Author: zadmin

As advertised last week, Brian and Mike organised a trip out to the Zainab whilst the rest of us were in Oman. It was evidently a good trip with smooth seas and good viz. I don’t have many details, but Brian wrote on WhatsApp:
We had ideal dive conditions on Zainab. I had a Kodak moment when Mike swam below the propeller. Loads of fish. Can only be spoiled if you guys saw a whale shark!
More of that shortly. 😊

The Oman trip was organised by Angela for Sharjah and Dubai divers to dive the Damaniyat Islands which are about an hour offshore from Musannah on the Batinah coast. We arrived at the Millennium Hotel at intervals during Thursday, having crossed the border (or not) with varying degrees of trauma. There were fourteen of us in total which seemed to split about 50/50 between those who opted for an early night and those who wanted a refreshment or two by the pool before heading for bed. It seemed to me that Sharjah divers were disproportionately represented in the latter group but that might be my imagination.
Having completed the formalities with the centre, Sea Oman, we set off for the first target which was Junn Island West Wall in the western islands. But on the way a diversion. At about half distance, the boat captain noticed some fins in the water not far from the boat. It turned out to be five or six whale sharks, feeding just below the surface. It was fins, masks and snorkels in seconds and we spent about 45 minutes swimming with them. Awesome!

After that the diving threatened to be an anti-climax, but we had a good time nevertheless. The viz wasn’t great below 10m or so but the current was minimal. There were a couple of big nudibranchs and a big moray eel lurking in amongst some rocks. The second dive was on Sera Island, a few minutes away in the same island group. The viz was similar but we saw a cuttlefish, a large cow-tailed ray and a big pufferfish. It always seems to me that the fish of the Damaniyats (and also maybe the Musandam) are always a size or two bigger than their counterparts on the east coast of the UAE.

The first dive on Saturday was on the Aquarium, which is generally known as one of the better sites and is popular. Indeed, when we arrived, there was already a boat anchored up from Global Scuba at the Aviation Club down the road. The Aquarium is a submerged reef and our boat’s anchor landed just on the edge of it. We spent about 15 minutes close to the anchor as the first thing we saw were three cuttlefish. There was also a free-swimming moray that found a home amongst the rocks, soon to be followed by a turtle.
It was shortly after this that I was swimming along about 50cm above the bed when another large moray glided underneath me, mouth open. It gave me quite a shock. Polly has some video to share shortly of this very curious Moray.  Going around the reef, we found quite a lot of morays, most quite big and some hidden among the soft corals. One had a “zebra” colouring which is quite rare. We also saw a torpedo ray.

This was without doubt the best dive so far and we were tempted to stay around for a second dive on the same site. Regrettably, it’s part of the eastern island group and bearing in mind the journey home, we decided use the surface interval to move ourselves closer to home. This turned out to be the Mousetrap which is an underwater ridge between Junn Island and Sera Island. It took a bit of getting to as we were put in the water on the downstream side and had to fight our way into the lee of the ridge where we had a leisurely swim from west to east. We saw another torpedo ray and some more cuttlefish but the best of it was in the top ten metres where the viz was clearer and there were lots of smaller fish.

The trip back to land threatened to turn into a marathon when one of the boat engines failed but we were picked up by the centre’s other boat and lost only about 20 minutes or so.
The photos above were taken by Angela (whale sharks 3 & 4) Allen, .Cara and Polly. 

Thank you to Angela also for the Zip Line and Aqua Park antics……..always do your ‘background checks’ when it comes to Zip Lines – i.e. don’t put your hands on the line you will lose your fingers and stopping is an abrupt whip lash ending. (Polly’s words)

Thanks to the dive centre, Sea Oman. Enormous thanks to Angela for organising the weekend and to my excellent dive buddies, Sandra and Polly. It was also nice to catch up briefly with Alison Mackenzie, once a 406 member but now resident in Oman since I can’t remember when.

​Saad is organizing an event later this month: ttps://www.somewhatsalty.com/tdb/
Deco is an unavoidable part of deep diving. The Deco Breakfast elegantly presents facts & fundamentals, as well as strategies & controversies. The two presentations will be of value to divers who enjoy diving in the 40m to 100m range. Registration is now open.

Some news about former members.

