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A bit unusual to be talking about last Tuesday rather than last Friday but it was a rather good night. The vets reunion duly took place and we were able to welcome back some former members that in some cases we haven’t seen in quite a while. It was mainly Geoff Taylor’s night as he was saying farewell to the Emirates after… how many years? He came in ‘76 I think he said – correct me if I’m wrong. Geoff brought with some brass from the Dara, some old photos and some 406 logs from almost 30 years ago. The logs made fascinating reading and the photos will end up on the web site as soon as I can scan them.

As you may know, Geoff and Harry Adamson were the two guys who built the present Club building after we were evicted from the premises at the old airport. We took the opportunity to present them each with a glass tankard engraved with the 406 logo (designed by Geoff incidentally). I’ve attached a photo of the two club builders to this email. Other pictures from the night will go on the web site as soon as I can get hold of them.

Friday’s diving turned out to be a bit of a struggle for various reasons. Filling up SP 312 with fuel the hose came adrift from the fuel cap. As a result instead of filling the fuel tank, I filled up the front locker. This drained into the bilges so when we got to Hamriyah our first task was to drain it on a patch of sand. So we were a bit late before we even got to the Dara. That dive was pretty good though – flat calm, no current and reasonable viz.

For the second dive we went to Cathy’s barge – recently discovered and about 8km away. By this time the current had picked up and although we could see it on the echo sounder, we couldn’t hook it even after several attempts. In end Mike volunteered to dive in at the zero point and fix a rope by hand. This was successful so we got the second dives in, albeit both short. 
For Aaron, Matt, Jules and Jen these were qualification dives for Ocean Diver and they all performed very well. They’ve also just passed their theory test – congratulations to them all.

By the time we got back to the club the post-dive drink had turned into a sundowner but it was all the more welcome for that. Did I say drink? Well Simon, Matt and Aaron all bought rounds of Guiness to get the free T-shirt and there were a few other rounds as well. I like to call it team building!

The barbecue on Hamriyah beach for the Dara 50th anniversary is going ahead on 8th April. DSDC and ADSAC are also getting involved so it should be quite an event.

Also one I forgot last week – Brian and Derek are trying to organize a weekend on the Ekatarina, a luxury yacht. The target is 2 days, 2 nights with 7 dives on 1st / 2nd April and the cost is Dhs 2,500 per person. There’s a bar on board which I assume is extra but everything else is included. Anyone interested please make yourself known. The minimum number is 12 people and the maximum is 18.

Last Friday had to be called off due to some seriously strong winds causing some seriously big waves. The forecast was 13 – 16 foot offshore at one point and although it moderated a bit on Friday morning it was still too much to contemplate taking the boat out. Next Friday will probably be Dara / Cathy’s Barge as promised for last weekend.

Speaking of the Dara, on Friday 8th April it will be 50 years to the day since the explosion on board that caused its sinking two days later. It was in my mind that we could use the occasion to have a barbecue on Hamriyah beach with a couple of trips out to the wreck. We’ve done this sort of thing before and they’ve always been good events, particularly before the weather gets too warm. Perhaps also, it might not be inappropriate to remember that nearly 240 people lost their lives on that morning half a century ago. 
Here are some interesting links for more information and pictures about the sinking of the Dara:
http://www.biship.com/historical/dara.htm
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clivebillson/CSD/CSD.html

Last Friday was a training day for Matt, Aaron, Jules and Jen. Being an instructor short,   I opted to give Karen’s dhow a miss and concentrate on getting the drills out of the way. We moored the boat just off Hamriyah beach and the shallow water was ideal for the mask clearing, alternative air supply, controlled buoyant lifts and towing that was required. All of this was successfully achieved – well done to all. 

Next week hopefully we’ll be able to get out and see things that are a bit more interesting than sandy seabed. Thanks also to Cathy for running out of air and falling unconscious several times as well as being towed, lifted and generally manhandled around the water.

Getting the boat back to the club was interesting. A combination of the ongoing Sharjah Rugby 10’s tournament and end of prayer time at the mosque resulted in a major traffic jam outside the club. Fortunately Aaron turned “traffic cop” for 10 minutes and we got through it.

