Blog

Welcome All, 

Unfortunately, there was no diving last weekend. Wind, rain and high seas conspired to give us a lie-in. There was so much rain in fact, that we could almost have launched the boat in the club car-park. Let’s hope for better this coming Friday.
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As expected, the 406 exiles convened in London and I’m sure a good evening was had by all.

The end of the night was not without incident…
Some of you may remember a couple of years ago, instead of diving, we spent a weekend white-water rafting in Al Ain. A certain diver, who had better be anonymous but for the sake of argument let’s call him Derek, was attempting to navigate back to his hotel room, but found himself instead in a taxi on his way back to Sharjah. Mercifully he had some money in his pocket, but his suitcase was still in his hotel room. There’s a bit more to it than that but at this point we’ll draw the veil.
So, imagine my surprise to read the following on Wednesday morning:

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
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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 every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar.
See you there.

Welcome All,
​

There was a slight problem with the email last week with a couple of Gmail batches bouncing back at me for some reason. I re-sent using Hotmail the following day, but I apologize if anyone got the email twice. Whether the problem will recur this week, I’ll discover in about twenty minutes when I press send.
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There was no diving last Friday, there being too many alternative attractions,  but we hope to get a boat in the water this coming weekend.
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I met up with Peter Blanchflower for a brief chat at the weekend. Peter is a former Chairman. He is over here for his annual shipwreck hunt in Oman with Joff Cottam (another former Chairman) and others. Best of luck!
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The following from Derek Roberts:
Ian, BSAC 406 et al;

For some crazy reason I have become the admin for a whatsapp group called BSAC406 Exiles. This was set up after a little meet up in London by Geoff P, Robin, Mike D & Zulfa, me and Cara. Then Mike Anthony plus Polly B got added and I realised there are other BSAC Exiles out there who may want to join in. You don’t need to be an Ex or a Xile or a 406 so the membership criteria is pretty low. In fact as Groucho Marx said.  I would not want to be a member of any club prepared to have me as a member. Having said that if anyone wants in then let me know but be prepared to set the notification sound off or you will get them at all hours due to time zones and crazy members, see above. Any members want in then email me .  All complaints will be stored in file B1N on the Mariam Express.
Cheers
Derek
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Mike Anthony is on more travels through Southern Africa:
Perhaps some more details to come and maybe even a photo or two. Stay tuned for Mike’s biking adventures. 
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I’ve had some correspondence with BSAC regarding joining online which is a lot easier than sending cheques through the post. I received the following:
New members to BSAC can join Sharjah Wanderers Diving Club via the website, https://www.bsac.com/membership/select-branch/, if they enter Sharjah, the club appears (please test), 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

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The Dive Club meets every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar.
See you there.
 

Welcome All,

As is my habit with the last email of the old year (or sometimes the first email of the new one), this is a look-back of the twelve months just gone:
Counting the dives, there weren’t so many as we sometimes do. Compared to last year, we lost rather more weekends to the weather or for other reasons. We nevertheless managed to get trips to the Dara (12), Nasteran (5), Jumbo (9), Neptune (5), Mike’s Tug (2), Victoria Star (6), Ajman Glory (2), Mariam Express (2), Karen’s Dhow (2), Sea King 5 and the Taha (1 each). This was just the west coast. There was also an east coast weekend, a Musandam trip and a weekend in Oman diving the Damaniyat Islands.

Both the Neptune and Nasteran have been breaking up which has opened up some areas for exploration that didn’t previously exist. The first time we went looking for Karen’s Dhow this year, we couldn’t find it for some reason and there were concerns that it might have been buried by shifting sands. However, we were in the area a few weeks ago and a quick bounce confirmed that it’s still there and still full of glassware.

Some of the further-out wrecks such as Wreck X and Energy Determination still have to be avoided rather than risk a period as a guest of the Iranians.
Unfortunately, there was no Eid trip this year. A proposed trip to Mafia Island (near Zanzibar) failed to generate sufficient interest. Perhaps it was the time of year or perhaps we just got too ambitious, but we will have a re-think before planning a trip for 2020.

Bookending the year were a couple of social functions. 

A current initiative is to reduce the amount of single-use plastic on club dives. Allen has procured some metal flasks and plastic bottles on the boat is now a ten-dirham fine. You have been warned.

This year we welcomed Graham and Saleem to the club. Sadly, we said farewell to Richard and Sharon who have gone to the UK where Richard has a new job with the Port of Liverpool. Richard and Sharon now join the band of 406 exiles who now have their own WhatsApp group for staying in touch.