First Robin Hughes:
I came out to Hong Kong in August to manage a tender response for an Engineering Services company, a newly formed subsidiary of an Asset Management Group (the majority investor in this Engineering Services entity). I was on a healthy day-rate but sadly I concluded they did not have the slightest chance of winning the contract, and so gave them a close-out report and flew off to Chiang Mai where I now keep a flat four floors above my friend Dave’s flat.
The Chinese owner of the Asset Management Group, apparently struck by my relinquishing a month’s consultancy via impartial appraisal of ‘contract win’ prospects —  everyone close was saying the tender was a ‘sure thing’ — called me back from Chiang Mai after only three days to look at another project (also non-viable). Then I was kept around to look at another project, and another, and another, until last week I was appointed as ‘Director, Project Management’ for the Asset Management Group.
Doesn’t this say something both about the opportunistic nature of Hong Kong, and the huge number of ‘yes men’ floating around???   So, while I continue to assist the (rather small) Engineering Services company I arrived to prepare a bid for, I now look at other projects as well. It is interesting and varied work, and I am happy to be back in Hong Kong again after the arid and expensive Middle East.
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Second, Geoff Patch:
Also, as well as diving with us in Zanzibar, Geoff has been doing some diving in Plymouth, UK, and has just completed a TDI CCR normoxic trimix course (‘Mod 3’). Geoff has written interesting reports on both which I’m putting aside to publish on a “slow news week”, along with the photos he sent with them.
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DAN insurance website: https://www.daneurope.org/home
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The Dive Club meets every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar.
See you there!
 
 

​Dear Members, 
​
After last week’s epic, it’s sort of a relief to get back to a report that’s a bit more normal. The Eid trips are always a pleasure and great fun to write about but I couldn’t do that many words every week. Those around last Tuesday will have seen Peter’s video of the holiday. I’ve now received another one from Geoff which will get its UAE public premiere tomorrow night. Thanks to both of you for your efforts and apologies to PJ for my forgetting his contribution to the fish ID.

There was no diving last weekend, mainly due to both me and Brian being absent with the resulting problems with boat towing and boat driving. The previous weekend we dived on both days.

On Friday, we took a boat out to the Ajman Glory and did two dives there. I was hoping for a repeat of the good viz that was reported the previous weekend but this was sadly not to be. Although not the worst I’ve seen, it was pretty mediocre. We nevertheless had a good couple of dives around and inside the wreck. The fish life seemed a bit sparse as well although perhaps we were just a bit spoilt by Zanzibar.

On Saturday, Brian took a boat out to Wreck X. I gather the viz here was much better, possibly because of its greater distance from shore. Very little is known about this wreck, hence the name. It has appeared to be a fishing trawler which are banned in the gulf but with a good view of the vessel, Brian noticed some alterations to the hold which may indicate some nefarious purpos. It’s a fair way from shore so we only go there in calm seas but it’s a good dive when conditions permit.

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Some news of ex-members:
​Brian Larkin visited Mike Anthony at his home in the United Kingdom.

​ And a word from Volker:
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​I thought I’d give you a proof of life from me again. Looks and sounds like you had an awesome Eid escape; I thought I’d ask a favour and / or pass the word, if you could please include this in the next mail, which is also read by former members, I assume:

Effective since 1-Sep, my brother is now GM (yes, that is general manager, the Big Cheese) of the following Hotel in Malaysia:
http://www.tanjongjararesort.com/
Looks really nice… and he’ll get you guys a good rate.

Anyway, looking on the map, 
https://www.google.de/maps/place/Tanjong+Jara+Resort/@4.8051847,103.380341,13z/data=!4m7!3m6!1s0x0:0xe81e0756088009cb!5m1!1s2018-09-25!8m2!3d4.8118345!4d103.4225697
while it is a nice far-away place to go on vacation, it is also a bit of a remote place to actually live, unless you grew up there. The next “Big City” is Kuala Dungun, which is the nearest place where expat activities seem to occur. From what I’ve heard, lots of oil’n’gas going on around there. So, knowing that a least some of my fellow divers from BSAC406 worked in Oil & Gas, I was wondering if maybe somebody knew somebody who’s located in or near Kuala Dungun nowadays, who could arrange for an introduction into expat circles for my brother. I know it’s a long shot, but I’d really appreciate it. Please contact me via the Club. 
Thanks, regards, and have great dives!
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Damaniyats Trip:
Please find attached the details on room rates and the diving packages for the Daymaniyat trip – staying Thursday 4th and Friday 5th October, returning to Dubai on Saturday 6th.