Saturday’s dive on the Dara had to be cancelled as Brendan was in major pain (his words) on Saturday following a hike in Hatta on Friday. Some priorities need adjusting here I think!

Mike has been doing some work on the trailer after the wheel went walkabout last week. As a result we now have new hubs and rims. We really need further upgrades of the wheel / axle assembly as the boat is too heavy for the current configuration. Mike is on the case so watch this space.

After a two week hiatus, we were back in the water last Friday – on the east coast as promised. A total of 13 people made the camp out on Martini Beach on Thursday and a further 7 joined us on Friday morning. The journey over was not without incident. Just short of Masafi, a wheel parted company with the trailer forcing some roadside repairs. However we’re not unused to these situations and we still managed to get the dive gear, camping gear including several kitchen sinks (it seemed like) over to the beach before we lost daylight.

Martini beach seems to have shrunk since I first remember it – possibly the result of Cyclone Gonu – and being a high spring tide we couldn’t help noticing the water coming ever closer to the camp fire. Dan’s King Canute impression proved in vain and he had to move up the beach but there were sufficient engineers on hand to build some tidal defences and save the fire and more importantly, the barbecue. After that some steaks were cooked, eaten and washed down with generous quantities of decompression fluid.

In the morning, having collected the extra seven, we did some diving. The students and instructors dived the headland on what for Matt, Aaron, Jules and Jen were their first open water dives. A few drills were successfully executed and the dives could then be properly enjoyed. The rest of the divers went to Martini Rock for their first dive and to Shark Island for their second. PJ has some video footage.

The entertainment highlight I’m told, was Sami’s head first dive in the boat when it stopped a bit more sharply than he was expecting. I look forward to hearing more details on Tuesday.

Thanks to Jutta for the excellent cake that was eaten after the diving.

Quote of the day was a certain lady diving instructor: “I hate getting wet!” A bit late to complain about that I would have thought.

Just for information: we discovered that Martini Beach is known as “Kilcully” (or something like that) to the locals. Trying to explain to the coastguard that we were going to Martini resulted only in blank looks.

There are no firm plans for next Friday as yet but on next Saturday 26 February, Brendan is running a trip to the Dara.

No diving again last Friday. We had a boat load ready to go but the weather was decidedly changeable and no-one fancied taking chances after the events of two weeks ago. As it turned out we would probably been OK as Friday turned out to be the lull between two storms but we can all have 20/20 hindsight and the viz would have been rubbish anyway.
 
Next Friday, the intention is to go over to the east coast, the idea being to do some of the open water lessons with our trainees. There will be a camp-out on the Thursday night although we’ll try and arrange something for those that can’t make it until Friday. Remember Thursday is a holiday in the UAE thanks to the Prophet’s birthday. Full details will be sorted out on Tuesday.
 
The artifact list was updated with the various comments we have received. These were very helpful indeed and I would like to thank Geoff Taylor, Mike Anthony, Brian Lugg, David De Marneffe, Brian King, Janette Elphinstone and Harry Adamson who all contributed useful information. As you will see there are still gaps. In particular I would love to know the origin of the bell that hangs over the bar heralding a round of drinks from time to time.
 

After the drama of the previous Friday, nothing at all happened last weekend. A shamal blew in causing 9 – 11 ft waves (10 – 15 ft on Saturday) rendering any discussion about where to go diving entirely academic. At least we had some warning this time.

Thanks to those who read last week’s email and responded with some helpful comments. A committee meeting will be held shortly after which any conclusions will be published.

Some of you may be aware that Geoff Taylor is leaving the UAE after a long spell here. It was Geoff and Harry Adamson who built the dive bar on the Wanderers site after the old clubhouse at the airport was closed. Geoff has provided some particularly helpful comments regarding the artifacts in the bar and has sent me a couple of old photos which I am attaching for your interest. In Geoff’s words:

“The first picture is of the dive club bar on Ajman beach dated May 76. The guy behind the bar is Pete Bramall (British army seconded to the UDF) who wasn’t a diver but was an avid drinker. The large wheel in the ceiling is from the cement barge and lost in the ‘Great Fire’. The telegraph is off the ‘Khan Wreck’. For those not sampling the delights of the draft Double Diamond beer was Dhs2 per can.

