Blog

Welcome All, 

​Please follow the link above for a range of online webinars and special interest courses. 

Online learning has taken our new world by storm. Although we can’t complete any practical in-water training at the moment, that doesn’t mean we can’t brush up on old knowledge or learn something new, and that’s what many members are now doing.
There are a number of BSAC courses that have options for online learning, all you need is access to the internet. You may have seen the training webinar and special interest webinar listings, indeed you may have even signed up and taken part already which is great. However, as it may be some time before we get back into the water, here are some tips to get the very most from your online learning experience.

Note; you may need to download the file for clarity of images and text. 

Welcome All,
​
The next virtual club night on Zoom will be 7.30pm on Tuesday. Again, Robin has organized this and if you want to join please let us no. 
This is actually a good opportunity to catch up with some of the 406 exiles as well as current divers, something I’d like to continue, even when the current problems are over. “Once a 406, always a 406” might sound a bit trite, but it does seem that a lot of people retain an interest and sense of connection to the club even long after they’ve moved on elsewhere.
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To nobody’s great surprise, the curfew rules have been extended until further notice. The government continues to maintain that this is to do with sterilizing the country and there are still photographs in the papers of cybermen walking the roads at night spraying chemicals around. I suspect it’s more to do with keeping the crowds from congregating at Al Rolla Square, Al Fahidi and other places but whatever the reason, nobody with any sense could possibly argue with it.
Since the preceding paragraph was written, the curfew in Dubai has been further extended to 24 hours for a two-week period. The rules as to who is exempt from this and how you prove it are changing on an hourly basis to all round general confusion.
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The Dara bell saga seems to have gone quiet for a while and I don’t know the final outcome, if indeed there was one. In the meantime, past Chairman Peter Blanchflower has sent the following:
With the recent ringing (in absentia) of the Dara bell and with Dara Day approaching (08apr), I happened to browse the inter-web.
A few familiar reports popped up but I had not come across this detailed initial report by the Foreign Office.
The report is logged in the UAE National Archives and provides a great deal of detail including some correspondence between senior officials around the time of the report.
This could occupy a few hours during lockdown. Read on….
https://www.agda.ae/en/catalogue/tna/fo/371/157049/n/102
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Peter’s reference to “Dara Day” is a reminder that 8th April 1961 was the date on which a bomb exploded on the vessel while it was riding out a storm causing the deaths of 238 people. On the same day in 2011, members of BSAC 406, DSDC and ADSAC did a 50th anniversary dive on the wreck which was widely reported in the local press. Next year marks the 60th anniversary. Perhaps something similar should be organized, circumstances permitting.
I’m guessing most of you are familiar with the Dara story but if not, there is a short account on Wikipedia under “MV Dara”. This page also has some links to other sites concerning the ship and its sinking.
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Joining BSAC:
New members to BSAC can join Sharjah Wanderers Diving Club via the website, https://www.bsac.com/membership/select-branch/ . If you enter Sharjah, the club appears. Existing BSAC members can renew by logging into MyBSAC or using this link, https://www.bsac.com/membership/rejoin-today/

Join BSAC and claim your free dive! (406 members only).
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BSAC general website: https://www.bsac.com/home/
Remember also:
DAN insurance website: https://www.daneurope.org/home
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The Dive Club meets (almost) every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar.
See you there.

Welcome All, 

Regrettably we have concluded that to continue diving in the present circumstances is no longer tenable and that therefore, diving will be suspended until further notice. The UAE is not yet enforcing a lock-down comparable to the one in the UK but are nevertheless encouraging people to stay at home unless necessary:
“In order to preserve the health and safety of the community, Sharjah Police urges the public not to socialize, avoid public places, to follow instructions, and to stay at home.”
This follows a similar statement from the federal government which sounds reasonable rather than confrontational but is backed up with a threat of fines or jail terms on “violators”. If this wasn’t enough, all UAE hyperbaric chambers have been closed for emergencies unless you can prove you don’t have the virus. This would presumably require two weeks quarantine before you could be recompressed which isn’t very useful.
Current advice from BSAC HQ is to suspend club activity.
With the situation and official advice changing daily (and not always consistent), we will keep a close eye on what’s happening but it’s presently impossible to say when we can get back in the water.

​I’ll keep the log active with more videos’ from the archives. Committee members will have new profiles on the contacts link and updates of the marine environment in general to keep us all in touch with bubbles and o2. For now, stay safe where ever you are in the world and look forward to reconciling with my dive kit. 

This then, might be the last dive report for a while:

The original plan for the weekend was a camp-out on Moon Island but this was called off in the face an unfriendly weather forecast and general uncertainty as to whether we’d be allowed out to sea at all. The second fear proved unfounded, but Saturday morning did indeed dawn wet and miserable, so the right call was made.

