April – Naming the little boat

The boat naming request via email has obviously struck a chord – this is the biggest response to an email vote Ian has ever had! Anyway, he thanks all those who sent in suggestions! The winning name is “Nadar” with 5 votes. Other suggestions were “Brass Monkey” (3 votes), “The Wanderer” (2 votes), “Dara” (2 votes) and “Faff“, “Wrecker“, “Deep Wanderer“, “Shoia, shoai“, “Mona“, “Brasso“, Ümm Steptoe” and “Brass Camel” all with 1 vote each. Ian comments:

So, spaces on the boat will be only reserved for those with divine grace now …. well on second thoughts...

The first club dive of the month oversaw further struggles with gear on the BigPro dhow – the current score: divers: 0 – dhow: 2 – onto plan C – we will prevail! This dive also saw an interesting rescue drill that led to the successful completion (after two years) of the Dive Leader qual. for two club members – so, congrats to Jorg and John! – just don’t try to save us soon! Week two saw a local dive to the Dara (the 48th anniversary of the sinking!) and Nasteran and a fast boat trip to Musandam – both in dodgy sea conditions. Shaun reported:

Although the red tide is around Dibba it was clear above Lima Rock. We limited the diving to Ras Sarkan (2) and Lima Rock (1) as it was windy and it would have been a difficult ride back if we had gone up to MasandumIsland. The water at Ras Sarkan was clear but cold! Barracuda, Eagle Rays, Cowtail Rays and Whip tailed rays, Morays, Lobsters etc with a wide varaity of other reef fish Angel fish, Trigger Fish, Wrasse family, Lion fish etc were seen, with a suitable current to take you around the point of Ras Sarkan.

The month ended with a couple of dives on the Zainab and trailer issues depriving us of a dive on the last weekend. The sea was a bit rougher than advertised on the Zainab but not enough to be a problem. The viz was a big improvement on the pea-soup we had on the Dara previously. There were some nice fishes at the top of the wreck and the usual swim-through the bridge area. Good stuff!