The second picture is at Hamriyah beach after a good day on the ‘Dara’. Pictured from left to right – Clive Bilson, Rod Mackenzie, Geoff Taylor and lower front right, Brian Clargo. The boat is one of the old 17’ Dory’s with a 115HP outboard.”

Hopefully there will be a few more where that came from.
See Club History for more pictures of old treasures sent in by Geoff Taylor

This is quite a long account for reasons that will become apparent as you read it. Friday was not an experience that any of us will forget in a hurry and any lessons that can be learnt should be. Debutant Dive Marshall Peter begins:

With a full boat booked out for Friday, Mike was first to call off: going biking, Geoff was uncertain anyway and was to confirm, the Moores sms’d apologies for fatigue, and a call from Hennie suffering the runs. My marshalling was clearly a popular move! That then left Cathy, Ian, Derek and self to check out a new site indicated in a Notice to Mariners, followed by the Jumbo. Cathy had come along despite her bad back to enjoy a little winter sun and enjoy a dive after a spell off.                                                                             
We set off with blue skies, calm sea, with MetDxb predicting offshore 2-4ft waves with max.12 knot winds and no change for the next few days. Two large cruise ships crossed our bows in and out of Dubai across an almost mirror flat blue sea. Cathy and Ian shared the drive out, and in 40 minutes we were scanning the bottom for the new supposed wreck – “NEW18” on the GPS. Nothing, not a barnacle showed up. After several passes from different directions, we decided to head for Neptune and Jumbo in that order, Neptune being nearer and marginally deeper. Neptune proved most elusive, not showing at the GPS coordinates. We eventually located her 50m away, recorded the correct location, and securely snagged her with the anchor first time.                                               
Cathy and Ian’s dive on Neptune saw an eagle ray, and an electric torpedo ray, as well as friendly batfish, but with the water at 22ºC kept it short. Derek and I went over the side with our cameras, and were soon with the batfish on the inverted oilfields supply vessel. We made one penetration but I discovered my torch was dead, so generally swam around and over the hull. At the stern Derek was low, I was above, my head closely encircled by a shoal of barracuda swimming in opposite directions. After a couple of minutes with video I thought it wise to descend to join Derek, blissfully oblivious of this glorious sight! More batfish and the odd barracuda, before releasing the anchor, to ascend after 40 minutes.                                                                                                              
                                                       
We moved the 2km or so across to Jumbo, and it took a couple of attempts before we snagged it, but the second was good. The sun however had gone, and the overcast sky, reminded us of similar conditions the previous week. Cathy and Ian went over the side at 12.50. Five minutes later all hell broke loose. In just moments, gale force winds were upon us in violent gusts, as waves increased to what I judged to be 8-10ft, with horizontal sleet forcing us to shelter low behind the bridge, keeping an eye on distance and speed. Derek pulled out the life jackets for us to wear. The boat was violently rotated all around the wreck, stabilised only by the anchor, one reason I didn’t release it on the buoy – my mistake. After a few minutes the anchor was off the wreck and we were drifting rapidly with the NW squall, 80m, 100m, 200m, 300m from the Jumbo, knowing Ian and Cathy would be unaware of this, and enjoying their dive. I kept looking at my watch, judging that they would not stay down more than 30 minutes again.               
I shouted to Derek to haul the anchor, which he could only do on hands and knees, keeping his face down out of the sleet and spray, trying to keep his balance as the boat rolled and pitched. I had to remove the deck bungs, as the boat was quickly filling with water, and then started the engines, both catching first time, to be able to turn the boat both into the waves, and back towards the Jumbo. The anchor took some minutes, and when it came up, had Ian’s yellow line attached. I turned the boat so as not to catch this in the props, while Derek reeled it in – but there was no tension, and soon we had all his line on board. By now we were some 700-800m from the wreck. Derek managed to haul in the ladder, which was jammed into the side of the boat. The violence of the waves and the wind was spectacular, but the boat performed superbly. We both had the feeling we were in “The Perfect Storm”! It is impossible to describe one’s feelings during all this, knowing we had two divers down, and wondering how long we would take to find them – how long would the storm last? How far might they drift in these conditions? How long would our fuel last for a search? How close was the nearest help (we had seen a coastguard cutter earlier)? But there was far too much to deal with to allow negative thoughts. I gave up wearing my glasses, which in these conditions made vision impossible, and watching both waves and the arrow on the GPS, with Derek reading and shouting the distances out to me as we closed back in on the Jumbo, we scanned the waves all around us, especially when we were pushed up high.                                                 
I didn’t look at my watch when I glimpsed a tiny flash of yellow – a fin or SMB right in front of us, but lost as we descended a into a trough. Up on a crest again, then, SMB again briefly visible, while Derek moved to the bow to guide me onto them. The same gale that had blown us off the wreck was forcing them towards us! We were straight onto them, as first Cathy, then Ian caught onto the safety line. We dropped the ladder, which refused to lie anything but horizontal in these conditions. Cathy was dragged / pushed into the boat, Ian’s kit was heavy with weights and he was unable to climb the trailing ladder without also removing his BCD. One fin defiantly resisted removal, but then he too was on board. Despite the still awful sea condition, our mutual relief was palpable, with smiles and hugs all round.
While Derek stowed the ladder, Ian and Cathy put on life-vests as we pushed all our gear into the front, without any attempt at packing or clearing. Ian took over control of the boat and headed us back towards land. Let Ian now tell their story:

