Author: zadmin

Last Friday was the debut outing for our brand new 200HP Yamaha four-strokes on SP312, purchased at great expense to hopefully keep the club future-proofed for the next few years as far as engines go at least. The boat had been sea-trialled the previous day by the guys from the boat workshop which was not without incident. They didn’t realise that the boat needed bungs and nearly succeeded in sinking it before they returned to port. Disaster was averted however and the boat was delivered to the club.

Come Friday we needed a bit of time to reconnect some electrics to get the GPS and echo-sounder working but with this achieved we headed for Al Khan. We decided to go to the Victoria Star which seemed prudent for an engine test as it’s only a short distance offshore. The news is that the port engine is working fine but the starboard has a habit of cutting out above 3500rpm. The Yamaha guys are going to come out and have a look at it. The dive itself was mainly an exercise in net cutting although we did do a bit of sight-seeing as well. The fish life on the wreck is taking hold (hence the nets) and it is covered in barnacles. The viz was reasonable and the sea was flat calm so not a bad day all round. On the boat with us was Sami on one of his trips over from Beirut and also Chris Mathers who we hadn’t seen in a while. Chris now dives with Southsea Sub-Aqua Club in the UK who are one of the oldest clubs around (BSAC 009) and who achieved fame by locating the wreck of Henry VIII’s flag-ship the “Mary Rose” in 1971.

On Saturday Mike and I (mainly Mike but I helped) did a bit of work on the trailer, replacing the second pair of springs. This was only half successful thanks to a seized pivot but the trailer is functional and we aim to get the job finished shortly.

Our try-dive went ahead as planned last Friday and very successful it was too. More of that later but first an account of the dive earlier in the day. With SP 312 away getting its new engines fitted, this was a rare solo outing for our old soldier, SP 125.

PJ tells the story:
With SP312 in dock to get its new four-stroke engines fitted, for Friday’s dive to the Dara Mike Anthony put together a one-tank dive on the small boat, SP125, with Derek, Andy, Peter and his cousin Nicholas. Nick, just retired, had last week completed his Padi Advanced course and this was his first dive in the Gulf. With the sea flat, and no significant current, Mike, Derek and Andy dropped in first, well armed with scissors for a successful session of much-needed net cutting, though sadly in minimal visibility. But only after Derek, having carried out his checks on the boat and gone over the side, had to ask Nick to pass him down his fins: Fine number 1. When Derek emerged from his labours his wetsuit and BCD were almost entirely covered in minute crawling sea life, a testament to the enthusiasm of his net cutting. It took considerable effort to return his new found friends to their watery home.

Peter and Nick took their turn with a plan to show Nick around the cathedral and the stern section. Even the viz in the cathedral was abysmal, which is unusual. Mike had spotted a long rope, entangled with our anchor and suggested that this be collected and brought up, so the remainder of their dive was spent un-entangling and coiling what is now a useful spare anchor line. The current had picked up a little so at the end of the dive, unable to move it away from the net-festooned hull, Peter lifted it to the top of the hull, laying it carefully on the net, hoping that a clean vertical lift would free it, which thankfully it did. Back at the Clubhouse, on emptying the boat, it was noted that there had been no oxygen cylinder on board, despite a certain diver having affirmed before the dive that it was. Fine number 2 could not be disputed! 

The day’s divers and non-divers alike convened at the club between 1 and 2pm to get the try-dive sorted out. As the name suggests, this is an exercise aimed at gaining up some new members with people new to the sport encouraged to take a short trip under water in the company of an experienced diver in the sheltered surroundings of the Wanderers swimming pool. With this sort of thing you never really know until the day how successful it’s going to be. We’d arranged for some flyers to be posted around the local schools and around the Wanderers itself but would anyone show up?

In the event we had 12 people plus a couple who turned up late but will be coming again on Tuesday. This is close to an ideal number being enough to make it worthwhile but not so many as to tax our resources. The try-divers were: Jonathan, Richie, Barry, Heather, Kathy, Adriaan, Nicolas, Alex, Claire, Shada, Dave and Ryan. Thanks for your interest – we hope to see you again. The underwater guides were Janette, Geoff and me.

