock and a second dive at Wonder
Wall. Again, vis not so good, and not much spectacular to see. |
| June 15-16 |
739-741 |
The Pinnacles (Three Rocks) on the Thursday; Lima
Rock and the second caves from Dibba on Friday |
Freestyle Divers in Dibba both days |
This was Ben Hayes and Lekha Fernandes's 2nd,
3rd, and 4th dives for O/W Certification. We left town at 8 a.m. and
checked in at the Royal Beach by around noon, then hit the pool for Module 3
confined water. We met Nicky and Jason at 2:00 for a trip over to the
Pinnacles, fighting a contrary seas. Vis wasn't all that great. I took Lekha in
for a CESA and on surfacing we collected Ben and did the usual tour down the 12
meter mooring line, warm in only lycra half mil. My divers were doing well
rounding the rock at depth (14 m). At the point where we headed back into the
rocks we did some compass work over the sand, and Lekha executed a nice out and
back. Coming up into the shallows we found an incredibly large and substantial
jellyfish, tentacles a meter long, and later on a sleeping turtle. At that
point we played buoyancy games, bouncing off the surface and back, but I
retrieved my divers and took them around to the relatively good vis on the
shallow side of the rocks. There wasn't a lot of interest over there, and after
only 35 min or so air was consumed and we surfaced on our way back north to the
boat.
We returned to the pool that evening for module 4 and 5 exercises
but due to the proximity not to mention generosity of the local bottle shop we
didn't make much progress on the final exams, which were finished at breakfast
next morning. We then embarked on a day-long trip to Musandam, first stop Lima
Rock. Lekha went in overweighted and had a buoyancy problems which shortened
her dive. Aside from the really decent vis, the shoals of fish, and a pair of
morays at our max depth of 18 m. it wasn't that great a dive, though Ben and I
found some young barracuda of the western point, where the current carried us
as we breathed off the dregs in our tanks. We didn't do any flexible skills on
those dives, but went in kitted during the surface interval and knocked out
most of the flex stuff while the others ate. This tired my guys out pretty
profoundly, seas being rough and my divers getting sick, so when the boat moved
to the second location, the mouth of a cave, it didn't look good for the home
team. But once in the water the situation changed and the dive turned out to be
a fairly relaxed one. We started into the tunnel. I had a torch and the
entrance and exit were sun-lit and not what you would consider overhead without
escape, but it was interesting terrain for new divers. Once into the exit we
hit biting cold thermoclines at 14 meters but eventually climbed out of those.
I saw a turtle at some point but don't think my students did. We saw a lot of
the usual fish. Pretty and relaxed diving actually, and my students ended on a
high note, and felt comfortable by the end of it. |
| Friday, August 25, 2006 |
742-743 |
Inchcape and Dibba Rock |
Freestyle Divers |
Fun diving with my familly: Bobbi and both boys,
Glenn and Dusty. We had all just returned from
Kyrgyzstan. I had broken my finger
there and would be having surgery next Sunday and would probably be in a cast
or something for next month. Dusty would be returning to California in a week,
so it was a last shot for a family dive outing.
We had a couple of
really good ones. First was on the Inchcape wredk opposite the Meridien. This
is a 31 meter dive, 20 minutes to deco, and full of fish. The buoy was attached
to the starboard stern which is where we hit the wreck, coming down the mooring
line into a cloud of a few hundred snapper, so thick it was like cottage
cheese. We dropped on to the bottom and there right up against the rudder my
pen light elluminated the eyes of a blue spotted ray. We circumnavigated the
hull looking for more and found lion fish, clouds of snappers, and a great
variety of soft corals encrusting the entire surface of the wreck, a
photographer's paradise.
Rising up to deck level, more treats were in
store. There were three huge honeycomb morays poking out of the wreck. The
decks were graced wiith scorpion fish. Barracudas prowled the green water
forward of the bow and trevali passed by amid the snappers (what's
a trevali?). It was really a remarkably relaxed and pretty dive, but as
always, short, and at the appointed time, with our computers a minute into deco
we ascended the line to our safety stop.
The boat returned to base and
we got ready for our second dive on Dibba Rock. This is a dive I like a lot,
often surprising. We dropped in at what I call the aquarium, the fishbowl at
the NW corner of the island. When the vis is good, and it often is, this is an
astounding spot. You can sometimes then move toward the rock and find sharks in
the shallows.