The anchor had hooked a piece of reef and we used my reel to locate the wreck which turned out to be about 10m away. We swam down to the prop and then back along towards the bow, checking the reel hadn’t moved as we passed it. The viz wasn’t great and at this time it became eerily dark down there – looking back, this was the first indication of what was going on above us. We’d been down 20 minutes when we passed the spot where the reel should have been and it was missing. I decided to abort at this point and we headed up. I didn’t do a safety stop, reasoning that after only 20 minutes on nitrox there was little risk – better to get visible on the surface.

On the surface we found driving rain, a heaving wall of water in front of us and no boat. There was no indication of direction and we couldn’t have moved in any case so we made sure our BCD’s were fully inflated, ditto the SMB and we had a firm grip of each other. We were probably about 15 minutes like this before we saw the boat moving towards us – a most welcome sight to say the least. Getting into the boat in these conditions wasn’t the easiest but we made it with a bit of assistance. Once inside the priority was to get the boat under control and headed in the right direction. The danger at this point was allowing the boat to turn sideways to a big wave. This achieved we set off for home. Fortunately we were running with the waves and for the first part of the journey made reasonable time, albeit slightly in the wrong direction. It was hard work having to constantly work the steering wheel and the throttles but progress was steady if uncomfortable.

Back to Peter:
Our return saw the Burj Khalifa silhouetted on the Dubai skyline (hugely reassuring to see land again), with dramatic rays of sunlight through the cloud starboard while a black sky to port as the storm continued provided an awesome contrast, with the waves unabated, but with the nor’westerly taking us towards Dubai, unable to hold a comfortable direct course to Al Khan. It was a phenomenal experience to see and feel the power of nature. On two occasions large vessels crossed in front of us, sod’s law, forcing us to slow against the sea driving from behind. Ian piloted the boat magnificently in these aggressive conditions.
We hoped that close to Palm Deira there would be some let-up in conditions, but this was not to be. Ian snuck in behind the outer ring on its southern Dubai side, only to find we were driving at an angle against strong waves. This stretch of the ride was seriously unpleasant, the boat crashing regularly into troughs, and tipping violently, though at no stage did we feel it would go over. We saw a potential gap, a shortcut between the islands, being taken by a small freighter. A few minutes later we observed it listing at 45 degrees port, grounded close to shore – so no, there wasn’t a gap there for us!
The waves didn’t let up any bit until we reached the mouth of Al Khan lagoon around 3pm. Sharjah Police were on board the Coastguard vessel, Al Ghagha, with the coastguard waiting for us, full of humour, anxious to know that we were all fine, as they handed us back our IDs. They were obviously counting the boats back in. We anchored in the calm of the lagoon, changed from our wetsuits into what would have been nice if they had been dry clothes, and packed our gear before landing, and loading onto the trailer. Dry land was very, very good – even though the sea facing sides of our vehicles had a healthy coating of sand from the shamal that had also hit the coast, with wind speeds up to 111km/hr.