2 Adults
Deluxe Room
OMR 55.00 with breakfast
OMR 65.00 with dinner and breakfast

Superior Room Sea View
OMR 65.00 with breakfast
OMR 75.00 with dinner and breakfast

Hotel reservations need to be made directly with the hotel to get these Sea Oman rates.  In other words you need to email them and then call with credit or debit cards to secure the booking at the rates listed. Let me know if you see better rates through any other means!!
Email:
[email protected]
Tel:  General Hotel No: +968 2687 1555
Reservations agents on: +968 2687 1518 / 19 / 20
.
For the diving, Sea Oman have a dive centre at the Millennium resort.  During the dive trip they provide ‘light sneaks’ which sounds intriguing. Even though the leaflet says Nitrox is free, I’ve been told that they will charge OMR3 per day per diver but am clarifying.
For the time being it looks like we don’t need to book the diving, but I am clarifying that also.
Whale sharks can’t be pre-booked but it’s the right season for them!
Please contact Angela at the Club for more information. 
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DSDC One day 35th Anniversary Dhow on 21st September
Last chance if anyone’s is interested.
The cost is 300 AED per person including bacon butties
Please contact:
PAM HOLLAND at DSDC.
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The Dive Club meets every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar.
See you there!

I published a picture of Brian Larkin at Mike’s place in Suffolk; see above. It seems he also met Denis Rooney in Newcastle (that’s the one in County Down, not Tyne and Wear).​

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Jambo!!
As promised, below follows an account of our Eid Al Adha trip to Zanzibar:
The flight time from Dubai to Zanzibar is over 5½ hours so Brigitte and I were badly in need of stretching some legs when we arrived, albeit after a comfortable journey. We got our wish as you have to walk across the apron from the aircraft to the terminal – no buses here. The airport is a bit primitive and the immigration procedures were slightly chaotic as there were no clear directions on what to do. We had to work out which pieces of paper we had to fill in and which window to present them to. Still, with only one 737 arriving at a time, the place wasn’t overwhelmed and having acquired our visas and picked our cases out of the pile, we found our driver fairly quickly and we were on our way.
After the heat and humidity of the UAE, the more moderate climate was a welcome relief and the car’s natural air conditioning wasn’t a problem. The journey of about 90 minutes also gave us our first look at Zanzibar, at least as long as it stayed daylight. The lush greenery was wonderful to see with coconut palms, banana trees and much else. The lifestyle around us was also a stark contrast to Dubai with the ramshackle huts, carts towed by the local variety of oxen and small motorbikes everywhere. The Omanis once ruled the island and a lot of locals still dress in the Omani style. The pace of life is obviously slow.
The accommodation was at Amaan Bungalows in Nungwi and we met up with Geoff almost as soon as we arrived. After checking in and dumping suitcases we headed down for something to eat and drink. The drink turned out to be the local brew, Tusker, but the hotel menu was an uninspiring mixture of burgers and pizzas. There was one interesting exception – what would you think of “Octopus Balls”? Instead we walked 50m down the road out of the Amaan complex and found another restaurant, Langi Langi, which looked more promising. Indeed, we had an excellent grilled fish but even here the menu wasn’t without its oddities – Buddhist Pizza anyone? We had another couple for the road and went to bed.

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny. In contrast to previous trips, Day 1 was not to be a diving day. Instead, we checked in at the dive centre, Spanish Dancer Divers (“we’re flexible – be here tomorrow at 8.45 or quarter to nine – your choice”), had lunch at Mama Mia (Food, Sea and Happiness), sorted our kit out and generally chilled out. There were a number of “Masai Warriors” wandering around on the beach. We later discovered they were imported from Tanzania for the season and worked 8-hour shifts trying to look authentic.
We had our evening meal at Langi Langi again. The food was again excellent but seemed to take an inordinate amount of time to arrive (poli poli is the local phrase). This was to be a feature of the trip with occasionally interesting results but on this occasion, it didn’t bother us unduly. We met the owner who turned out to be a fervent West Ham fan which makes him OK in my book though I concede, this might not be a universal view. Passing reception on the way back we chanced upon Allen and Cara who had just arrived. Their journey had taken about 4½ hours due to a diversion to one of the local bars on the way and at this point the veil will be drawn.