Today, we heard reports of sharks in 6 meters of water
further toward shore from the island, and today the vis wasn't good, so we saw
none of the above. Near the island, surge was annoying so we turned east and
went to depth in the sand at 16 meters. It was gloomy there, murky, full of
goat fish and parrots and bottom trawleters, some pipe fish, some long tailed
rainbow wrasse and triggers whose colors were suppressed by the lack of
light.
But the SE corner was working. Here is where flat grey rays hang
out in the sand. As we moved over the sand bottom, clouds of silt showed us
where the rays had been, and then their long tails revealed where they were,
mostly buried but for eyes and stingers. When we got near them, they rippled
off in different directions, sometimes 3 or 4 at a time. We followed them for a
while, and then returned to the reef and on that leg came across sassy curious
jaw fish poking just above their holes, eyes on us constantly, rotating in
their holes. They're so ugly they're cute.
We finished the dive in the
shallows. Light was better, more hard corals and lots of fish, the typical reef
kind. Nice dive, about 58 min. Fun diving all the family. |
| September 30, 2006 |
744-745 |
Abu Dhabi: Delta Buoy |
Ali's friend Ali Khalaf (in his boat) |
Ali's final Advanced Open Water Peak Buoyancy
Dive for Certification
Lucy's Advanced Open Water Dives: Peak
Buoyancy and Boat
Bobbi's Divemaster Training: ...
Glenn along
for a fun dive
It was a nice day for boating with mild waves spaced well
apart. We went to Delta Buoy on GPS and I spotted the anchorage I like, looking
for the canyon I usually visit here. Bobbi helped with the student divers,
neither of whom had dived recently. We eased into the water and down the anchor
line, established neutral buoyancy on the bottom. I had GPS'd the spot at 100
meters n.e of where we were but I think that was where the boat had anchored on
a previous trip and in the quasi-vis cluttered with white particles I saw
shadows and fish to the north and headed there. Bobbi saw it too and pointed me
a little more north and dropped us into the canyon. We carried on up the ridges
to the higher walls and did some hovering exercises there. We saw angel fish
and grunts and bream but only one grouper. With Ali at half a tank we headed
back down the other side of the gully from the sand patch and eventually
petered into the sand and rocks and wheeled south and east looking for terrain
similar to the anchorage. We found the terrain, a certain pattern of rocks and
coral and sand ripples on the sea bed, but didn't find the anchor so we
ascended to 5 meters and hung out for 3 minutes, a good buoyancy exercise with
no reference but a depth guage (and me). When we came up we found ourselves
right by the boat.
Lucy had just under 100 bar so I proposed a second
dive (Boat) on the buoy itself. Glenn took a spare tank and came along. We were
doing fin pivots when a meter long ramora appeared. Persistent like a cat he
kept trying to snuggle up to us but shied away when we tried to grab him or
feel the bumps on his head. We dived for 20 min including the safety stop and
he never left us during all that time, constantly swirling about us like a cat
at our feet. Lucy thought he was a shark. Interesting dive thanks to the
ramora. Nothing much else on the buoy itself in the area where the heavy chain
had cut a wasteland in the sea bottom. The chain itself sometimes attracts
batfish and baraccuda, and on this dive, the playful ramora. |
| October 7, 2005 |
746 |
Diving just off the beach hotel in Abu Dhabi |
Ocean Diving Center, Rotana Beach Hotel |
Stefanie and Aislinn White's first open water
training dive
Bobbi assisting as divemaster in training
Glenn along
for a fun dive
I started using the new ODC, run by my friend Issa from
Masaoud's, the day before, with Aislinn and Stefanie in the pool at the beach
hotel. On Saturday they were ready for their first dive, and the weather was
too rough to get a boat out into open sea, so we did a shore dive off the beach
hotel. Not much fish life there, just a grouper in the legs of a discarded
chair and a few gopies and crabs. We mainly worked on Stephanine and Aislinn's
bouyancy, and by the end of the dive I was chasing them to keep them from
racing too far ahead. After the dive we went back in the shallows just back of
the dive center for confined water training dive #2. Bobbi assisted as
divemaster in training on both exercises. |
| November 3, 2006 |
747-748 |
Abu Dhabi: B22, Bateen Box and Breakwater - Seas
flat with mild chop; Weather Sunny and very warm. Wind The wind will be
moderate southeasterly at 10– 12knots, becoming a moderate northwesterly
sea breeze of 10 – 12 knots for a short period in the late afternoon.
