With me taking time off for good behavior last Friday, this week’s words come from our long-time boats officer, Mike Anthony:
“Six of us set sail in glassy seas from Hamriyah to the Ajman Glory. With Brian Larkin piloting for the first time we successfully snagged the wreck at the second attempt. Wendy kindly agreed to sit this one out so the five of us went over the side to see maybe 5m viz. Mike D and Robin dived as one pair and Chris and Brian as the other with Mike doing his own thing. After 32mins on the wreck – being part of the second wave down – Mike returned to the anchor to find no one. Reasoning that Chris would have eaten his air by then he assumed that Chris and Brian had already ascended, so the anchor was removed from the hatch cover and was deposited down current off the wreck. Upon surfacing Mike discovered that the others were still down! Arrh! We then watched anxiously for signs of a marker buoy as a reasonably strong current was running. A buoy duly surfaced but it shortly became apparent that the divers were on the anchor line so all ended well. Chris’s air consumption is clearly improving although both divers discovered that diving for that long on air on what is quite a deep wreck you get hammered for deco.
Mike D then drove us swiftly to the Dara and was entirely in charge of the process of anchoring. We were definitely stationary but some 40m from the wreck. He was happy with that so off they went. Shortly however a marker buoy surfaced and drifted past us in the current. So we dropped in the anchor buoy and set off after the marker buoy waiting for the divers to surface. After some time we realised that we could not see any bubbles anywhere near the marker buoy and by this time we were several hundred metres towards RAK from the Dara. We pulled it and its reel back on board and then went back to the wreck and picked up the anchor line again. This time we dragged the anchor into the wreck stopping only when the echo sounder screen had the wreck written all over it. Mike and Robin were pleasantly surprised that they did not have a 40m swim without a guiding line to find the anchor again. Wendy and Mike A had a pleasant swim round the stern area examining the fish in 10m of viz whilst Chris and Brian reported sightings of cuttlefish and a ray.
The Land Rover passenger door now can be opened from the inside and a new set of front brake pads has been installed. We hope to be able to finally register the truck in the name of the Club during next week.”
“Six of us set sail in glassy seas from Hamriyah to the Ajman Glory. With Brian Larkin piloting for the first time we successfully snagged the wreck at the second attempt. Wendy kindly agreed to sit this one out so the five of us went over the side to see maybe 5m viz. Mike D and Robin dived as one pair and Chris and Brian as the other with Mike doing his own thing. After 32mins on the wreck – being part of the second wave down – Mike returned to the anchor to find no one. Reasoning that Chris would have eaten his air by then he assumed that Chris and Brian had already ascended, so the anchor was removed from the hatch cover and was deposited down current off the wreck. Upon surfacing Mike discovered that the others were still down! Arrh! We then watched anxiously for signs of a marker buoy as a reasonably strong current was running. A buoy duly surfaced but it shortly became apparent that the divers were on the anchor line so all ended well. Chris’s air consumption is clearly improving although both divers discovered that diving for that long on air on what is quite a deep wreck you get hammered for deco.
Mike D then drove us swiftly to the Dara and was entirely in charge of the process of anchoring. We were definitely stationary but some 40m from the wreck. He was happy with that so off they went. Shortly however a marker buoy surfaced and drifted past us in the current. So we dropped in the anchor buoy and set off after the marker buoy waiting for the divers to surface. After some time we realised that we could not see any bubbles anywhere near the marker buoy and by this time we were several hundred metres towards RAK from the Dara. We pulled it and its reel back on board and then went back to the wreck and picked up the anchor line again. This time we dragged the anchor into the wreck stopping only when the echo sounder screen had the wreck written all over it. Mike and Robin were pleasantly surprised that they did not have a 40m swim without a guiding line to find the anchor again. Wendy and Mike A had a pleasant swim round the stern area examining the fish in 10m of viz whilst Chris and Brian reported sightings of cuttlefish and a ray.
The Land Rover passenger door now can be opened from the inside and a new set of front brake pads has been installed. We hope to be able to finally register the truck in the name of the Club during next week.”