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​On Monday we got to go diving. After a breakfast at the Amaan restaurant that one might charitably describe as “spartan”, we reported to Spanish Dancers at 8.45 or quarter to nine according to choice, collected our gear and jumped on the dhow, “Kidude”. The journey out to the first dive-site, Leven Bank, took about 45 minutes. The boat captain, Agip, found the target without any assistance from GPS or echo-sounders and I’m not even sure there was a compass on board. How he manages to do this I have no idea.
Leven Bank was potentially the deepest of the dives we were to do, reaching down to 30m although in the event we went no deeper than 25m. The dive guide, Tsuma, led us around the reef which was a series of coral heads in excellent visibility, a welcome change from standard Arabian Gulf conditions. The water temperature was around 25°C which meant 3mm wetsuits for most of us. There was a great deal of biodiversity: triggerfish, filefish, butterflyfish, angelfish, damselfish to name only a few. What the dive perhaps lacked was something stand-out like a shark, a ray or a turtle. As diverse as the fish life was, it was all relatively small.
We came inshore for the second dive, “Kichafi”, on the east side of the island. This was shallower than Leven Bank and due to the tidal conditions, the visibility was extremely poor. So bad in fact, that Tsuma didn’t even find the reef straight away and we had ten minutes swimming on sandy bottom. Again, there were a lot of fish on the reef when we found it, although not as many as Leven Bank. This was a bit concerning as a lot of the dive sites were in the same vicinity as Kichafi and would they all be like this?

While we exploring the underwater world, Brigitte was investigating the locality; 
Walking down the beach in Nungwi you experience the white sand, the blue sea interesting rock formations washed out by the waves, beautiful clouds, local fisherman maintaining and using their wooden boats, and of course the omnipresent beach boys trying to sell you one thing or another. 
But I was also lucky to meet one of the less “commercial” locals: on my way down the beach towards the light house and the turtle conservatory I met Juma who greeted me with a friendly “Jambo”, insisted to show me around and gave me a briefing on how the Zanzibar villages work. He showed me the school, explaining that it is mandatory for kids to attend until the age of 16, showed me their houses, markets, the local hospital and several small independent projects emphasizing how important it is not to be depending on the big boys in Tanzania (no love for them on the island …). He answered all my endless questions about religion, family rules, lifestyle, tourism and trade patiently and even recommended a nice beach restaurant for dinner. Definitely an interesting afternoon 🙂 Thank you Brigitte for the above report. 

We had a post-dive drink at Nungwi Inn, next to the dive centre, where the team was completed by the arrival of Peter and Connie, newly arrived in Nungwi. In fact, they had been in Zanzibar longer than any of us:

Peter reports;
Connie and I arrived in Stone Town on 17th August, to look at the architecture in particular reference to one of my projects. There was absolutely no intention to enjoy ourselves [of course not, Peter😊]– though I had wanted to see Stone Town for the last forty years! Unfortunately, it all turned out to be extremely pleasurable, including a trip to the Jozani Forest to see its unique species of red colobus monkey, and a wonderful boardwalk through the mangroves (again purely for references for other Sharjah projects). We stayed in Tembo Hotel, overlooking the bay, in the same room as Mahatma Ghandi had stayed after being expelled from South Africa in the 1950’s. Thank you Peter for the above account. 

After some evening cocktails at the Rooftops Z Bar, we headed for Langi Langi for dinner. Unfortunately, this wasn’t so good. Again, the food took an eternity to arrive and varied in quality from reasonable to mediocre to ‘sent back’. Quite a difference in three days. In football terms, this would be a good start, loss of concentration around half-time and ultimately a bad defeat. Coincidentally, West Ham were playing at home to Bournemouth that weekend and yes – you guessed.

On Tuesday, the first dive of the day was “Nyumba ya Kasa” which means “House of Turtles”. In fact, turtles were conspicuous only by their absence but there was a lot else: crocodile fish, various trumpet fish, cat eels, tobys, cowfish and a lot of smaller fish. There was also a blue-spotted ray on the seabed. Peter marked his arrival by being adopted by a remora. It had presumably recognized him as that rare pelagic species, Underwaterus Architectori. Fears about the visibility proved unfounded – although not as clear as Leven Bank, it was significantly better than yesterday’s dive on Kichafi.
The second dive was on Magic Reef which was very close to the dive centre, giving us a short ride home afterwards. In some ways, this was the most interesting so far. As well as the fish species previously seen, there was a frogfish, some leaf fish, scorpion fish, moorish idols, a big eye bream and a large octopus. Mike spotted another blue-spotted ray hiding under a rock.

Lunch was at the Nungwi Inn, though this was a strange experience. The staff seemed actively hostile to anyone who wanted serving and again the food was incredibly slow to arrive. Can it take 90 minutes to produce a plate of chips and a bowl of soup? Having waited patiently, Mike observed that his soup, when it finally arrived, didn’t contain the advertised noodles. His bowl was promptly whipped away, only to return a short time later with some dry noodles having been dropped in. They softened slowly in the soup while he ate. There were a number of other people in the restaurant who were equally unimpressed with the service.
Another cocktail or two at Rooftops was followed by an evening meal at Baraka Beach Restaurant, a short walk down the road. The food was excellent but yet again, very slow to arrive. By now we had concluded that this was to be the way of it around here and we might as well live with it.