Temperature Max 36°C Sea State 1 –2 feet inshore and 2 – 3 feet
offshore. |
Ocean Diving Center, Rotana Beach Hotel, Boat
provided by Dive-Inn |
I took a German young man and lady on a Discover
Scuba dive, helped Vicky through a refresher, and signed logs for a French
couple. Bobbi assisting as divemaster in training
Mohammed showed
off his new Dive-inn boat, cruising with rap and arabic sounds, with a
new (for me) dive site, 2/3 the way to Ras Ghurab, called B 22 (for 22 rocks,
they said). The temperatures above and below water were ideal, comfortable but
not overheated in a 3 mm suit. B22 was swarming with snappers and once the
newbie divers settled into it, other fish as well. We came upon schools of
yellow spotted grunts, I saw a few bream, angelfish, two sea snakes, a grouper.
Vis not bad. For the second dive we moved to the b/water around the corner from
the box, and here the vis was even better, not unlike a pool, maybe 10 meters.
This time the male German discovery diver (Eier?) was confident and pulled
ahead as I lingered looking under boulders, finding a sea snake resting coiled
in the sand. We had a faint tail current and were at the corner in ten minutes,
lots of bat fish there and some lean meat fish. I let my scuba discoverers lead
because I figured it would be interesting to wind up at the box. On the way we
found a ray in the sand, and at the box, another swooped in over head off the
metal contraption. Eier was by that time at 100 bar so I signalled a return and
here we encountered stiff current opposing. All divers kept up the finning
though, and we had rounded the corner and were heading south before he got down
to under 50 bar (in not 7 meters of water) and I figured we'd better come up in
the school of batfish there at the moment. It was a really nice dive. |
| Nov 10, 2006 |
749-750 |
Dibba |
Freestyle Divers |
Sonya, Gillian, and Nick's first and second O/W
dives - Bobbi acting as divemaster candidate, Oscar along for
the ride Bobbi and I got up at 6 and got the tanks in the car and on the road
by 7, arrival in KF at around 10:45 well in time to meet the students and get
them kitted for an in-any-case delayed 11:30 ish dive The destination Dibba
Rock, Cesar at the helm, and a boatload of divers aboard Our guys were keenly
kitted for their first ever o/w dive, endured their first ever backward roll,
and were soon easing down the mooring rope to a rather gloomy 12 meters There
were pipe fish about and flounders in the sand, and morays, and bannerfish,
wrasse, butterflyfish, snappers aplenty, parrotfish, clownfish in the anenomes,
triggerfish, all in flux on the reeff. The divers struggled with their
buoyancy, some had to be pulled back from trips to the surface, but eventually
they gained control and 20 min into the dive, with air holding out at around
150, we came to the point where we would either cut across the wall or up into
the shallows. I opted for the latter and immediately saw a turtle swimming over
the reef. My divers followed as best they could and eventually we ended in the
shallows among foraging sea bass, corals and reef fish, including a bat fish
who appeared to be scratching himself on the sand. Nice dive, 55
min.
The second one was even better. We started at the nw corner where
we sometimes see black tips, where at 6 meters when there's good vis the reef
is alive with fish, including a meter long baraccuda who likes to lurk there.
