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The second dive found me a triple spot shrimp goby peering out of a hole, and a sand lizard fish. I descended a ladder to the forward hold, for a dramatic interior shot, before finding another pair of morays well concealed around the edges of the deck. I finished the dive buddying one of the novices while Kelvin and another diver surfaced. He conveniently found my compass, dropped un-noticed onto the sand when its wristband snapped. Perfect diving conditions for photo opportunities, more than compensation for a poorly organised start.

“Due to a couple of unforeseen events our numbers were depleted by four from the nine whom originally signed up but nevertheless the remainder showed and we had a good day first going to Karen’s dhow. Sergey and Sa’ad dived first and reported plenty fish and a turtle. Cathy, Andrea and Mike then went down to fairly limited visibility and the usual blizzard of yellow snappers. But there was a big shoal of jacks and some friendly slow moving John Dorys. The highlight was a green turtle about 65cm along the shell and carrying several barnacles. It appeared totally unafraid and swam round us getting so close that Mike had to back off from an exploratory nibble – must have been the red overalls! Some film was taken so you will be able to see the truth of things. It manoeuvred itself under the rudder post and then appeared to be scratching its shell – perhaps in an attempt to clean it.

We moved on to the No prop dhow where initially anyway the viz was a bit better than the earlier dive. John Dorys came very close. Towards the end we were swimming in a soup of non stinging jelly fish. Such was the density that we had great difficulty finding the anchor again.

Sergey proved to be a good driver on the way out although he discovered that speed was not the right thing when trying to drive on to a wreck coordinate.

Quote of the day goes to a lady who asked for help getting her gear onto the boat citing that her heavy lift gear was away in the UK!

Returning to the Club we met Orla for the first time. This is the lady who has allegedly tamed the wild man Dan (800 years of oppression) Orla’s unexpected arrival was Dan’s excuse for not coming diving and in the circumstances he can be forgiven. Simon and Sarah and Mike from the Valleys also turned up at the social. Tee bone steaks were consumed and the Moores also polished off a plate of ribs. Simon was hungry!”

“Freestyle Divers have recently begun speed-boat trips up to Musandam, I circulated members with a proposal to put a few of us together last Friday. Dragging Oliver from his work, we were joined by Derek, Geoff, and 20-litre Alex. (NB – for those who’ve never dived with Alex, his tanks would not look out of place at Cape Canaveral fixed to the back of a space shuttle).

 On the boat at Dibba Harbour, Oliver met an old friend from schooldays in Zimbabwe, radio DJ Sarah Kililea, among the eight other divers. Departure was set for 8.30am, but as usual there had to be one diver to hold up departure (ID difficulties at the border). Notwithstanding, it was a friendly lively bunch lining the sides of a new Omani dive boat under Freestyle dive-master Tom, and captain Ahmad as we sped northwards, into increasingly choppy conditions.

Al Hablayn is the largest of the inlets on Musandam’s east coast, and our two dive sites were at its northern and southern extremities, Ras Dillah and Ras Sarkan. The latter has seen some recent whale-shark sightings (unfortunately not for us).

Buddy and I descended quickly at Ras Sarkan, to get ahead of the pack, but, quickly distracted by an anenomefish and her tiny offspring, we soon found ourselves back in a queue, the inevitable product of a full boat on a wall-dive in a comfortable current. Fins, bottoms and occasional explosions of bubbles always threatening to spoil that perfect shot! Another swim through a narrow cleft in a beautiful coral landscape. Large yellow bar angelfish, and then an impressive but solitary emperor angelfish below a rock overhang – the first I have seen. I watched Oliver almost nose on nose with a devil firefish, before I found a second. A series of really cold-hot thermoclines then marked the dive, with butterflies and Sohar surgeonfish, before we found ourselves in the dark shade below a cliff. A pair of batfish flitted between the groups of divers, and as we moved away from the rocks for our safety stop, watched Derek, Geoff and Alex drifting past with the current.