In the evening we’d arranged for a barbecue round the pool which was also well attended. Janette and Ken had leant us their projector so we were able to show some of the videos that Peter has produced over the last year or so, using a bed-sheet pressed into service as a screen. It worked so well it will almost certainly be done again at some point – maybe the next time we organise something outside.

Many thanks to SWSC for putting on the barbecue and to all those who turned up and supported it.

A warning from our Treasurer: As the purchase of our two new engines has severely depleted our funds, the levying of “voluntary donations” for the practice of unorthodox or non-standard diving technique (see above) is likely to be undertaken enthusiastically in the near future!

As I write it’s the UAE National Day so the roads were a bit quiet this morning. A working day but I’m not complaining as we got yesterday off, the country having lately adopted the enlightened habit of attaching public holidays to the nearest weekend. Even the moon now seems to appear at more convenient times than it used to although National Day being a secular holiday that wasn’t a issue on this occasion. As promised a few of us (me, Mike A, Geoff and Brian Lugg) spent some time on Saturday and Sunday cleaning up the equipment room and the yard which are looking a lot better as a result. And the big boat…

As you may know, 2-stroke engines are being phased out over here so we’ve taken the plunge and ordered a couple of 4-strokes which as well making for a quieter ride out to the dive sites, should future proof us for a while at least. On Saturday we took the old engines off and shipped the boat up to the workshop. By next weekend hopefully, we should be back in action with some new machinery. Needless to say it’s not a cheap course of action and has all but wiped us out of funds. We have two parallel strategies to overcome this problem: Fridays – dive as much as possible, Tuesdays – drink as much as possible. I trust I can rely on your full support.

After last week’s wash-out we were back in the water at the weekend. This was the Dara trip that we should have made last week but weren’t able to. On the boat with us was photographer Olivia Arthur, who is preparing an exhibition of images of Dubai as seen through the eyes of a fictional Dara survivor. Olivia had a piece in Time-Out Dubai this week which is attached for your interest. We guided her around the stern of the wreck where the anchor was hooked, through the cathedral and up to the promenade deck. She got some good pictures which hopefully will be useful for her exhibition (for details see the attached article).

The wreck is covered in nets again and a clearing operation looks called for. Mike and Cathy did their good deed for the day by cutting out a large leopard ray that had become entangled. Although struggling to start with, the ray seemed to realise it was being helped and settled down while Mike went to work with the scissors. Cathy meanwhile, mindful of what happened to Steve Irwin, was mentally rehearsing a controlled buoyant lift. Fortunately this wasn’t needed and the ray swam gracefully away having lived to hunt another meal.

Speaking of nets, the word from DSDC is that the Victoria Star is now covered in them although less so now after 2½ hours of hacking and cutting. Cheers guys! Having spent years doing the same on the Dara, to call the fishermen “slow-learners” is to severely overstate the speed of their thought processes – in this respect at least.

The sea got up a bit for our journey back but nothing to get excited about and we soon sipping a few glasses of decompression fluid back at the club.

Owing to a number of us (including me) having prior commitments last weekend (and Geoff’s lack of practice at towing the boat) we didn’t get a dive on the west coast but a few divers – not to be denied their weekly fix – headed over to Freestyle in Fujeirah for a dive or two in the Gulf of Oman. This turned out to be a good decision of which more later but first let Geoff tell the story:

The weather might have affected the east coast diving but it was also significant on the other side. The following is an extract from this week’s email put out by Nancy from our sister club, DSDC:

Some of you may remember a similar incident two years ago when a storm blew up from almost nothing causing a seriously scary situation for us. The account is here in the Dive Log (28 January 2011) if you want to read it. Whether we had it worse then or DSDC did on Friday I can’t say but it’s clear that the sea state changed just as quickly. For me the lesson then and now was to keep an eye on the weather and consider aborting the diving if black clouds are looming. It doesn’t happen that often after all.

And as Chris Head said in a later email:

The weather was looking promising so with PJ volunteering to marshall the dive we headed out to the Jumbo which is about 35km offshore. This is a cargo vessel about which not much is known – even the location was a mystery until it turned up on a seabed survey carried out ahead of the dredging for the Palm. It lies on its port side and is fairly broken up but has some nice swim-throughs and usually good fish life.