The baraccuda was home, and some grouper, and we paused there in a surge to do
skills: mask clearing, reg recovery, alt air source, and fin pivots. Once the
guys were buoyantly correct, we let ourselves get swept by the current. We
found lots of fish to entertain us: morays in the rocks, puffers to be petted,
long cigar shaped coronet fish. Seeing that the sand was at only 12-13 meters,
and that my divers had buoyancy under control, I suggested a hunt for rays. We
moved easterly in the void, and soon saw a ray hovering about over the sand. We
hovered over it a while and then wheeled west back toward the reef. There was
another ray there, and then just ahead a curious jawfish peeping out over his
hole. We stared back for a while and then moved into the shallows where we had
been the previous dive. We admired the panoply of tropical fish and skimmed
over a bed of staghorn coral. At that point we encountered another turtle and
followed it close and nonchalant, and ended the dive on that note and in
alternate air source ascents, 13 meters, 45 min. |
| November 11, 2006 |
751 |
Abu Dhabi |
EDA Clean up Arabia |
Cleanup Arabia
Weekend
See program
Vance Stevens and Peter Burge, Instructors; Mike Parry, Divemaster; Bobbi
Stevens Rescue Diver and Divemaster candidate; Advanced Divers: Glenn Stevens,
Sandra Grenet; Snorkelers Aislinn and Stefanie White. Following the usual
safety briefing we cruised to the site and I did the honors for boat cover
while the others conducted the cleanup. I had Bobbi, Glenn, and Mike surface
with more than 100 bar and I took Aislinn and Stefanie, my students, down for
an extra o/w dive in low vis, 8 meters depth and lots of silt. They did well.
We stayed down about 15 min. Not much to report about the dive, apart from the
murk. Meanwhile other divers found a deceased turtle in a net and also picked
up human remains, regarding which the police were called, and they roped off
the area and curtailed the usual apres nettoiyer trash count.
Kathleen's
photos: http://www.masaoodmarine.com/news/gen12.php?t=1&id=87 |
| Friday November 17, 2006 |
752-753 |
Abu Dhabi |
The coral patch north of Sadayat Island |
Nick Moran's Final Dives for O/W certification
and Rebecca's first, Aisslan and Stefanie's second o/w training
dive: We had planned to dive at 2 p.m so as to train my students first
but a shamal was due to blow in and the dive was scheduled for 9 in the
morning. This meant I had to get to the Beach Hotel at 7 a.m., skies still with
an orange-pink glow and sea and pool like glass, very tropical, and train Nick
in Modules 4 and 5, and Rebecca and Stefanie and Aislinn in Module 3. This was
done in the nick of time, thanks to Bobbi helping as divemaster candidate,
though she was denied (free) passage on the good ship due to its being at its
maximum load, and we all tje rest piled aboard for the trip beyond the island.
Seas were slightly choppy, but enough to induce upset in those least accustomed
to it, but thanks to the kind administrations of Tiziana, we managed to get our
divers kitted and in the ocean, Rebecca for the very first time. Due to ear
problems with two of the divers, we took ten minutes to work our way down the
rope to the bottom at 9 meters, but eventually we got them there and reasonably
neutrally buoyant and we started our tour. I headed upcurrent north looking for
a sand patch but found incessant coral and masses of the usual fish, attractive
but not what I was looking for. I meandered right and eventually came to some
sand and brought my divers in. Rebecca, on her first dive, watched while
Stefanie and Aisslan did the Dive 2 exercise set, culminating in mask clearing,
partial and full. Nick then did his for Dive 3, orally inflating his bcd to
recover neutral buoyancy. We resumed our tour at leisure now, came upon a big
grouper and schools of jack fish, and when after 55 minutes the students hit 50
bar, we surfaced upcurrent from the boat and had only to fin to west to be
swept onto it. Rebecca was feeling off though so Nick helped her back, and I
gave him credit for a tired diver tow.
The other divers had gone down
for their second dive so we calculated our SI and PG's, found we could have 174
minutes if we dived then, so Aislinn, Stefanie, and Nick and I re-entered the
water. I took Nick first down the anchor line and brought him up a couple of
times in CESA practice. By then Aislinn had entered, the instructor on board
monitored Nick, and I did the same with Aislinn. Stefanie came in last and we
all submerged and did compass headings out and back East, North, and West of
the anchor line and back. I then decided to demonstrate a square pattern,
carefully counting out 30 kicks east, north, west, and south, but on arrival
after 30 kicks vis was too poor to spot the anchor, though I could hear the
chain rattling. I looked a little in a tight circle, thought about doing an
expanding square, decided never mind, not important, and led us back to the
east just looking at fish, not counting kicks. After a certain amt of time I
turned south and kicked at leisure for an approximately similar amount of time.