Back on the boat and de-kitted, suddenly a pod of maybe a dozen bottlenose dolphins, old and young, surfaced beside us. Quickly unpacking, and donning fins and snorkels a few of us were back in the water, hoping for a contact that never came! Immediately afterwards our professional dive master Tom, managed to fall overboard, losing his rash vest in the process. He climbed in over the stern to hearty applause. I assume that Freestyle will extract an appropriate fine! Homewards, the pair of 200HP engines seemed to struggle, but at least it  was a comfortable slow ride back to Dibba, entering the port at 5.15pm. All in all, an excellent day out!!”

These emails are so much easier to write when someone else does the writing! IH

Destination was originally the Jumbo but this would have taken too long so we went to the Taha instead and did two dives there. Mike and Geoff at last found their way into the engine room and Geoff had the honour of the first circuit. It’s quite small and the access in is very tight but at least we got there. 

Before we even launched some entertainment was provided by Saad who first missed the turn off Ittihad Road and headed towards Dubai. Having retrieved that mistake, he then turned the wrong way up Al Khan Road and headed towards the industrial areas instead of the harbour. Finally having found the right area, he went the wrong way around the Aquarium roundabout. Mercifully the Anjad weren’t watching!

I’ve attached a picture of some of the party in post-dive mode. Note the rare appearance of Chairman Brendan whose attempts at an east coast dive on the Anita in about 90m of water were thwarted by heavy seas – he had to settle for the considerably shallower Inchcape.

Some of you may remember Denis Rooney who was a member here before leaving for Qatar a while back. Denis has sent a few words about Qatar diving:

“I’m diving away here in Qatar, I got my BSAC Sports Diver in Feb this year which was good.
There isn’t a huge variety of diving here. The site most frequented by the DSAC club is about 70 km south of Doha and it’s called Old Club Reef. It’s a man made site, cars, baths, gnomes etc. The reason for its popularity is its proximity, you can drive to the beach in a car and its about 200 m offshore. Our club does a lot of training here.
Further down the coast there are a few more sites such as, New Club Reef. There is an inlet sea near to Saudi where you could find Ottmans Reef and Neitoune Reef (a turtle hangs out there). These are all shore dives. We don’t have a boat at the minute but are working to sort that out.
I also dive with Al Khor dive club mainly because they have a boat. We take the boat about two hours off Ras Laffan (which is about 150 km north of Doha) to sites such as the Eel Garden and Three Barges. Here you will find more sea life, rays etc .”

Geoff Patch is looking at organizing a dhow trip up the Musandam. This has been penciled in for 29 July but the date is subject to finalization. Anyone interested or with any other thoughts on this plan, please contact Geoff either directly or through me.

Finally, I will be on leave for a couple of weeks starting this weekend but I believe the internet still works in the UK and I trust those still here will feed me enough diving stories and the odd bit of scandal for me to get an email out as normal.

A bit sad to see a dead turtle caught up in fishing nets. Perhaps the next Dara trip should be a net clearing dive. We do this from time to time and it does make the wreck a bit safer for divers as well as marine life.

Quote of the day: One of our number diving in brightly coloured overalls had a minor “fish feeding” episode during the surface interval. Said PJ: “Even the sick’s orange!”

Any plans for Eid Al Adha? This is due in early November and Mike is looking at possible diving expeditions further afield. It looks like being either Muscat or Salalah at the moment but enquiries are at an early stage. Watch this space.

After the first dive the sea had become significantly higher so we gave up at that point and headed for port. This will necessitate a return trip to recover an SMB, inadvertently left down there. Hopefully it will be a bit calmer this weekend.

Derek made the outward journey on SP125 but came back on SP312. This was due to an unscheduled extra dive when Geoff, driving the boat, applied the anchors a bit too sharply. I missed this being underwater at the time but I’m sure some fines can be arranged!