We got out there quickly enough and anchored at the first time of asking but once under water the viz turned out to be around 1-2m – pea soup in other words. The anchor had landed in the centre of the boat but close enough to the deck side but even so it took a couple of minutes to work out where we were. After that we did a couple of circuits – it was quite an eerie atmosphere down there and the ship was mostly a few odd shapes in the gloom.

Diving the second wave PJ reported some big barracuda circling above but mostly it was an exercise in navigation. We all decided that for the second dive we’d move ourselves a bit closer to the bar so we headed for Karen’s Dhow. This was another site from the seabed survey – you’d never know about it otherwise and we tend to dive it quite a lot. As well as a convenient location half way to the Jumbo and Neptune, it’s also a good dive in its own right. It’s not huge and can be difficult to hook but it’s usually full of life. Friday was no exception although the viz was only marginally better than it had been at the Jumbo.

The dhow was carrying glassware and we usually come back with a few pieces – or in PJ’s case quite a lot. It’s not quality gear but if you must have a fruit bowl you may as well have one you’ve salvaged yourself. The journey back was smoother than the outbound trip and we were soon back for a few refreshments by the pool.

After sending out the pictures of the boat last week, it was pointed out (by Pete Elvin) that the dive flag is now flying all the time. Well bang to rights there I guess, though no-one’s complained yet. Pete probably remembers an earlier occasion when we were pulled up by a coastguard for the lack a flag which was a bit tricky as we didn’t have one on board at the time. Still necessity is the mother of invention (or something like that) and we were soon improvising with blue fins and white T-shirts hoping that this might look convincing from a distance at least. The result was. . . well. . . let’s just say the experiment was never repeated!

This will be a shorter than usual email as it was a shorter than usual dive. The initial target was the Ajman Glory but with the sea already lumpy, driving straight into the waves and forecast to get worse, we had a swift change of plan and went to the Dara instead.

The two Mike’s were first down the line but the sea condition was not promising. Apart from the waves on the surface, the current was howling through and the viz was extremely average to put it kindly. All the same, they did manage to get a decent dive out of it and Mike Dalton reported a large ray on the wreck.

Ian and Cathy were not so lucky. Cathy’s mask had recently become a dog’s dinner (literally) and Cathy borrowed Peter’s for the day. Unfortunately, their faces aren’t the same size (which will probably be a relief to both of them) and the mask shipped water. A leaking mask in a current and poor viz is no fun and the dive was promptly aborted. Peter didn’t even get in the water.

After a quick bounce to free the anchor, we headed back to port and an early bath. Still, there followed a not unpleasant afternoon putting the world to rights over a few jars. And after all, we still manage to dive 90% of our weekends – which is surely not a bad achievement.

Following our Lebanese adventure we were back in home waters last weekend. The main dive was postponed until Saturday because a few of us had other business to attend to –  in my case kicking a spherical bit of leather around some artificial turf at the American University of Sharjah (lost in the semi-final if you’re interested – I thought not).
But Friday was not devoid of action, as Geoff tells it:

“With the clubs’ main dive set up for Saturday, Derek, Andy and myself headed over to the East coast on Friday to hook up with Sami and Oli of Freestyle Divers. After an update on Max’s mishap with his chopper (a radio-controlled helicopter that he had managed to ditch in the sea), we set out for Inchcape 1, which proved a popular choice. On arrival, four dive boats were tied to the buoy and a fifth circling, so we waited for about 30 minutes before kitting up and dropped in up-current of the buoy rather than face a long surface swim from the rear of the flotilla. On descending the line we were greeting by four lion fish of various sizes hovering just behind the starboard engine hatch. A quick foray into the engine room was followed by entry into the cabin but visibility inside was not as good as it normally is suggesting it had been visited by some of the previous divers. Visibility outside was around 5m with a mild current. Marine life was in abundance as usual with the two large resident morays in view and large shoals of catfish and snappers around the bow. No sign of the sea-horse this time but the wreck remains a healthy habitat and great dive spot.