I then turned west and at about that time Stefanie indicated that things were
not quite right and pointed at her stomache. I signaled I was heading back to
the boat and made to continue my square. A minute later she signalled again, so
instead of continuing west I steered northwest in what I assumed was the
direction of the boat. After another minute Stefanie was clearly not
comfortable so 40 min into the dive I brought us up at a NW angle. We surfaced
near to and pointing right at the boat. This time Aislinn was credited with the
tired diver tow assisting her ailing sister. |
| Friday, November 24, 2006 |
754-755 |
Dibba Rock |
Freestyle Divers |
Aislinn and Stefanie White's 3rd o/w dive;
Rebecca Moran's 2nd o/w dive, Sonja and Gillian's 3rd and 4th o/w dives for
certification; Bobbi along as dive-mistress in training. We slept till
6, left the house at 7, and pitched up at the Royal Beach Hotel at 11 for the
11:30 dive which didn't get away till noon in any event. Good timing for us as
I got 5 students ready to go. Some had ear problems as they descended. Vis was
good so with Bobbi assisting on the line I was able to work with the students
on the bottom to get them to do their bcd oral inflations. We were at a mooring
just west of the coral field and in sand so when we got all our divers sorted I
moved them into the coral. Mask clearing came later in the dive, hardly worth
mentioning, but our first charge came as we meandered along the north rim of
the coral patch and marvelled at all the fish there. I saw a Spanish mackeral
pass, a good 1.5 meters, thought at first it was a shark. And then there was a
real shark, a blacktip, who came strolling along the reef hardly bothering
about us, which was good for game viewing, as we were able to follow him for a
couple of minutes before he outdistanced us. We were feeling pretty good about
the dive at that point, still oggling at the schools of fish all around, when
Gillian pointed into the gloom, and I saw a ray there. And quickly I noticed
that its head had those little processes on it so it was a devil ray, and then
there was another, both of which disappeared quickly into the gloom. We
continued up the reef and came to a school of silver fish which had barracuda
lurking beneath them, vis pretty good at that point. We let ourselves be
surrounded by barracuda and then moved over the reef near where the wall starts
and ended the dive there, hovering amongst the fish, a pretty good
dive.
Stefanie had ear problems on ascent, suffered reverse block, so
she and Aislinn thought it prudent to not do the second dive that day. Between
dives I took Gillian and Sonja fully kitted on a snorkel past the boats and we
knocked out the flexible surface skills in the deep water off the anchorage. We
returned to shore for new tanks and ended up standing about while the sun
dropped nearer the mountains in the west while we waited for Cesar to return
with the boat. We were supposed to go to the Pinnacles but by the time we got
going the plan had changed, wisely, to the much nearer Dibba Rock. As I had
done with Sonja the dive before, I took Gillian down for CESA leaving the other
divers on the boat. We had some aborted starts due to buoyancy problems and on
one attempt Gillian seemed unable to kick to overcome the weight she was
carrying so at the surface we dropped her from 8 to 6 kilos and everything went
well after that.
Back up top after a successful 12 second CESA, we
plopped the other divers in and on a day of what else could go wrong, it was
getting late, one students' tank slipped its harness on entering the water, and
another had a problem with the mask. And did I mention the current? That was
one of the confounding factors with Gillian's CESA, and the students had
requested we do the skills at the beginning. So I wrapped an elbow around the
mooring line and helped them with mask removal / replacement and full mask
flooding / clearing. All got through it despite the difficult conditions and
then I let go the line, started drifting with the current, and beckoned all to
follow (before it was too late). This was no place for fin pivots. I checked
Sonja and Gillian's buoyancy through hovering as we powered over the reef and
Bobbi followed with Rebecca in tow. We let ourselves be carried along the wall
for a few minutes, but it was no longer in sunlight and was disappointing
compared to the super-charged experience we had just had, so I decided we could
drift over the sand in search of jaw-fish and rays, which are almost always
there just beyond the wall. Because of the current I decided to move us out
there from mid-wall so we would drift over sting ray city. I took an accurate
compass heading to the N/E and led us into the sand. Midwater the current
picked up and I quickly saw that this was NOT a good idea with inexperienced
divers. So short of where I thought the rays would be I called for a turn-back,
but this was much easier not said (hard to say things underwater) than not done
(even harder to swim back to the S/W because the current was actually angled a
bit away from the wall, and we were stuck in it). So I gathered my divers and
checked air. All divers had 100 to 150 bar, we weren't very deep, and I figured
we were not only safe, just 13 meters or so, plenty of air and nothing to bump
into but water, but with a little effort we could power back to the wall. So I
signalled them to go for it, and they did.