Richard has our grateful thanks for serving as Chairman for a number of years, despite his job taking him to Saudi Arabia for most of that time. I now step into his shoes as the new Chairman and Allen is picking up my previous role as Diving Officer.

Regrettably during the year, we had to report the passing of Paty Oldenburg (wife of Uwe) in February and of former member, Sergey Yurchenko, in June. Gone but never to be forgotten.

As usual, thanks are due to those who kept the show on the road this year:
Brian for looking after the boats and compressors despite his punishing work schedule.
Mike for getting stuck into boats and cars whenever he isn’t retired (which might now be most of the time).
Cara and Michelle for training and the try-dives.
Peter for looking after our money and for his awful puns.
Allen for sterling work on the equipment, in particular keeping the tanks full.
Polly for making tea.
Nick for arts, entertainment and general contributions.

And finally, to all those who came diving with us without whom it would all be for nothing.
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The Dive Club would like to wish its members, former members and friends a very happy and prosperous New Year!
                                          
Safe diving in 2020.

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The Dive Club meets every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar.
See you there.

​Welcome All, 

Again, no diving last weekend as we were short on bodies due to illness and people being away. However, we’ll keep plugging and as soon as we get a viable number and good weather, we’ll be back out there.
Congratulations to Saleem for passing his open-water course. He is naturally keen to get diving and see what a shipwreck looks like close-up. We’ll try not to keep him waiting too long.
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Joff, Peter Blanchflower and friends returned from their annual “not-finding-a-shipwreck” expedition to Oman. They also failed to find a case of beer left buried last year, I presume to avoid having to bring it across the border. Joff, at least, didn’t seem too upset as it’s obviously a good fun social gathering, even if the wreck remains elusive. Expect another expedition next year.
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The BSAC 406 Christmas Dinner took place last. It was an excellent evening causing some of us to stay a bit later than was strictly sensible (well actually, quite a lot later) but never mind. Many thanks to Cara and Allen for doing the coordination and to the Wanderers staff who laid it on for us.
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Most of you who have been at the Wanderers in the recent and not so recent past will know our barman, Jose Mascarenhas, known to us all as Joe. Joe is retiring after 22 years at the club and was given a great send-off last Thursday. As well as the main club presentation, the Dive Club presented him with a club polo shirt to remember us by although we hope he’ll stay in touch. There is a “Farewell Joe” book for members to sign and wish him all the best. I have started a BSAC 406 exiles page and if anyone would like to add a few words by proxy please let me know. There’s still time I believe.
  
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Mike Anthony has safely completed his bike retrieval operation in South Africa and now plans a trip to Mexico with former 406 member, Heike. The only problem is that his dive gear is in Sharjah, but we’re going to devise a cunning plan to shift it back to the UK in time.
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I’ve had some correspondence with BSAC regarding joining online which is a lot easier than sending cheques through the post. I received the following:
New members to BSAC can join Sharjah Wanderers Diving Club via the website, https://www.bsac.com/membership/select-branch/, if they enter Sharjah, the club appears (please test), 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, 

As predicted, the weather precluded any diving last weekend, so we all had a lie-in, which is not such a bad option every once in a while.

Richard has asked me to print the following:
Sharon and I would like to shout out a huge thanks to everyone for the wonderful send-off last Tuesday night. The picture on the cake was just perfect and the card and glassware will both take pride of place in our new digs – wherever that ends up being, hopefully to be confirmed this week! 
Thanks also for the treat of having some of the old videos on display and to reminisce over some of the great dives and overseas trips enjoyed over the last 8 years with the club. Muscat (2011) will always have a particularly special place in both our hearts as our first 406 Eid trip. ‘Last Tango in Dibba’ will also endure as an all-time favourite video and one of the most pleasurable dives courtesy of videographer and dive buddy that day, Peter Jackson. The trip down memory lane brought back many other happy recollections …… of the days when I did actually go diving! 
Of course, the non-diving activities have been equally fabulous – the various themed socials, the East Coast camping trips and Geoff Patch’s Wadi Adventure weekends in Al Ain (aka ‘The Winning Formula’) were all tremendous times with some truly legendary antics whilst imbibing with great friends…. many of those antics involving Derek Roberts, naturally. To every single person who I have dived or drunk with during the last 8 years, thank you for such treasured times.
I think it’s also an opportune time as the outgoing Chairman to record, on behalf of all the readership of this wonderful bulletin, our appreciation to you, Ian, for keeping the weekly updates going. The number of well wishers who got in touch with us from far and wide – some within an hour of your email going out – bears testament to its effectiveness and the extent of followers who thoroughly enjoy keeping a link with this special club. As we will too.
As mentioned on more than one occasion around the dive club table, you never really leave BSAC 406, you just transfer to the Exiles sub-division and as many a former member has proved you can always come back for a visit! Personally, I hope to make as many returns as Mike Anthony.
Talking of which, I managed to extend my flight to the 11th so can make the Christmas Party. We’re also planning to meet up with Janette in Scotland on Friday, so I’ll send you a pic or two and a couple of ‘minutes’ from that encounter if it goes ahead!
See you in a couple of weeks.
Richard.