“The second dive was around Dibba Rock. Dropping in to the north of the island near ‘the Aquarium’ we immediately saw a lion fish and pipe fish on the bottom. However, these were quickly overshadowed by the 1.5m black tip shark that circled us for about 30 seconds before swimming off. The rest of the dive around the east coast of the island and then along the submerged wall heading south was just as interesting and revealed a great variety of marine life including needle fish, more lion fish, 3 different types of moray, harlequin shrimps, flounders, broom tailed wrasse and two scorpion fish to name a few. Two enjoyable dives that contributed to a full on dive weekend!”

For the Saturday dive, Brian Lugg wanted to tie a permanent buoy to “Wreck X” which is often difficult to hook due to its orientation in relation to the currents. The tides and weather forecast were looking co-operative so it seemed like a good weekend to try it. It would also be a change from “Victoria Star” which we’ve been diving almost continuously for a couple of months.

The wreck is about 50km offshore so the sea needs to be reasonably calm or it takes forever to get there. It turned out to be not quite as flat as advertised but we still made reasonable time and got there in about 90 minutes. “Wreck X” is a fishing trawler that went down in the mid 80’s, about the time they were outlawed in the Gulf, though whether that’s coincidental or whether someone wanted the insurance money is not known. Also unknown is the real name of the vessel though there may be some artifacts left on board that would give it away. It lies on its port side in 35m of water and is about 40m long.

Brian’s cunning plan was as follows:
·         Send shotline on to wreck. Divers descend to make it secure.
·         Boat picks up buoy and ties off.
·         Using shotline as a guide the chain is sent down with 50-gallon drum left floating on surface.
·         Divers secure chain to vessel.
·         Using a pulley system and the boat engines, the drum is taken down to about 6m depth, out of reach of fishermen.
Simplicity itself! Mike Dalton did identify one potential problem – “Is the chain and rope long enough?” – but Brian assured him there was no problem.

The first part of the plan went remarkably well. A DSMB was the signal that the shotline was secure so we tied off the boat and sent the chain over the side. At this point the Brian discovered to his embarrassment the chain and rope was indeed too short by about 3m and he, Derek, Peter and Geoff had to return to the surface. During the surface interval some more rope was added to the line which would hopefully now reach the wreck. Brian also livened up our lunch by recounting some of the work of the pioneers of decompression theory and their experiments on live goats: “They knew the ascent was too fast if the goat exploded”. Charming.

On the second dive we found to our relief the chain could now be fixed around the vessel’s prop shaft. With this secure the engines were started we found that on about three-quarter throttle, the buoy could be hauled below the surface. Brian secured it and the operation could be declared successful, even if the buoy ended up a bit deeper than anticipated. This may be because the chain became wrapped around the vessel and might sort itself out with the changing tide. We’ll find out next time we go.

In between times, we did a couple of normal dives on the wreck. There was no current to speak of and the water was warmer at depth than at the surface – with a definite thermocline at around 18m. There are one or two holes that could be explored although time is short at that depth and care must be taken. On air we managed 12 – 13 minutes bottom time although nitrox would have given us longer. It’s also the jellyfish season and there were plenty of them down to about 10m causing safety stops to consist of intricate dances as we tried (successfully) to stay out of their way.

The sea had flattened noticeably by the time we set off home so  trimmed about 15 minutes off the journey. Eventually, sitting by the pool we could raise our glasses to a job well done. 

Last week being Eid Al Adha, a few of us set off on what has become an annual expedition to foreign parts in search of new experiences or at least different from normal. This year we opted for a return to the Lebanon, the scene of last year’s adventure. That was an excellent trip but rather disrupted by the short Eid and inclement weather causing some of us to miss out on the submarine that had been prime objective in the first place. In short, we had unfinished business and with Sami helping out with local arrangements, we headed once again for Beirut.

We travelled mostly separately and Peter arrived a day ahead of the rest of us. He filled the time with a trip to the Roman ruins of Baalbek in the Bekaa valley about 85km north-east of Beirut. Being close to the Syrian border this is not a popular destination at the moment, a fact reinforced by a number of refugee camps that he passed en route. Sure enough, the normally busy site was all but deserted apart from Peter, three tourists from Bahrain and a solitary Japanese visitor. Politely declining to buy a Hezbollah T-shirt, he returned to Beirut the same afternoon.