A couple minutes later we
were back at the wall and we found some relief from the current there. It was
still dark and sandy so first chance I got I headed for a gap and into the
shallows at the East corner of the rock. The current was benign enough here for
Sonja to do her compass heading and return, the last skill remaining for her
and Gillian's certification. We skimmed shallow over the field of staghorn
coral just off the rock and the same place they were last time, we found two of
the turtles who live there, and one swam along with us as we ended our dive.
Back on shore we cleaned our kit as the sun went down and did one more
dive into the local off license and emerged with tins of something called
Cobra, tall ones for just 3 dirhams each. Experienced in such matters, Bobbi
and I made sure all our kit was put away and back in the car before we started
on our second one of those, and after the third one we drove over to the
Holiday Beach Hotel, where we had booked a 2-br chalet (with our students) and
had shish tawooks brought around by room service while we let ourselves be
beguilded by the Cobra. It was a very nice way to end a very nice day, great
diving and wind down on a catatonically comfortable note. |
| Saturday, November 25,
2006 |
756 |
Dibba Rock, 58 min. 9 meters |
Freestyle Divers |
Aislinn and Stefanie White's 4th o/w dive for
certification Because Stefanie had had to drop out of her 4th dive the
day before, we were not able to start her advanced course with a morning dive
on the deep wreck Inchcape as we had hoped, but we later decided we had been
fortunate in that happenstance. When that boat was leaving with the deep wreck
divers we were in the glassy waters doing weight and BCD removal and
replacement. We were on our dive boat by the appt'd time of 9:30 and we waited
there an hour because Cesar cut his hand and Adam had to fill in as driver, and
a group of divers arrived late and were not forthcoming with cert cards.
Eventually we cast off, an hour late, but happy to see the devil rays leaping
out of the water as we neared the rock. We moored at the mooring just west of
the rock and as we had been kitted and ready to go for some time, we were first
in. Stefanie's ears were ok and I took us to the east in the shallows up to
just 2.5 meters in hopes of seeing sharks near the rock, where they sometimes
hang out. The vis, crystal clear near shore, had more algae near the rock, but
I suppose we had a good ten meters. We finned back past the mooring where
another group of divers was just starting its tour. I headed south over the
strawberry coral in the direction of the bait ball we'd seen at the surface in
the vicinity of where the devil ray had jumped, and I led quickly so as to be
ahead of the divers who had just descended. My divers followed competently.
Sometimes it pays to be in the lead, sometimes the first there sees things that
vanish quickly.
That's what happened this time, one of my most memorable
moments in diving since the whale shark from Jan 13, 2003. Coming down into the deeper
edge of the coral field, where the corals started to slope away and the sea
looked dark green beyond, two very big black tips came gliding across the reef
from right to left of my view. My eyes followed them but were almost
immediately distracted by a big school of devil rays in my right field of
vision, more than I could count, their white horns gleaming in unison, their
skirts rippling in and out of view. I turned at first toward the sharks,
pointing for the benefit of my divers off in both directions. If I had it to do
over I would have followed them because we never found them again during the
dive, whereas it seemed wherever we pointed for the rest of the 58 min we
stayed down, we came on the schools of devil rays. Devil rays everywhere, and
at some point in our wanderings over the coral a nice school of barracuda, and
the usual triggers and parrots, and tang near the rock, and whatnot and
whatever. This was a really wow dive, probably my best ever in the UAE (my
whale shark sightings here have both been technically in Oman, Musandam). |
| December 1, 2006 |
757-758 |
Oman, Damaniyites |
Sawadi Beach Resort |
Not the usual great weekend at Sawadi Beach. Bobbi
and I extricated ourselves from our routine in Abu Dhabi early on Thu and
resumed the packing we had started but not finished the night before and with
some effort and stress got ourselves on the road by around 2 p.m.and attempted
to chill out en route. We drove through rain and drizzle after crossing the
border and arrived at the resort in clear skies to find that there was a party
by the pool with hundreds of people, loud music playing, and the restaurant
staff stretched to cope with it. The restaurant was such a mess that we retired
to our room and ordered room service and then tried to sleep through an
airconditioner whose fan went off and back on in 30 min intervals. We went to
breakfast next morning a bit frazzled but picked up when we at last got on the
boat and headed to sea. We went to the far east end of the island chain, to the
island with the government outpost. There were storms expected but they were
holding off for the time being. Still the seas were a bit murky and the first
dive was disappointing, not unlike a dive at Musandam on a low-viz day. The
crew got the current wrong and we had to fin into it to go around the island in
the direction they were expecting. The combination exertion and depth (24
meters) and the fact that the tanks were light at 190 bar, caused us to have to
surface after 55 min, the last of it carried by the current in the shallows.