Instead we made a more routine trip to the Jumbo and the Mariam Express. We couldn’t complain about the sea state. It was flat calm nearly all day and we made good time out to the site. The anchor scored a hole-in-one straight into a rectangular opening that would once have held a porthole. The viz was also pretty good on the wreck, say 8-10m. There was a plume going down the line, but it cleared by the time we hit the bottom. Allen and Connie coming later saw three marble rays. Graham and I were not so lucky, but we did see some large barracuda at the stern end by the prop.
The second dive was on the Mariam Express. This time the anchor landed off the wreck but only 5m away and it took only a few seconds to haul the anchor over and secure it. Compared to the Jumbo, the viz was disappointing, but we did manage a circuit of the wreck. A turtle seems to have taken up residence in an opening on the hull side of the ship, towards the stern. Again, Allen and Connie were the lucky ones. The hole was empty when Graham and I looked in earlier.
After that it was back to the club for a few refreshments.
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There was an interesting message from Rob Gill last week:
I think we all need a bit of normalness at the moment and a weekly email from BSAC 406 really does add a bit of normalness to a world that currently seems to be falling apart.
I was struck by this because Graham made a very similar comment on the boat, about normality in the face of extraordinary events. How long we can sustain this normality remains to be seen and it might not be in our hands indefinitely but if we can keep it going without threat to anyone’s health, we will.
The above paragraph was written before the turn of events described at the top of the page. The answer to the question posed was therefore: “not very long”. Just the same, I’ll try and get an email out once a week with updates. If anyone out there has something interesting they’d like to pass on, I’d be grateful for the material.
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I’ve heard nothing on the Dara bell saga this week, but thanks are due to John Lewis, Gavin Halling, Alan Locker and Clive Frost for responding to the request for information.
I will be fascinated to find out what the final verdict will be.
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Joining BSAC:
New members to BSAC can join Sharjah Wanderers Diving Club via the website, https://www.bsac.com/membership/select-branch/ . If you enter Sharjah, the club appears. Existing BSAC members can renew by logging into MyBSAC or using this link, https://www.bsac.com/membership/rejoin-today/

Join BSAC and claim your free dive! (406 members only).
———————————-
BSAC general website: https://www.bsac.com/home/
Remember also:
DAN insurance website: https://www.daneurope.org/home
———————————-
The Dive Club meets every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar.
See you there.

Welcome All,

In writing this email, I am conscious of the fact that for most people there are currently more pressing concerns than the ups and downs of Sharjah Wanderers Diving Club. Those of you who are current members will be aware of the precautionary measures that the main club has put in place to avoid the spread of the coronavirus and I would ask you to respect these absolutely. The alternative would be a complete shutdown, something that cannot be completely ruled out if the authorities so decide.
For the time being we continue to dive but whether this is sustainable in the short to medium term remains to be seen. We are fortunate in that Diving Officer from the medical sector, we are better placed to make informed judgements. Nevertheless, we are always subject to government decrees, which could take the issue out of our hands, particularly with the situation changing on a daily basis.

Allen has written the following account of last week’s dive:
Again, our beloved Land Rover needed some coaxing with sweet words and patience to start. When that didn’t work there were other choice utterances and gnashing of teeth which seemed to work. Come back Mike, all is forgiven. We had a new diver along this weekend from Ireland. After buddy pairing, we headed for Taha.

Seas were kind and we made it in good time. A nice little wreck lying on its side. Due to it punching its way into the sand it makes it a little difficult to find on the sonar. But after quite a few passes with not much to see we dropped anchor, threw over the buoy and hoped the little GPS flag was spot on. Thankfully it was. A little crescent shaped ridge has developed around the wreck as a result of it setting into the seabed which combined with the slight current made for a nice little drift dive. The viz was good and there was lots of life to see including shoals of juvenile Barracuda, Groupers, Snappers and Arabian Spine Cheeks. A large Leopard
​Stingray also put in an appearance for both dive groups.

We then headed to Neptune where the viz had improved even more to the point you could see most of the wreck on the descent. There was however a moderate current running by the time we entered the water.  Again, there were shoals of Seabream, Trevallies and Barracuda. I did wonder at the wisdom of my dive buddy heading directly for the very large Sea Snake I had just pointed out. After a tap on his shoulder we took evasive action and left it alone. The wreck has opened up a little and there are a few nice penetration points and swim throughs which the other group ‘squeezed through’.

All in all a terribly enjoyable day. In his own words, our new member from Ireland  ‘was glad to get his ears wet’ again. I’m sure we’ll see him on the boat again. We were met by Nick and his mother who was over from the UK to visit. They had just come back from Fujairah where they had been snorkeling. With the boat washed down and the gear drying on their hangers there was only one thing left to do really . . . . 

A warm welcome to our new diver who was making his first dive with us. The first of many we hope.

​Elsewhere, the saga of the “Dara” bell continues. It started with an enquiry from John Prescott of the British India Staff Group, concerning a bell for sale, purporting to be from the Dara. Last week I heard from John Lewis in Alaska:
“I can’t say that I ever heard of the bell being recovered in my time with the club from 1974. It wasn’t in the old Ajman club when we relocated so a bit of a mystery.”
This week I got a further message from Gavin Halling in Canberra:
“I agree with John. During 1975 to 1979 the few items that we recovered were portholes. Certainly, if there was a bell, we would have dinged that.
One of the portholes and storm cover adorns our entry porch… (See below). The glass is not intact, but it does allow an appreciation of how thick it was.

Joining BSAC:
New members to BSAC can join Sharjah Wanderers Diving Club via the website, https://www.bsac.com/membership/select-branch/ . If you enter Sharjah, the club appears. Existing BSAC members can renew by logging into MyBSAC or using this link, https://www.bsac.com/membership/rejoin-today/

Join BSAC and claim your free dive! (406 members only).
———————————-
BSAC general website: https://www.bsac.com/home/
Remember also:
DAN insurance website: https://www.daneurope.org/home
———————————-
The Dive Club meets every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar.
See you there​.