Those on SP125 will have noticed the long overdue new seat covers which Mike has organized.

On Saturday Derek, Rob and Steve did a shore dive at Layyah. In Derek’s words:

“Three of us had been invited over to a friends to look at a wreck partially visible at low tide and accessible from the beach. When we say accessible, this is certainly true for snorkelers and swimmers. The nearest  point on the road is a +500m distance from the water entry, the first beach divide for the Mahaba Resort  and as we all know it can get a bit warm here. Fortunately our host Christo sweet talked a worker with a bulldozer to do the honours with the tanks to get them on the beach next to the sea entry.

It was an enjoyable pleasant exploration and if there is a down side it is that due to its proximity to the beach it attracts a few water jet bikes who generally cleared off with a cheery wave but a surface buoy is a must. Fish life was varied and generally small, sergent majors, banner fish, goat fish, black spot bream. How this would look at high tide who knows , but another recommendation to avoid the major beach treck is to come via the sea, the boat can also be look out for water bikes.”

The anchor dropped on to parts of the central section including what’s left of a wing. There’s not that much to see here but around 50m away there’s a short section of intact fuselage which provides some good photo opportunities. A fixed rope guides you the nose section about 30m away. The controls are still intact, if a bit barnacle encrusted and the section is now home to a large sweetlips. Another fixed line takes you from the fuselage to part of the landing gear – again about 30m away.

All in all a worthwhile trip – we’ll save the Zainab for a calmer day. It was appropriate to dive an aircraft in one way. It was Dan’s first dive in quite a while and he earns his living as a professional pilot – when he’s not around the Wanderers swimming pool that is. Still if it wasn’t for 800 years of oppression…

By coincidence the aircraft is featured in this month’s Outdoor UAE magazine. It was originally a Pakistani Airbus A300 that crashed on landing at Dubai airport. There were no casualties. The aircraft was eventually taken offshore and sunk as an artificial reef. In the May edition of the same magazine there’s the story of Geoff’s recent trip to the Himalayas. This is online at:

http://www.outdooruae.com/onlineMAG/2011_May.html

Also departing (again) is booze marshal Uwe and again we hope temporarily.

For the second dive we went to the Inchcape 2 – just around the corner from Martini. The Energy Determination this is not but it makes a pleasant dive and the moray eels seem to like it as well as a great deal else.

After half an hour or so swimming around the wreck, we set off up the line only to pass the boat driver on his way down. Forrester wanted a few minutes in the water and I think he deserved it. The efficiency of the whole day was greatly helped by having a dedicated boat handler. It meant we all went down as one wave on both dives, saving at least a couple of hours. I think it’s only fair to overlook him dumping the dive marshal on his rear end with a sudden and unannounced acceleration or his novel approach to anchoring on the Inchcape (drive over the buoy and pick up the line with the engines). No harm was done in either case.

We were finished by around 3.00 pm and spent an hour or so relaxing on the beach or cooling off in the sea with a can or two of liquid refreshment. A good end to a good day.

There was time for one last boat-handling mishap – Cathy, approaching the jetty a little too fast, had to put the throttles into sharp reverse. Unfortunately Brian was leaning over to fend off and… OK – draw the veil. Suffice it to say that he won’t be charged for his third dive!

“I was actually able to see the wreck as I threw the anchor at it but in turned out that it was in the sand about 20m away when I got down there but it was holding. Heike, Peter and Bart went first and Peter filmed it all and came back with tales of a lion fish and enormous barracudas. Uwe and I went down second and the plan was to retrieve the 25HP motor that you see in the backyard so that took us a few minutes until it was hanging off the black drum and tied to the top of the wreck. Next I had a look inside the kitchen as the plan was to remove the fridge but although it is loose it is very heavy and it is stuck in the doorway that likely leads to the passageway beyond. I tried shifting it but no chance without lifting gear. So I came out and went towards the stern.

