Last Friday we had a return trip to “Tanja’s plates” mainly because I wanted to have a look and the Dive Marshall usually gets what he wants. I think the conditions were less favourable than the first visit – there was a current running through and the viz was not great. Reels were mandatory if you wanted to have any chance of finding the anchor on the way back. The aesthetic pleasure of seeing piles of steel plate on the seabed can be a little overstated but the area has become an artificial reef with plenty of fish life including some hammour and at least one monster barracuda. I’d like to see it again in better conditions.
Second dive of the day was the Dara which is only 5km away. Again the viz was very poor.
Anyone thinking of launching from Hamriyah be warned – the coastguard is very keen. After the hassle two weeks ago both boats are equipped with letters from the Wanderers authorizing us to use the boats and the phone number of a senior coastguard who can confirm that the UHF locator is not required. On the plus side he accepted inflated BCD’s as life jackets.
Overheard on the boat after the first dive:
“Did you see that white fish I took a photo of?”
“Yes I saw it”
“What was it?”
“I don’t know”
“It wasn’t moving much”
“It was dead”