The rest of us arrived on Monday after experiencing various degrees of trauma from the journey. The gold medal goes to Andy: having failed to confirm one flight in time and having arrived too late to board a second, he finally made it third time lucky. As last year, we stayed at the Mozart Hotel in Al Hamra district which is conveniently placed for the dive centre. The locals tend to pronounce this “Moz-ar-rat” which should be kept in mind when ordering taxis or great confusion will ensue. We convened in the hotel bar for a few glasses of the local brew (Almaza) before retiring to for the night.

Unlike last year, the first morning dawned bright and sunny. Sami joined us after breakfast and we made our way down to the Solidere Marina, home to NISD, the dive operation who were taking us out. Currently run by Marwan and Nasser, NISD has been operating since 1980 although the wet-suits and BCD’s we hired were a bit younger than that. It took around 30 minutes to reach the dive site: the wreck of the “Souffleur”. “Souffleur” was a Vichy French submarine that was sunk by the Royal Navy in June 1941 with the loss of 52 of its crew and which currently lies in two sections at a depth of 35m.

We were please to find that the viz was very good – of the order of 15-20m – which is not uncommon but can’t be guaranteed. There is a permanent buoy attached to the bow section of the wreck which is fixed at the break between the two halves just behind the conning tower. From there we swam along the length of the vessel. Some torpedo tubes are visible and although we didn’t reach it there is a stray torpedo lying in the sand about 20m away. It is possible to get inside the vessel for a short distance at the break but this is mostly a tangle of wreckage. In any case, being a war grave, this is strictly look but don’t touch. Part of the outer hull has peeled away revealing the inner hull beneath.

The stern section was just visible and a short swim of around 20m took us there. Some ballast tanks can be seen and again the outer hull is damaged, partly due the sinking and partly due to dynamite fishing in the years after the war. Fish life generally was very sparse as is common in the Med these days. After about 30 minutes we headed for the line and back to the surface. Altogether an amazing dive. What sets the “Souffleur” and similar wrecks apart is the sense of history that goes with them – something you just don’t get with the likes of the “Victoria Star”, however much fun they might provide on normal club dives.

On surfacing it was a bit disconcerting to find that our boat had gone missing. It was apparently picking up some divers that had been dropped on to a shallower site whilst we were under water. I’m not sure that was strictly out of the Dive Boat Skipper’s Manual but anyway we were picked up after about ten minutes of bobbing around.

After a short break changing tanks at the dive centre, we were back out for the second dive. This was the “Macedonia”, a vessel that wrecked itself sailing too close to shore in the early 1960’s. Most of the vessel was salvaged leaving only some nondescript wreckage behind. We nearly didn’t find the ship as there was a current pushing us away and the Dive Master went missing with a student who couldn’t equalize her ears. After about ten minutes swimming against the current and following the edge of the reef and we found the ship but after the earlier dive it was inevitably something of an anticlimax and the viz wasn’t as good either. Apparently there is more wreckage a short distance away but we only found out about that after the event. Not to worry, an excellent day – many thanks to Marwan and Nasser.

There followed a much needed meal at a pavement café on one of the quieter roads not far from Al Hamra Street. Later that evening we had a stroll around the area, settling eventually at Danny’s Bar on a very lively street, ten minutes walk from the hotel.

There had been much discussion about what to do on Wednesday. We finally decided to dive the “Lady M Air Cave”, a site 40km north of Beirut. This turned out to be something different to say the least. We dived with Dive the Med Club out of Batroun, one of their two centres. It is run by Kamal Greig and has not been going very long, hence the smell of fresh paint and the new equipment.

The dive site was a short boat ride from the centre during which we passed a sea wall still standing from Phoenician times. There are two entrances to the cave – one wide, one narrow. There was a five minute swim to the entrance during which time Kamal concluded that we were safe to use the narrow way so in we went, single file. Half way along the salt water of the sea meets the fresh water coming off the land resulting in a halocline giving some seriously weird optical effects. These could be avoided be moving to one side although this meant letting go of the guide rope. Once inside the cave you can surface and remove your regulator – the air is good – although there’s absolutely no light, something we confirmed by switching off torches. A statue of the Virgin Mary (“Our Lady M”) has been erected inside the cave, giving the cave its name. The fresh water inside the cave was crystal clear. We exited the cave via the wide opening – blue light at the end of a dark tunnel which was a dramatic image to remember.