Next opening along from the galley doorway is the galley window. Then there is a doorway. I ripped out two doors, one must have been for the bathroom that is just aft of the deck door. Going further into the hull sinking down with my head looking towards the bottom of the ship I was in a shaft with a set of ladders over my head. This gives access to the main passage way running fore and aft inside the hull. The deck-plates directly ahead are painted green. On the wall opposite going forward is a round hole and to the right of that again there is a hole in the floor which surely leads to the engine room. To the left of the shaft in the passageway must be a cupboard which is open as you can see a fire extinguisher and other gear in there.

Later comparing notes after the dive Heike penetrated this shaft on her second dive and swam to the right along the passageway and it is confirmed that this leads to the cabins. She also found her way from the rear of the bridge on the port side down into the ship. I tried this on my second dive and indeed this must be the way onto the bridge from the accommodation deck. But it is very tight for a diver with a tank and the silt was somewhat heavy. I further studied the entry on the starboard side that I found earlier. This definitely is a ventilation shaft leading to the engine room. The upper part is laddered but you can see a staircase beyond leading down inside the ship. It’s likely that this is the staircase leading down off the main passageway. We suspect that the engine room is full of oil which will be lying against the inside of the portside hull by now but it looks very murky in the hole off the main gangway.

Anyway we have definitely found two ways into the superstructure now although I would have thought that a straight forward doorway from deck level must exist, communicating with the main gangway that gives access to the cabins, not as I have discovered, a climb down a shaft from a passage that is a space outside of a bathroom with access from the deck. However this wreck is slowly giving up its secrets. A good day in all!”

Thanks to PJ’s investigation I can report that the odd looking fishes on the Taha are Aluterus monoceros or Unicorn filefish. The western Indian Ocean is apparently part of their territory, but they have only been recorded once before on the Iranian side of the Gulf – dead( it was caught by a fisherman)

We went first to Karen’s dhow which used to be home to a lot of baby barracuda. These appear to have grown up and left home but there was plenty of other fish in evidence. The dhow was carrying a consignment of glassware when it sank and we invariably come back with a few plates and bowls, this dive being no exception. We also retrieved a copper nail from the rudder. Some of these are already in the club and one or two others were donated to the Sharjah Maritime Museum (which has yet to display them!). The one brought up on Friday seems to be the last.

Leaving Karen’s dhow we took a look at a location known only as “1039” on the GPS. Mike did a quick bounce dive on the site and reported a small barge – plenty of fish but not otherwise very exciting. I think we’ve probably visited this before but didn’t find it interesting enough to become a regular target.

The second dive of the day was on the Bigpro dhow (or Bigprop, Nopro, Noprop – take your pick). It’s quite small but generally has some good fish life. On this occasion there were plenty of snappers, tuna and some real granddaddy barracuda patrolling the wreck. These were unusually friendly and let you get quite close although some caution was obviously needed. Uwe found and retrieved a brass oil cooler which should polish up nicely. Mike and Derek also had a close encounter with a turtle and to add the icing to the cake, some dolphins came up for a look just as we were hauling the anchor up. They didn’t stay around long but never mind – it capped a good trip. Who needs Friday brunches anyway?

The fish life was as abundant as usual on the wreck although there was nothing really noteworthy apart from a medium size leopard ray briefly seen by some divers near the stern and a cloud of dust and debris surrounding Mike and a bathtub. By 4pm we were back at the club, boats and gear washed and enjoying some liquid refreshment.

It has been suggested that an east coast dive is a bit overdue. This may not happen this Friday but will be arranged in the near future. Apart from the change of scene, we can accommodate more divers and recent demand has been high. Not a bad problem to have I guess.

Thanks to the efforts of PJ, we may shortly be able to access the money in our accounts for the first time in a long while. I am tempted to name the bank that has raised inefficiency to an art form but I remember the trouble the “name and shame” approach caused Dubai club a couple of years ago. But if anyone is thinking of opening an account, I’d be happy to advise them where not to go!