All the divers were carried off the island and into the shallow channel beyond
where the current kept them at its mercy till the boat could reach them, and
none had any remarkable sightings to report. Second dive was only marginally
better. It was shallower, about 16 meters, and there were lots of pretty fish
about and soft corals on the rocks, and big bommies, nice healthy coral. Bobbi
and I were quickly in the water and got ahead of Nigel from ADSAC and his buddy
and so we came on the big bull ray in the sand and scared him off before the
other divers could see him, but in so doing we missed the turtle everyone else
saw. Again, no enthusiastic reports on the second dive and it was almost 4 when
we returned to base. Bobbi cleaned the gear while I grabbed our stuff from the
room as we had abused late checkout. We were packed to continue into the
interior for camping and hiking but Seeb was reporting 40% rain the next day,
there were clouds over the mountains, and the divers weren't really expecting
to go out next day. We decided we had things to do and headed for home, driving
at night. The cost of this misadventure, 70 riyals for a room, 50 for diving,
plus about 30 for dinner and breakfast, plus visa at border crossing and fuel,
about $500 for the two of us. |
| Dec 8, 2006 |
759 |
Abu Dhabi, off the Rotana Beach Hotel |
Ocean Diving Center |
Bobbi and Glenn and I turned up for Issa's first big
event at Ocean Diving Center, one made memorable by Tatiana's remarkable
organizational skills. Divers entered the water in morning and afternoon
shifts. We thought we would save time by coming at 1 but we were requested to
be there at 12:30 so we left the house at noon, the bbq wasn't till 5 and the
ceremony at half past 6 and though it was great fun, with two free beverages
provided, we spent an 8 hour day on the event. The diving, in 23 degree water,
was less than stimulating (8 meters, 45 minutes), but divers did pull an
amazing amount of debris from the water. I found a wheelbarrow but couldn't
lift it with my bcd alone. We got a barnacle encrusted flowerpot we took home
with us, and I recovered one of the ODC's snorkels in the mucky bottom. All in
all a good day's event, and Issa's ODC is showing some spirit, driven by the
personality of the dynamic Tatiana. |
| Friday, Dec 15, 2006 |
760 |
Dibba Rock |
Freestyle divers |
Omar Zaafrani, peak buoyancy advanced o/w
dive Bobbi assisting as divemaster candidate, Dusty and Glenn along for
a fun dive.
There was a lot of algae in the water so vis was 3-5
meters, depending. Water was colder than before. Andrew mentioned that the
devil rays were still around so we had a really nice dive over the coral
carpet, coming on devil rays frequently. We also saw turtles and baraccudas
aplenty. The really neat thing about this dive was that the animals we
encountered swam with us. The first turtle we came on in the coral carpet
stayed put as we came on it and when it finally decided to move it just
meandered so that we could follow it and swim right next to it. It made no
effort to escape us. I figured he would lead us to where the devil rays were,
but I was wrong. He took us to see his friends the baraccudas. However, not far
from them the devil rays were playing. We zig zagged over the coral to find
them in many spots. Some came close on this dive, and one even swam along side
me for a good half minute. As he did that I edged closer and closer till I was
looking him in the eye at the side of one of the processes extending off his
head. I figured he could see me and didn't mind and remembering my experiences
with mantas, who like to interact with divers tactily, I thought to pet his
rippled underside, so I finned slightly ahead and moved my hand toward him. I'm
not sure if reaching out startled him, or if I came too near or if I entered
his field of view just then, but he accelerated suddenly and was
gone.