A few metres from the cave exit is a sort of added bonus, the remains of an unnamed WW2 shipwreck. Like the Macedonia, it has been partially cut up for scrap but still has a bit of scope for exploration, although penetration is discouraged as Cathy discovered to her cost, getting half way through a hole before being hauled out by her ankles.

Out of the water, Sami did a dance on the back of the boat and I think we all felt a bit like that. Many thanks to Kamal, Su and Anthony and also to Ena, a young lady from Ukraine doing the boat cover. Peter’s attempts to take her home along with his dive gear proved a tad optimistic. I’ll make no mention of her obvious good taste.

After the dive we moved on to Byblos, reputed to the oldest continuously inhabited town in the world, dating back 8,000 years. The architectural site contains Phoenician and Roman remains as well as the 12th century Crusader castle. We had a most welcome meal at an Italian restaurant in the old town before exploring the town and the castle in particular. The journey back was marred by heavy traffic as people returned to the capital after the Eid holiday. Think Ittihad Road at its most catastrophic. Lebanese driving is something else – you need nerves of steel, instant response times and judgment of your vehicle width accurate to the millimeter. Back in Beirut, Derek, Emma and Brian felt up for an excursion into town but the rest of us were content with a few drinks at the hotel bar before hitting the sack.

Thursday morning meant a lie-in and no diving – instead we had invites up to Sami’s inland retreat on the slopes of Mount Lebanon. Both the house itself and the afternoon’s barbecue defy description but it’s fair to say that both were equally spectacular. Enormous thanks to Sami and Vivienne for their generous hospitality not to mention Sami’s assistance with the arrangements before and during the trip.

Friday morning, as some of us were heading for the airport, saw our first rain, and it was quite heavy. Derek, Emma and Andy spent the day exploring the spectacular Jeita Caves north of Beirut after which Andy went around the National Museum. Peter in the meantime met his former Arabic teacher, Abir, and her family for Friday lunch, before leading an English-speaking workshop for Abir’s teaching colleagues. Thus a diving holiday became a busman’s holiday for Peter (though he wasn’t complaining – see pic above!).

So there you have it – another successful journey. Lebanon remains a fascinating place and at least this year I left feeling I’d seen a bit more than bars and dive sites. As a diving destination the place has its limitations – the “Souffleur” and the “Lady M Air Cave” are worth anyone’s time but the “Macedonia” was probably not worth crossing oceans for. A combined diving / sightseeing tour is probably the best approach which is essentially what we’ve done particularly this year.

For those interested, there are other sites such as the “Alice B” which we dived last year and is a good wreck – also apparently a profitable one for the military who sank it to claim the insurance. There are also some deeper wrecks for the techies such as HMS Victoria (sunk 1893) and a British freighter called the “Lesbian”. How it came by that name one can only speculate. The idea of diving on the Lesbian conjures up images that perhaps… no – don’t go there. What the diving is like on other parts of the coast I don’t know but might be worth investigating although the border regions have to be avoided as they are currently very sensitive both in the north (Syria) and the south (Israel).

This year’s team was: Sami Kyriakos, Ian Hussey, Cathy Terry, Peter Jackson, Derek Roberts, Emma Roberts, Andy Balthrop and Brian Larkin who couldn’t dive having shaken hands with the Victoria Star a couple of weeks previously but came along for the ride anyway.

While all this was going on, Mike Anthony has been off on another motorbike adventure to Morocco. You can follow his progress on his blog:
http://www.travelpod.com/z/mikeanthony/1/1381995584

Being still in the UK, I missed out on Friday’s events but there’s always a budding Tolstoy to fill the void – in this case Rob Gill who tells the story:

“Compared to recent dives the turnout on Friday morning was somewhat depleted.  Nevertheless, the magnificent seven arrived on time at the club on Friday morning for a 7.30 start.  Geoff was our dive marshall for the day with his motley crew made up of Brian, Derek, Peter, Andy, Rob  and Yuri.

(Absent was Mike Anthony who could not dive as he was due to be flying out on Saturday. I don’t know whether or not he went to the airport but his actual flight turned out to be on Sunday.)