Welcome All, 

I hope you all had a good National Day 2nd December marks the date, now 48 years ago when Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid settled their differences and brought the UAE into existence, ending the period of the Trucial States. Not entirely coincidentally, this was the time when BSAC 406 was formed, initially as the Trucial States Diving Club and with a clubhouse on Ajman Beach. It was formed by members of the Union Defense Force, British Army soldiers seconded to the UAE and deployed by Sheikh Zayed to defend the newly formed country against those who might seek to undermine it. This was not an insignificant concern at a time when some people were predicting the UAE to fall apart within months.

This year’s celebrations seemed strangely muted compared to previous years. Whether this was despite or because of the generous holiday allocation I don’t know. But a five-day weekend is a five-day weekend and many of us took grateful advantage. This didn’t preclude diving on the Friday, but it did mean we didn’t get a full boat as people were away doing other things.

Myself, Nick, Allen and Cara made the effort and it was definitely worthwhile. The Taha was the first target, a wreck that was very good for a short time before a storm a few years ago caused it to punch through the hard upper layer of the seabed into to goo below, coming to rest about 7m lower and with much of the internals of the ship now buried. It’s still a nice dive on its day and worth a visit. For some reason, we couldn’t find any definitive wreckage on the echo-sounder but there was an obvious area of seabed disturbance so we threw the anchor over the side.

Nick and I were first over the side and we came down to an anchor in the sand, tyres scattered around and a big shoal of snappers in front of us. We tied a line to the anchor and set off towards the fish. Nothing. After the line ran out at 50m we set off on a sweep, eventually finding the bow on the vessel where we tied off the line. The viz was highly variable, but we had a nice dive around the wreck, seeing a lot of snappers, some batfish and a large shoal of barracuda. There was also a large fish that looked like a shark but probably wasn’t. Identification so far eludes me but it was entirely unafraid of divers.
Retracing our steps at the end of the dive, we came back to the anchor and saw a dark shape in front of us. A quick exploration confirmed that we’d been only about 10m from the bridge section but had headed in completely the wrong direction. Oh well. It was a good dive and I won’t say anything if you won’t.

The second dive was on the Mariam Express, a wreck that suffered a similar fate to the Taha, disappearing into the seabed taking with it a lot of the wreck penetration that we used to be able to do. You can still swim through the cargo hold and there are still some china coffee sets to be picked up. The viz was much better than the Taha for some reason and the fish life was equally abundant. Swimming along the hull side there were a lot of barracuda and just as we were reaching the bow, an eagle ray glided over us. We sae another ray later on which may or may not have been the same one.

Allen and Cara who followed us saw no less than three eagle rays on the hunt. Cara also had a camera to record the experience.

On the way back we stopped to do a quick bounce on Karen’s Dhow. The last time we went there, we couldn’t find it for some reason, and we wondered whether it had been swallowed or buried. I can now confirm that the wreck is alive and well and still full of glassware.

Some news of others:

Richard sends the following from Scotland:

Managed to catch up with Janette on Friday! She popped over from Dunfermline to join us in a pretty chilly Glasgow – or in diving parlance ‘dry suit weather’.
Was great to catch up over a few beers and some haggis bonbons (which I highly recommend to anyone passing Waxy O’Connors near Queens St) and remember the Sharjah days. Of course the legendary party up at the Elphinstone’s in RAK and the following day of fuzzy diving came up where someone (who shall remain nameless so as not to embarrass myself) forgot to tie the anchor off properly setting the boat adrift. 🤭
Sadly we missed Ken who was down visiting family in England but a seed to catch up in the Philippines was definitely planted!
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BSAC website: https://www.bsac.com/home/
DAN insurance website: https://www.daneurope.org/home

The Dive Club meets every Tuesday night in the Dive Bar.

See you there.

​NB; If members can email me their vids I can put them together. Some files are not supported for the website. Go-Pro clips won’t upload. Thank you all.