On Wednesday, we swapped boats (to a fibre-glass fast boat, “Explorer”), swapped dive guides from Tsuma to a French lady, Margaux, and headed for Mnemba Atoll, a marine reserve on the south-east side of the island. This was to be the best yet in terms of visibility (amazing) and biodiversity (immense). We did two dives, one called “Kichuani” and the other called “Wattaboni”. Both were similar being coral reefs in around 15m with a drop-off to greater depths to one side. We stayed mainly shallow which was where the fish life was. The coral head that finished the first dive and started the second was particularly attractive and we stayed some time, finding all sorts of morays, leaf fish, frog fish and other exotica. The most memorable encounter was with a pod of dolphins that swam past us for a brief but exciting moment or two.

A comprehensive list of what we saw is beyond me but fortunately not beyond Cara so with a deep breath:
Morays – Mantis – Shrimp – Indian Ocean Walkman – Scorpion Fish – Stone Fish – Trumpet Fish – Dolphins – Octopus – Snake Eel – 7 Dragon Morays – 4 Geometric Morays – 3 Giant Morays – Toby’s – Large shoal of Snappers – 1 pair of Goat Fish (having a fight) – Cleaner Wrasse – Large Stonefish – Nudibranches – Emperor Angel with juvenile – Semicircle Angel – Old Woman Angel – Butterflies – Threadfire Saddledlined Vagabond – Damsels – Cardinals – Moorish Idols – Triggerfish – Blackspotted Puffers – Unicornfish – Parrotfish – Porcupine Fish – Lion Fish – Ornamental & Blackspotted Sweetlips – Birdfish – Trunkfish -African Coris – Clownfish – White-Bellied Dory – Lizardfish – Soldierfish – Sergeant Majors – Yellow Trumpets – Yellow Trumpets – Giant Triggerfish – Peacock Sole – 2 White Steenbras Bream. Mantis Shrimp. 

The Indian ocean walkmen are particularly interesting. They seem to be a throwback to prehistoric times as they are a fish that walks over the seabed, perhaps an indication of how life first moved on to the land.

Unlike the other dive sites which we largely had to ourselves, Mnemba is renowned as the best diving on Zanzibar and as a result, there were a large number of other boats. Not necessarily a bad thing in itself but it was a bit concerning to see the fast boats weaving around divers that were popping out of the water all over the place in singles, pairs and groups. It looked like an accident waiting to happen. One or two of the divers we encountered looked out of their depth as well. Mike and Margaux between them had to rescue one guy who was losing both buddies and fins and looked in some distress.

Post-dive was at Mangi’s Bar, next to Nungwi Inn and the evening meal was at Le Macis, a 10-minute walk outside the Amaan Bungalow complex. Both come recommended. Le Macis in particular served excellent food in reasonable time too which shows it can be done. It was also busy despite being slightly off the beaten track so we weren’t the only ones to make this discovery. For some reason Geoff became “Papa” for the evening (maybe because he was sitting head of the table) and Connie became “Mama”. This oddity aside, it was a very good evening.

Thursday was the final diving day and the party split in two. Peter and Connie requested and got a return trip to Mnemba Atoll and set off early on Explorer with their dive guide, Laurie. They saw a couple of rays, a turtle, a large pod of dolphins on the way out and a German opera singer, who I presume was a fellow diver.

The rest of us were on Kidude for a journey to Tumbatu Island on the north-west side of Zanzibar. The first dive was called “Shetani” and started almost as a wall dive before we settled down on to the reef. We saw some small sea horses, scorpion fish, damselfish, trumpetfish, angelfish and a blue spotted ribbon tail ray.
The second dive was on a smaller island north of Tumbatu called “Mwana wa mwana” meaning “baby of the baby” (look at the map). As well as most of the same fish as at Shetani, there was also some ribbon eels poking out of the sand and in the sand just off the reef, a 15cm sea horse. There was also a batfish that followed us for a little while and stared nibbling my finger at one point. Clearly, batfish are the same the world over.
What was memorable about these dives was the coral which was easily the most spectacular we had seen so far and seemed untouched by tsunamis, cyclones, global warming or anything else. Unfortunately, the weather was overcast, muting the colours somewhat but it was still a fabulous sight.