Launching from Al Khan gave us an easy 15 minute trip out to the Victoria Star where we met up with the DSDC boat already tied up to the mooring line that has floated up from the bow of the wreck.  This is an especially interesting route onto the wreck as it takes the diver past a leaking fuel tank and the streams of diesel bubbles emanating from it. 

The first wave consisted of tooled up wreckie techies Geoff and Brian who headed straight for the engine room followed closely by Rob and Derek who’s dive plan had been carefully worked out the previous day.  This involved the recovery of some important marine archeological artifacts seen on a previous dive attached to ceiling of the walkway on the starboard side of the accommodation deck. 

Everything was going to plan with one artefact liberated and good progress being made on the other when the entire wreck was suddenly shaken by a loud bang followed by the unmistakable sound of escaping air and an entire ship’s worth of silt being blown into the surrounding water.  Outside of the wreck visibility was reduced to less than a meter so heaven knows what it was like inside.  Unknown to the those divers out for a pleasant bimble on a new wreck or engaged in the recovery and preservation of important historical objects, the wreckie techies had been playing in the engine room and had pulled the wrong bit of rope.  This had then immediately opened a the valves on a bank of emergency air cylinders so releasing their contents into the entire ship.  Oh such fun.

Brian adds in his own defence:
“Geoff and I swam into the room with the oil bottles and the big emergency breathing air bank. After studying the plumbing I figured out that the tank valves are all daisy chained to a single pull cord. For a moment I was tempted not to pull the pull cord, but “quoting Rob” like a child in a sweet shop I just had to pull it… Boom!!!!!!! The air bank off gassed instantaneously! The plumbing was connected to the bridges ventilation system. Derek and Rob were unfortunate enough to be inside the wreck at this time. (Rob has some good descriptions to add here).”

Before the second wave, PJ asked what was obviously a rhetorical question:  ‘Should I take my camera?’  Well of course you should Peter.  That’s what you do!  Camera in hand Peter, Andy and  Black Ops Yuri disappeared beneath the waves to reappear 50 minutes later with two “solid silver” chrome platters that had been liberated from the galley. 

One feeding of the fish due to the nauseous fumes emanating from the diesel coated surface of the sea later and the team were just about ready for a second dive.  Brian and Geoff emerged with two whole bags of artifacts while Rob and Derek used a lifting bag to raise more important finds.

One object raised by Geoff deserves particular mention.  This was the IMO number for the ship and was truly an object from the end of the “hand crafted” period in maritime history.   It clearly predated the more modern and uniform designs that are now churned out in their thousands by CAD and millimetre precise machinery and exuded an artisanal quality that is impossible to find on newer ships. This should be displayed proudly in a place of prominence.  “A thing of beauty”, as they say,  “is a joy forever”.

With Peter sitting a second dive out, Andy and Yuri performed a fully comprehensive buddy check followed by a couple of perfect backward roll entries. Yuri in particular managed to enter the water in a wonderfully streamlined fashion unencumbered by the inconvenience of fins.

All was well on the boat with the sun shining.  The sea a beautiful azure blue and a wonderful clear sky. All was right with the world with ships sedately going about their business out on the on the horizon or lying at anchor.  Just as our friends on the DSDC boat were just recovering a couple of divers, one particular ship however was also spotted heading straight towards us at a range of mile or so.  It didn’t take long for this to become a ship heading straight towards us at a range of half a mile as it loomed ever larger in our field of view. 

“Has it turned?”,
“Nope it hasn’t”.

With a an extremely ugly 10,000 tonne ship bearing down on us, DSDC recovering divers and Yuri and Andy still in the water, the BSAC 406 boat bravely cast off and went forward to fend off impending disaster.  Cursing a lack of white flares to fire towards its bridge the plucky 406ers resorted to hand waving and other gestures which eventually persuaded our new visitors to change course to starboard and come almost come to a halt.  Seeing the stern close up we noticed that like the Victoria Star, it was another ship from Zanzibar leading us to postulate that this particular position must be programmed into the on board GPS of all vessels hailing from that East African port.  Either that or were diving in the Zanzibar triangle where massive and unknown forces attract Zanzibar registered ships to either their doom or the doom of other smaller vessels.

