BSAC

Author: zadmin

  • December

    For Eid Al Adha, nine of us took the opportunity to dive the wreck of the Wokan, an 80m vessel that went down 40 or so years ago not far from Sur in Oman. We all met up at the Omani border on Friday at 7.30am and formalities eventually sorted we set off towards Sohar, Muscat and eventally Sur – the most easterly town in the Arab world. It was supposed to be a convoy but divers are nothing if not individualists and the cars soon scattered. All the same, having picked up an inflatable boat and a compressor in Barka, we all arrived at the Sur Beach Hotel at about 4.30pm. Thanks to our local contacts, Han and Nick we were able to eat and drink at the nearby LNG club.

    In the morning Han led us to the beach near the wreck where we put the boat together before heading out for some diving. And very good it was too. The viz wasn’t great in the morning but we still managed to see some enormous cuttle fishes (1m +) making baby cuttle fishes. They didn’t seem bothered by spectators. The viz improved in the afternoon and we got to see some sting rays, eagle rays, huge moray eels, various shoals and some very knackered looking cuttle fish. Diving over, rather than deflate the boat we roped it to Meryl’s car roof and set off to the Turtle Beach Resort for a sundowner.

    Sunday morning unfortunately dawned bright but very windy and the sea state was too rough for diving. Instead we did a tour of the area before heading back to the hotel for a few beverages and some nibbles in Mike R’s room (being Eid the bar was shut).

    Monday was home time via the Sur Plaza Hotel for a decent breakfast and a bit of archeological sightseeing along the coast road. Back to the club about 6.00pm. Was it worth it? – Absolutely.

  • October

    During the latter part of 2008 Meryl and Shaun and many other divers embarked on fast boat trips from Dibba up to the top of the Musandam Pennisula. Below are some images from the October trip.
    Not to confuse Sharks with Oil Slicks
    Eid Camp-Out

    The Eid break saw about 20 or so Dive Club members and friends head out into the mountains above Dibba for one of our occasional camp-outs. This is an opportunity for us to reminisce about dives and divers past, experience the tranquillity of nature and contemplate the meaning of life whilst sipping the odd beverage or two.
    Thanks are due to Mike for organising the event and for providing the directions despite which we all found the camp site. Honourable mentions should go to Uwe for providing the timber and constructing the floodlight, to Gordon for his lumberjack impersonation and to Lutz for his unusual musical contribution.
    In the morning, after having breakfast and striking camp, we all relocated to Sandy Beach and dived the pinnacles. Rather nice it was too!

    Big 100
    A couple of weeks ago we joined up with DSDC to celebrate – well I’m not sure but something anyway, the idea being to get 100 divers in the water at more or less the same time. Our small but vital contribution was eight or nine divers plus two boats used to carry divers out from Hamriyah beach to the Dara. The viz wasn’t great and the current was wild but some good diving was still managed. Those left behind on the beach got in a bit of sun-bathing and we all got a nice yellow T-shirt! Thanks to SWSC for the nice Barbie by the pool afterwards!

    Dolphins
    On the way out the other Friday, we encountered a pod of about 20 dolphins. We spent about half an hour circling around them while they jumped in and out of the water, presumably feeding. A memorable experience for those who were there!

    Note to Peter J
    Rhincodon typus, is a slow filter feeding shark that is the largest living fish species. It can grow up to 13 metres in length and can weigh up to 14 tonnes. It is found in tropical and warm oceans and lives in the open sea. The species is believed to have originated about 60 million years ago. This is a whale shark,
    An oil slick is black or brown foul smelling noxious pollution discharged by unscrupulous tanker skippers unwilling to pay to have their tanks cleaned. This is not a whale shark.

  • May

    The pictures below are of our boat in action with other vessels off the coast of Ajman. Just what were we up to?
    The Energy Determination – always a good but sometimes difficult dive – we had excellent conditions on this dive trip – no current, excellent visibility:

    Picture

  • Sea King and Dara

    After last week’s non-dive we got back into the water at the weekend. It was another trip to the Sea King 5 followed by the Dara. The Sea King is beginning to grow a few barnacles as you would expect and hopefully the fish will follow. At the moment there’s not much in the way of either interesting artefacts or nice fishes. Still give it time!

    The visibility on the Dara continues to be good and the dive was excellent although the current was quite strong. We hung around at the bottom of the cathedral watching some barracuda and batfish facing the current mouths open to collect whatever snacks drifted past. There was also a ray which I didn’t see myself but couldn’t dispute because Chris had a photograph. Good also to see Ronan back with us for the first time since his move to Abu Dhabi.

    Friday night was also the DSDC 30th birthday party which was a great party. The wine flowed to the tune of the house band and the food was excellent. Here’s to the next 30!

  • Searched in Vain

    Picture

    The first order of the day on Friday was to have a look at some co-ordinates for the Darya-Vand XI which was on the same chart as we used last weekend to find the Moraffi. After that successful search we had some hope but this time we were out of luck – nothing but sandy bottom was down there. The problem is that some of these co-ordinates are “last known position” which can be a long way from the actual location of the wreck even if it exists. We had some co-ordinates for the Ajman Glory long before we found it about 15km away.

    The main intention was to have a go at Wreck X which is in the general direction of the Neptune / Jumbo but about 12km further on. It soon became apparent that this was going to be difficult without a lot of discomfort as we were heading straight into the waves. Abandoning this plan, we first had a look for the Jamal which we haven’t dived for a while and which was close to where we were at the time. Well at least it should have been. We know it’s there somewhere but despite searching at two possible locations, nothing was found. We need to check the co-ordinates I think.

    Plan C was Karen’s Dhow which was the next nearest target. Having anchored the wreck at the second time of asking, Mike A suddenly discovered that his overalls were in the car rather than on the boat. He was compelled to dive in his trunks and a rather fetching top he borrowed from Polly thus becoming possibly the first cross-dresser in 406 history.

    There was a bit of a current running at the surface but it was calmer under water. The barracuda were unusually absent and the resident turtle seems to have found pastures new but there were plenty of other fish including a large group of sweetlips. There was also a large crab lurking in a small steel drum. As normal on this wreck, we brought up some glassware to decorate various shelves and sideboards. For the second dive we decided to stay put rather than go to the Bigprop Dhow which is not that interesting now that the bigprop in question is safely at the club rather than attached to the wreck.