At the time I was swimming with this ray I saw another group
of divers to my left heading in a straight line over the reef, and I assumed
these and other divers we saw from time to time in the coral patch were
enjoying the devil rays too. But on the boat we discovered we were the only
ones who had seen them, dozens of them, on this dive. Obviously I'm starting to
figure out where they're likely to be, which others less experienced here don't
know. Others had seen sharks though.
This was a pretty dive, but we were
too cold for another, and I ended up with Joan and Jane for module 1 training
in the very warm pool afterwards, and we all relaxed with purchases of 3
dirhams each from the off-license enjoying the sunset from the dive center
veranda before moving into town for a great meal at Dibba's primo Lebanese
restaraunt Noamaan and taking up residence at the Seaside furnished flats (NOT
near the sea, they had pointed out over the phone, by way of
truth-in-advertising disclaimer). Still, such a deal for 250 dirhams, about
$60, a night, fully appointed with microwave and TV and stereo, two baths with
shower/toilet, and two bedrooms, one with double bed and the other twin.
Attractive building and spotlessly clean. Bobbi and I took the master bedroom,
shut the door and turned on the a/c and became oblivious to whatever took place
with the 5 adult kids we had with us spilling over onto the couches and floor
of the living room. There was plenty of beer in the fridge, we heated up the
leftovers from Noamaan in the microwave for breakfast the next morning, and
checkout was at 4 that day so we could leave our gear there while diving. We'll
be back. |
| Saturday, Dec 16, 2006 |
761-762 |
Dibba Rock |
Freestyle divers |
Omar Zaafrani, final boat dive for advanced open
water certification; and Joan and Jane - first o/w dive, tour
for pleasure, no skills. Bobbi, Dusty and Glenn were on the 1st dive, and the
second was just Joan and Dusty and I
Next day the diving was not as
nice. Vis was much reduced. On our first dive we took Joan and Jane for their
first o/w experience. Right at the bottom of the mooring there was a turtle
hiding. The water was cold and there was a mild current. There had been a
similar current the day before into which we had finned to reach the coral
patch, but with divers who were having trouble getting into fin position, and
who were working out buoyancy control, the current was too much. I took them
over the top of the nearest reef where there were lots of angelfish and
snappers, and big trevali swimming by on the edge of the reef but the current
wanted us to do the back side of the island, so we went with it at about 6
meters depth till Bobbi spotted an electric ray and tugged my fin, and we
followed it down over the rocks to the sand at ten meters.
We continued
up the back side of the rock, finding lion fish and morays to amuse the ladies,
and then headed into the shallows leading to the landward side of the Island.
Vis was clearer here, and the tropical fish and coral were pleasant, but it was
very shallow, low tide, and we were finning again against the current. We were
so shallow that I surfaced now and then to check the rock on my right. It was
always there and I edged left to find deeper water but it seemed the depth was
unusually shallow always. Finally the currect increased to where we could not
make headway into it. This was 48 min into the dive and I decided to ease left
rather than fight it.
I was surprised to see that this led us over the
familiar coral patch. I glanced at my compass and saw SW, the way over the
coral patch, and then realized we had rounded the island and were headed along
the front side. The SW heading took us over the patch we'd wanted to reach at
the outset, and we almost immediately came on a docile turtle there who didn't
mind being surrounded by divers. We prowled over that a few minutes till the
boat passed over head, and I figured that was Andrew's hint for us to come up
now, so we did.
Joan was pretty stoked from that dive and wanted to try
it again. Everyone else was cold but Dusty decided to come along and hold hands
with her on her second ever ow dive. We went in down the mooring line and found
visible algae everywhere. I found the reef on compass heading and swam over the
coraltops. We'd fixed out heading so as to head over the coral but I decided I
liked the edges of the coral where we were and I let us go north a bit. This
was where I thought there might be rays, the edge of the reef, and we saw them
as we turned in over the coral patch again, about half a dozen of them. That
was it for rays that dive. Again the water was quite shallow due to low tide,
and where I thought we were near the island there were scads of baraccuda
about. They were interesting to see, as were the turtles. I turned again over
the coral and saw a shark. The others were too far behind to see it and it
disappeared quickly. Well, that dive soon became more of the same, lots of
interesting reef and larger fish around but hard to see due to low vis, a few
turtles, that kind of stuff. Pretty good dive actually. |
| Date |
Logged Dive
# |
Location |
Diving
with |
Most recent dive is
the one listed above |
