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After a couple of abortive weekends we managed to get wet last Friday. In fact the seas were as flat as a millpond enabling us to travel 45km out to Brian’s wreck (“Wreck X”), which we’ve tried to dive several times but never quite reached – usually because of the sea state. I didn’t get to see the whole wreck but PJ and Mike covered the whole length and report that it’s about Taha size (say 50m) but considerably older. It’s sitting in 35m of water making it deep by the standards of most of our wrecks which meant that without nitrox the dives were a bit short. Given a water temperature of 21˚C, this might have happened anyway.

The wreck was home to a big shoal of the largest jacks I have ever seen. At the risk of sounding like the fisherman describing the one that got away and knowing that things appear larger underwater anyway, some of these fish were approaching a metre in length and were circling round like barracuda do sometimes. There were barracuda around as well and although large, they seemed less out of the ordinary. A return visit with a richer gas mixture seems in order when the weather permits.

For our second dive we went to the Taha, about 17km back in the direction of home. Instead of the very big, here we found the very small – a vast number of tiny jacks and barracuda. PJ memorably described it as “like a cloud of sperm” and at one point I nearly swam off the wreck, being unable to see where I was going. All in all a very good day.

Having let the boat slip off the buoy a few weeks back, Richard was observed securing the painter with knots that would have defeated Harry Houdini. I guess no-one wants to be caught out a second time!

Saad writes the following:

“Just wanted to let you know that I run a DSDC dive on the East Coast most Saturdays.

We launch from the Fujairah Marine Club and go as far up the coast as Inchcape 1. This gives us access to all 3 Inchcape wrecks, plus Martini Rock and a few other reef dives. Max depth is 30m, but most sites are at the 20-25m mark. We meet up around 0730 and are back in the marina by 1700. The drive from Dubai is about 1.5 hours, although it will be a little quicker from Sharjah.

Although some Saturdays the weather has held us back, most of the time the sea is quite calm – esp. when the West Coast is getting battered. We’ve had some nice days out there.

So, if anyone from the 406 would like to join us, it will be a pleasure having their company onboard. Just let me know by Tuesday evening and I’ll get their names on the roster. The boat carries a max of 8 divers – sometimes it’s full, sometimes only half – so always worth finding out.”

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I regret to report another non-diving weekend. There couldn’t be much argument about this one – the forecast gave the sea state as 10 – 14 ft offshore and I think most people would agree to give that one a miss. Current wave heights as I write are 4 – 7 ft offshore but decreasing. Maybe we’ll be lucky this weekend.

Jutta has not been in the best of health lately but has managed to get the web site updated with some of the more recent reports. Some work remains to be done and some photos could do with being added but all in good time!

Geoff has sent the following update about Derek’s son:

Since last Saturday he has had 2 brain scans, an MRI on his neck and spine, he had had 40 odd metal staple / stitches removed, he has had his neck brace removed and had a walk. Today he faces stairs with the Physio. Could be discharged Monday.

After getting a dive away the previous week, we weren’t so lucky last weekend. Names on the board were a bit sparse to start with and with the forecast looking unpromising we cancelled. As it happened, the predicted shamal was later than expected to arrive so we could probably have got out somewhere but you can’t call them right every time. It would have been a bit lumpy in any case.

As I write it’s blowing a gale outside and I only hope it calms down before the weekend. Early year diving can be a bit problematic here. In 2008 the first two months were wiped out by the weather and even March wasn’t that great. In 2009 by contrast we did our first dive on January 1st and barely missed a weekend thereafter.

DSDC are doing a boat handling course on 2nd / 3rd March so if anyone is interested please let me know.

Burns Night is approaching – the night of haggis, whisky, bagpipes, men in skirts and incomprehensible poetry. Both DSDC and SWSC are doing Burns Suppers this Friday 27th January and tickets are available for both at Dhs 150 a time. Buy your Wanderers tickets at the bar (or email me and I’ll do it for you). For Dubai tickets contact Nancy Wakeham or Alissar (if you don’t have details, I can forward). All together now…

“Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o’ the puddin-race!

Aboon them a’ ye tak…”

Nice to see a busy Dive Bar last Tuesday. With Christmas approaching, I was expecting a low turnout but instead a lot of folks came out to have a drink with us – next week as well I hope!

It would also be nice to report a fabulous dive on the Dara on Friday and for the benefit of Forrester (last heard of knocking back the amber nectar to excess on Thursday night) I shall of course be reporting whale sharks, sunfish and mermaids. The reality was unfortunately a bit different. Simon and Sarah were first down the line but surfaced 12 minutes later reporting a howling current, zero viz and the wreck covered in nets. At that point Peter and I decided that there were probably better things to do on a Friday morning.

The anchor still had to be retrieved so Simon and Sarah went back down and freed it successfully, though with warnings not to take chances. It would probably have been lost otherwise since they had no idea whereabouts they were on the wreck. When conditions are a bit more favorable I think a net clearing dive is called for. One for the new year.

BSAC 406 would like to wish its members and friends – past and present – a very happy Christmas!

After getting a dive away the previous week, we weren’t so lucky last weekend. Names on the board were a bit sparse to start with and with the forecast looking unpromising we cancelled. As it happened, the predicted shamal was later than expected to arrive so we could probably have got out somewhere but you can’t call them right every time. It would have been a bit lumpy in any case.

As I write it’s blowing a gale outside and I only hope it calms down before the weekend. Early year diving can be a bit problematic here. In 2008 the first two months were wiped out by the weather and even March wasn’t that great. In 2009 by contrast we did our first dive on January 1st and barely missed a weekend thereafter.

DSDC are doing a boat handling course on 2nd / 3rd March so if anyone is interested please let me know.