Post-dive at Mangi’s and meal at Le Macis again. Why look for anything else at this point? Afterwards Geoff, Mike, Allen and Cara headed off to investigate a local bar but no-one stayed that long.

On Friday morning, we started to go our separate ways. Brigitte and I had time to have a walk down the beach, seeing along the way a few sailfish being brought ashore from an overnight fishing trip and an interesting method of boat maintenance, basically they surround the wooden boat in palm fronds which they then set on fire. Once the fire is out, the hull has been cleaned of any barnacles or other growth.After that we took a taxi to Stone Town and had a wander round before meeting Peter and Connie for a meal at a rooftop restaurant and finally heading to the airport.

Mike, leaving early the following morning had a different experience. Mike reports;
I was at reception at 5am for the pre-booked taxi to turn up on Saturday morning. No sign of anybody and no taxi. I went looking for the gate man. Another man came out of the bushes and this time he banged on doors and woke up the night shift reception man who then called the taxi. By 5.35am I was on my way on empty roads to the airport arriving there at 7am for the 08.30 flight. Whilst queuing for security I caught sight of Peter. Upon reaching the check-in desk I was told that the flight was overbooked and there was no seat. Some protestations later and stabbing of keys got a boarding card for seat 32A which is in the last row of the plane. Upon reaching this seat it said crew seat only!
So, it was a near thing. When you have another flight to catch, being late at Dubai is not a good thing. So, in the event all went well and I was able to join Marc, Brian, Ian and Brigitte in the Wanderers for dinner and a midnight return to T3 for the London flight. The mainline trains to Norwich tend to get disrupted on a Sunday due to engineering works and this Sunday was no exception. The usual 3-hour journey took more than 5 hours and involved a bus through darkest Essex. The whole journey took 34 hours and was a tad exhausting! Thank you Mike for the above account. 

And finally, from Allen and Cara (bearing in mind Allen’s day job at Qassimi Hospital):
So, it was our last day in Zanzibar, or so we thought, we decided to have a relaxing walk up the beach, few beers and a bite to eat. First two done we were about to pay bill and head for food elsewhere when Cara noticed a woman at another table being “cared for” by her friends. After some persuasion I went to see if I could offer some assistance to which I was told “no, she’s just drunk”. No sooner had I sat down to be summoned back. After a quick look, she was dragged to the sand (at which point a couple of lads thought she was being assaulted) and after a pulse check CPR commenced. Luckily, she started making some movement after 90 seconds.
After putting into the recovery position, we looked for O2 from one of the many dive operations. The first effort was a salt encrusted rusty mess. Eventually we were presented with a 6-foot O2 tank with no regulator! We got it going and then after some discussion put her on a flatbed police truck and dropped her at the local “hospital”. Let’s all be glad we didn’t need medical attention!
After giving handover, wishing her well and giving my details we headed back to Cholo’s to pay the bill, collected our bags and headed for the airport. We ate outside airport and 1 hour and 45 mins before our flight went to check in. Alas, FlyDubai had overbooked our flights. The expression “no good deed goes unpunished” immediately sprang to mind. It being Eid what should have been a 12-15 minute trip to a hotel took an hour and 15 mins not including the walk when the taxi driver gave up!
So, after a brief 7 hours in Dhow Palace hotel we were back in airport. Ironically, we were on the flight we had originally booked but had to change due to work commitments at an exceptionally high cost! So much for the chill day we had planned, but things could have been much worse. Thank you Allen and Cara for your report. 

And so ends another Eid trip. Despite its occasional frustrations, we all enjoyed ourselves immensely and I’d be happy to go back. Whether we do Zanzibar again as a club is another matter. Good though the diving was at times, I think we’ve now seen most of it and somewhere fresh next year might be a better idea. Still you never know.

Thanks are due to Peter who set the whole thing up, to David and his team at Spanish Dancer Divers, in particular Shee (pronounced “Shay”) on reception, dive guides Tsuma, Margaux and Laurie, and boat captains Agip, Juma and Idi. A “Spanish Dancer” incidentally, is a type of nudibranch.

​This year’s party consisted of;  Mike Anthony –  Cara Black – Allen Doyle – Ian Hussey – Connie Jackson –  Peter Jackson –  Brigitte Kerler and Geoff Patch.