All in all, an entertaining trip, with good fun had by all.”

Thanks to Rob for that entertaining account. There were some vicious rumours circulating in regard to Rob’s equipment (or lack thereof) on this dive and I’m happy to publish his disclaimer:

Please note that should anyone contact you with their own “unofficial” versions of what happened on Friday, I would suggest you ignore them completely.  I would for never, ever, ever remember to bring essentials such as an entire bag of tools on a dive but forget optional extras such as my BCD and have to borrow one from PJ. It is a nonsense to suggest that I could be such a dick by forgetting such a vital piece of diving equipment and any suggestion that this could be otherwise will not only be vigorously defended but will also be met with a demand for substantial damages.

This comes to you from the sunny (ish) UK where I’m taking some time to get my house in order and rediscover the joys of driving on the other side of the road (no accidents so far). But diving goes on and it was an eventful weekend. Geoff tells the story:

“With several regulars being away for various reasons six divers met up for what was to be an interesting day. After Mike and Big Brian’s labour during the week to fix a fractured spring and replacement of the depth sounder transducer on Friday morning itself we set off for Al Khan and what has become our favoured dive site of late, the Victoria Star. Only one of the group had taken the Tuesday evening dive instruction for fancy dress seriously and got a bemused look from the Al Khan coastguard when providing the boat details in a Spiderman mask.

On leaving the harbour it was immediately evident that the sea was still reeling from a storm two days ago as SP325 made slow but steady progress into a heavy swell. Even so, the proximity of the wreck to Mina Khalid Harbour meant we were soon on location and a barnacle encrusted mooring line that had made its way to the surface indicated we were close. Big Brian free-dived to check where we were and on his return advised there was little more than 2-3m vis, a fast current and an ominous repetitive thud, which later became painfully clear for one diver.

Derek (aka Spidey) and Brian Larkin were first in, followed by Mike and Wendy, each with their own objectives for the dive. Wendy searched the galley [a woman’s place is…?] for more components of the mincing machine she has been collecting but was unable to locate the machine itself. After about 25minutes Derek and Brian returned to the surface with Brian looking white as a sheet. While making his way along the vessel, Brian had grasped the rim of an open window only to have the fingers of his right hand crushed when the window slammed shut in the surge (the ominous repetitive thud). Suffering from shock, Brian was put on oxygen and received first aid to cleanse and dress the wounds, which had broken the skin. This combined with Wendy’s “Jesus” cake managed to settle the patient and bring some colour back.

With Brian stabilized, Big Brian and Geoff descended and headed for the lifeboat only to find that it was no longer on its davits, torn away presumably by the storm. After checking the prop, more of which has been revealed due to the turbulent waters scouring the sand away, the majority of the dive was spent clearing debris and various hazards set to ensnare unwary divers from the galley. This also opened up another route into the dining area. Everyone agreed on just the one dive so we could return to port and enable Brian to get his hand checked out at hospital where he discovered that he had fractured his middle and ring fingers but was otherwise ok”.

The incident naturally provoked some comment, some serious some less so:
·         The fickle finger(s) of fate was unkind to Brian
·         Despite the presence of Spiderman, this could not prevent the Hand of God…
·         Do you think Brian was a little cut up about the hole ordeal?
Thanks to Derek and Big Brian for these valuable contributions to diver safety. 

Some more serious reflections:
The incident was perhaps a timely reminder that underwater in general and shipwrecks in particular are a hazardous environment and nothing should be taken for granted. Also it showed how essential both the O2 set and the 1st Aid Kit – always put on the boat but so rarely used – really are. Geoff also makes the good point:

The other ‘top tip’ to add is that in cases of finger injuries such as this to remove any rings as soon as possible. If the injured finger swells the ring will restrict blood flow and may result in losing the finger if the ring cannot be removed.

While all this was going on, PJ was in Germany presenting Uwe with a souvenir of the Victoria Star (see attached). Why this particular souvenir I don’t know – perhaps he had Georgia on his mind! (PJ- I was concerned that Uwe wasn’t flagging – and he wasn’t – that isn’t just a smile: that is flag-elation!).