Burns Night is approaching – the night of haggis, whisky, bagpipes, men in skirts and incomprehensible poetry. Both DSDC and SWSC are doing Burns Suppers this Friday 27th January and tickets are available for both at Dhs 150 a time. Buy your Wanderers tickets at the bar (or email me and I’ll do it for you). For Dubai tickets contact Nancy Wakeham or Alissar (if you don’t have details, I can forward). All together now…

“Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o’ the puddin-race!

Aboon them a’ ye tak…”

After getting a dive away the previous week, we weren’t so lucky last weekend. Names on the board were a bit sparse to start with and with the forecast looking unpromising we cancelled. As it happened, the predicted shamal was later than expected to arrive so we could probably have got out somewhere but you can’t call them right every time. It would have been a bit lumpy in any case.

As I write it’s blowing a gale outside and I only hope it calms down before the weekend. Early year diving can be a bit problematic here. In 2008 the first two months were wiped out by the weather and even March wasn’t that great. In 2009 by contrast we did our first dive on January 1st and barely missed a weekend thereafter.

DSDC are doing a boat handling course on 2nd / 3rd March so if anyone is interested please let me know.

Burns Night is approaching – the night of haggis, whisky, bagpipes, men in skirts and incomprehensible poetry. Both DSDC and SWSC are doing Burns Suppers this Friday 27th January and tickets are available for both at Dhs 150 a time. Buy your Wanderers tickets at the bar (or email me and I’ll do it for you). For Dubai tickets contact Nancy Wakeham or Alissar (if you don’t have details, I can forward). All together now…

“Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o’ the puddin-race!

Aboon them a’ ye tak…”

After a patchy record of late, it was good to get back in the water again albeit with a few problems along the way. Thursday night was Janette and Ken’s barbecue at their place in Ras Al Khaimah and very good it was too. We all had a few “beverages”, in some cases a few more than sensible but we all made it up on Friday morning ready to go diving. Not before an excellent breakfast was served, however.

We launched from Al Hamra Marina which is just round the corner from Janette and Ken’s place and the target was the Rig Supply Vessel, 10km offshore. I can’t remember ever diving it before so this was new territory. The vessel was a deliberate sinking as a reef for the fishermen so there little prospect of lots of brass portholes but you never know.

Anchored on the wreck Mike spotted a turtle on the surface apparently coming up for air. It didn’t seem to want go back down which turned out to be because the “turtle” was actually a piece of industrial footwear floating on the surface. Better luck under water maybe! Unfortunately the viz turned out to be seriously bad – of the order of 0.5m – 1m. We groped around the wreck for 40 minutes or so but apart from five or six batfish in the bridge area there was not much to see.

At this point Ken and Carolyn were preparing for their dive. Carolyn remarked that the strong current had dropped to nothing – we were obviously on slack water. It was only when they were over the side that the reason for the sudden slack water became obvious – the anchor line had disappeared and we were no longer connected to anything. “Who tied off?” Richard sheepishly raised his hand. Richard, you should understand is former Royal Navy. “Bet you never did that with your submarine!”. Richard duly received a 10 dirham fine. It might have been a bit more if he’d lost HMS Vanguard I would think.

Janette volunteered to retrieve the lost anchor and we found the wreck again and threw the spare anchor down this time attached to a buoy. Unfortunately, without anyone noticing the buoy became fouled in the boat engines causing the anchor to drag. At the second time of asking the operation was successful and we headed back to shore.

At this point I would like you to consider the “banana theory”. According to Carolyn, it’s unlucky to have bananas on a dive boat, this theory apparently having its origins in a particularly troublesome day of diving some years ago. As an engineer I have trouble believing that the chances of a problem free day out are in any way influenced by the presence of a curved and yellow fruit. However, if there is any truth in it, I am happy to blame our problems on Sami and Marc who were seen consuming the offending edible object.

While this was going on, Joff, Nick and Val, Peter Blanchflower and a couple of other former divers now returning to the fold were doing a dive of their own up in the Musandam. According to Nick they were looking for another stone anchor using a metal detector although I might have misheard this.

Sami has completed 50 dives with the club and would like to celebrate tomorrow night by sharing a small glass of the fizzy stuff. I’m sure we can help him.

pics from the Daha

We managed to get 2012 up and running last Friday – by the skin of our teeth. Of the original eight names on the board, five dropped out for reasons of varying degrees of plausibility. Robin was on his first dive with us and “missing some kit” seemed to be the easiest problem to overcome. A quick phone call and he was on his way, albeit by some circuitous route that managed to take in Ajman corniche on the way to Al Khan. Still he got there and the dive was on.

We had intended to go out to “Wreck X” aka “Brian’s Wreck” which we’ve never managed to dive on before despite several attempts. It’s about 46km offshore which means that sea conditions must be good. The forecast was promising but strong winds as we set off suggested that we might be in for a disappointment (again!). This was indeed the case but fortunately the direction of the wreck is such that there are a lot of “Plan B’s” on the way.

We decided to head for the Taha which is about 20km closer. On arrival we found good news and bad news. On the plus side, the current was virtually nil which always makes things easier but on the other hand, the viz was not very good at all. The fish life was good though. There were six or seven curious batfish swimming around the hold and at the bow there was a lot of large barracuda circling round gazing at the divers with their usual beady eyes. We did our bit for the environment by releasing some fish from some abandoned pots.

Robin used a novel method for getting back into the boat which I’m sure he’ll be happy to demonstrate on future dives. On the way back there was time for a sip or two of the amber nectar (thanks Sami!). Welcome to 2012!

As I mentioned last week, DSDC are doing a boat handling course on 2nd / 3rd March so if anyone is interested please let me know.