Thinking of going to Nungwi? A few facts:
Getting there: From the UAE, FlyDubai is the best option although Etihad also has a flight with a stop at either Nairobi or Dar Al Salaam. From elsewhere, Qatar Airways via Doha or Oman Air via Muscat are options.
Accommodation: We stayed at Amaan Bungalows which is comfortable for the most part and with a little bit more investment and attention to detail might be a lot better. They could start with a more appealing restaurant menu. Other cheap options are available and also a couple of upmarket places such as the Hilton. Amaan is locally owned whereas the Hilton is foreign owned. The perception of at least one local man is that Amaan profits stay local whereas Hilton profits end up in Switzerland. In whose bank account he didn’t specify.
Diving: Spanish Dancer Divers come highly recommended. I can’t vouch for the quality of the other operations but there’s a lot of them, all within a short distance. Nitrox seems to be virtually unobtainable. Shee told us that even emergency oxygen can be difficult to get.
Money: Tanzanian Shillings are the local folding stuff but US Dollars are accepted at varying exchange rates. There are no ATM’s in Nungwi.

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DAN insurance website: https://www.daneurope.org/home
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The Dive Club meets every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar.
See you there!

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.
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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. 
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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.
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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.
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DAN insurance website: https://www.daneurope.org/home
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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.

Not so much to say this week. It’s not that the club hasn’t been diving, it’s just that I wasn’t on board.
Two weeks ago, a party of eight went out to the Nasteran and Victoria Star and all I really know is that the viz wasn’t great.
Last Friday was more interesting. Another full boat went out to Ras Al Khaimah to check out some new coordinates that we’ve come by. It’s a bit of a long drive to get the boat up there but we’re always in the market for fresh shipwrecks to dive on. This is an added feature to join our club. As a club we research the new wrecks and monitor developments. This in the past has proven to be an added bonus as we can log the changes to the site and record the marine life that starts to form. 
For now however, as regards the wrecks, there’s good news and bad news. The wrecks were all there, exactly at the stated positions but they’re all barges and not especially interesting. Again, the viz wasn’t up to much. We hope for better in the coming weeks.
 
From Petra of DSDC:
I was going to ring fence 8 places for 406 for the DSDC dhow trip on 21st September until 10th September. Do let me know names and emails of anyone who is interested in joining us. 
We would love to see you on board. 
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The Land Rover is currently undergoing repairs but should soon be up and running with a new registration and a new lease of life. Thanks to Mike and Brian who’ve done the running around on this one.
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As always, don’t forget that you need correct and current diving insurance. Please see the DAN insurance website for more information: https://www.daneurope.org/home
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With a bit of space to fill on a slow news week, do you recognize this diver, pictured many moons ago with his sister? He’s been here within the last ten years or so, so those whose memories stretch back to the club’s beginnings needn’t waste time taxing the brain cells!  No further clues!

 

Back to two boats at the weekend which was gratifying. We had nine divers which would have squeezed on one boat back in the day but now the coastguards are taking a much closer interest in the passenger limits (on the registration card).   The first target was Karen’s dhow, where we haven’t been to for a while. This is the wreck for picking up cheap glassware to decorate your living room. The sea state was a bit flatter than it’s been for a couple of weeks, giving us a smoother ride. The anchor went over the side of SP312 followed shortly by the first divers who came back five minutes later saying we weren’t on the wreck. SP125 then had a go and hooked the wreck no more than 10m away. On descent, the two anchor lines were visible from one another. I wouldn’t dream of suggesting the first group could have found the wreck if they’d looked a bit harder, would I?​        
Anyway, viz wasn’t the greatest and there was a bit of a current but there was plenty of fish to look at and a few plates to be had.
​The sea state was picking up by this point so we headed back inshore for the second dive on the Victoria Star. When we got there, we found DSDC’s boat already there. We had to wait for a few minutes while they got their divers out of the water but we had a bit of a chat.
The conditions at the Vic Star were unfavourable. There was a strong current running and the viz was poor. We had a tour of the accommodation and a bit of a play with some super-friendly batfish at the bow before giving up and heading for the surface. A great day diving with some extra house ware bling. 
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The nitrox is now up and running but only to be used by those trained to do so (currently Brian and Angela). A blending course is due to happen later this month,
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A few words from former DO, Geoff Patch about the latest leg of his world tour:
Antigua (known locally as ‘Wadadli’) is one of two major islands that make up the nation of ‘Antigua and Barbuda’, which gained independence in 1981. One of the Caribbean ‘Leeward Islands’, Antigua is known as the ‘Land of sea and sun’. It is blessed with 365 beaches and counts amongst its attractions, ‘Nelson’s Dockyard’ in English Harbour, which dates back to the 18th century where it was the base for Admiral Horatio Nelson during his time as Captain of HMS Boreas in the 1780’s.
Antigua is also home to a blossoming dive industry, which while in it’s infancy has great potential for the future. After some research, I identified ‘DiveCarib’ as my operator of choice. Based in Falmouth Harbour to the south of the island, it is run by Bryan (Natal) and Leigh (UK) who between them have significant diving experience. Leigh is a serious ‘techy’ with several dives below 200m and for a while held the Red Sea depth record with a dive of 240m.
Most of the existing dive sites are reefs, barely a mile or so offshore. Our first day of diving was on two such reefs; ‘Red Rocks’ and ‘Carib House’, both in about 25m of water with visibility in the region of 25-30m. Marine life was plentiful amongst the healthy reefs, which were blessed with a multitude of soft and hard corals, and a variety of fish including nurse sharks, barracuda, turtles, jacks, trevally, crabs and lobsters. There was also an abundance of ‘Southern Stingrays’, which often bury themselves in the sand waiting for their prey.
The second day of diving was on a 50m long cargo ship, the ‘Montserrat’, deliberately sunk in ~2010 and sitting on a sandy bottom in 42m of water. This was planned as a technical dive to give us 35 minutes bottom time. With twin S80s containing air as back gas and a S80 containing 50% nitrox for accelerated decompression, I descended with Leigh on to the wreck in 30m visibility. The wreck is in good condition with good penetration opportunities via the bridge, galley, hold and engine room. Noting that the propeller was still attached, I sensed I was the first 406-er to have visited this wreck. The marine life seems to have staked out their own territories with several Jacks in residence on the bridge, Lion Fish in the galley, and crabs and spiny lobster in the bilge of the engine room. There was also a now familiar Southern Stingray circling the wreck on the sandy bottom. After the planned 35-minute bottom time we started our slow ascent to the surface and after the required decompression obligations surfaced with a total run time of 95 minutes.
That should have been the end of the days’ adventure but just minutes after setting off for Falmouth Harbour and a cold one, the engine cooling system had a catastrophic failure and we were adrift for 2 hours before the ABSAR (Antigua and Barbuda Search and Rescue) RIB came to our rescue to provide the ‘tow of shame’ back to the DiveCarib berth.
The next day had been planned as an exploratory tech dive but with the demise of the engine cooling system and the advent of hurricane Beryl blowing through the Leeward Islands, that was the end of my diving for this trip! If visiting Antigua I am happy to recommend DiveCaribhttps://www.divecarib.com/as a professional dive operator. 
​Please view Geoff’s pictures below. 

OTHER NEWS

ZANZIBAR
The Eid trip is taking shape but for those who have not yet booked, time may be running out. It’s high season out there and both flights and rooms are in short supply. Of those going, we arrive between 17th – 19th August and depart 24th – 25th August according to taste with diving in between. Most of us are staying at the Amaan Bungalows but Nungwi Inn also has some takers. Please let Peter or me know when you book

The Dive Club meets every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar.
See you there!

   It was Wendy’s last club night with us before she leaves the UAE and heads back to Australia. A few lemonades were raised, a card was presented and a good time was had by all. We will miss you Wendy – perhaps our paths will cross again some time!
   With the weather looking a bit calmer, we ventured a bit further afield. The first target was the Ajman Glory which we identified back in 2012, although the wreck was already discovered but known by another name. We made good time but it was still a 45-minute drive out.
   The ship hasn’t changed much in the time we’ve known it. It’s very similar in shape to the Victoria Star only on a smaller scale. There was a fair current running but nothing to get too excited about and the viz had taken a turn for the worse since last weekend. There were still plenty of barracuda, batfish and assorted others to be seen and the first ones down the line managed to see a stingray. There are now a number of fishing nets draped over the wreck. Later the same day, Al Jazeera Diving Centre were due to be doing a net clearing exercise in honour of World Ocean Day. Fair play to them – we’ll see how they got on eventually and if they don’t do 100% then perhaps we can finish the job.
   Dive two was the Sea King 5, which went down a few years ago off Sharjah. There was no need to identify this ship, the Sharjah authorities told us what it was, but we did manage to find it’s exact location (the original coordinates were inevitably inaccurate). We sent the right position to the Harbour Master along with as few photos, thus gaining a few brownie points for us we would hope.
   In the early days, it was nothing much more than bare metal but now the wreck is barnacle encrusted and has some nice soft corals. There is also plenty of fish life making for a pleasant dive. A return visit in the not too far distant I would think.

Thank you to Cara and PJ for the pictures.