Lessons to be learnt:          

1. Release anchor on buoy soonest  (Note – we keep a buoy tied to the end of the anchor line)
   
2. SMBs compulsory
3.  Communications equipment required
4. Flare to advise boats close by of a problem?
5. Lifejackets available for all to be compulsory
6. Teamwork works!  

Ian again:
The only thing I would add to that is to keep a close eye on the weather, whatever the forecast has told you. There were certainly darkish clouds on the horizon on what had been a sunny day up to that point and with hindsight, we might have scrapped the second dive and headed for home sooner. That said, I don’t think many people would have foreseen what occurred (and how quickly).

So how close a call was it? Hard to say really although it’s not something I would want to repeat in any circumstances. The important thing was that nobody panicked and everybody did the right things. In particular, Peter and Derek deserve huge credit for getting control of the boat when it drifted off-station and getting back into position to spot us in the water. I know from personal experience the relief they must have felt we they saw us.

After all that drama, anything else might seem anti-climatic but there are a couple of other things.
Firstly, many thanks to those who continue to send info regarding the artifacts in the Dive Bar. It’s all very useful and is finding its way into the spreadsheet. An updated version will go out before long.
Secondly, thanks to Simon and Jutta, that this new web-site is now published. It’s still a work in progress but will develop over time. The old google group is still there but can no longer be updated. 

The plan for last Friday was to visit the last set of co-ordinates from the Notice to Mariners where there could be some interesting wreckage. The weather was marginal but we set off anyway. It soon became clear that 35km was too far in the conditions so we went to Karen’s Dhow instead. This is more or less the same direction but closer. 
PJ takes up the story from this point:

“Ten minutes out of Al Khan, we found a dolphin swimming along our port side, then beyond a larger pod, then another sizeable pod astern – not sure how many, but more than a dozen, maybe fifteen – just lovely to behold. Our target dive was a new site beyond Jumbo and Neptune, but on a very cool and very grey winter’s day, with wave height increasing as we progressed, and our speed halved as a result, it was agreed to change direction for one dive at Karen’s Dhow. Mike and visiting diver Hennie, Simon & Sarah in their matching kit, took the first wave. A large grouper in the engine hold, a large big-eye trevally featured, but a reef sea-snake swam close past Hennie’s ear much to his surprise, and was particularly inquisitive, as glassware from Karen’s was put to good use as a shield! It was Hennie’s first sea-snake so he was happy. With a water temperature of 23° the first dive was all complete in 30 minutes, so Ian and myself were soon descending the line.

Vis with no direct sunlight was adequate but not great. The usual suspects were present, shoals of yellow Dory snappers and monocle bream, small Arabian bannerfish, and a few yellow bar angelfish. We found the large hamour, the big-eye, and a handsome golden trevally, but also the largest (blue-barred) parrotfish that I have seen, just too shy to have a picture taken! Large yellow-tail barracuda circled above the wreck before body temperature determined that it was time to ascend!

On the surface our change into dry clothes was not surprisingly speedy. I told Hennie to look out for the snake surfacing, as they come up regularly to breathe – and a moment later it was on the surface in front of us! Soon after we were powering back to Al Khan lagoon, Simon noticed a flock of gulls on the surface behind us, with a pair of sharks apparently in feeding frenzy. Mike was too cold to go back, but for a one dive morning, action-packed, which didn’t end there, as we discovered a wheel hub on the trailer had collapsed, and subsequently suffered a puncture striking a kerb while manoeuvring past parked mosque traffic. Mike’s engineering skills were once again put to the test. Joined at Uwe’s table by Cathy, decompression fluid was then partaken in the rain, a suitable substitute for our missed second dive!”

Weather and trailer permitting, we’ll have another attempt next week.
Many thanks to those of you who responded to my request for information about the dive club artifacts. Lots of good stuff came pouring in and this is all being added to the spreadsheet. An updated version will go out shortly – in the meantime keep it coming!

This was a good start to 2011. We had both boats out – a total of 10 divers. It might have been 11 had PJ not pulled out with a touch of the “Brian’s” (of which more later). One reason for the enthusiasm was that Mike had obtained some co-ordinates from a recent Notice to Mariners that apparently had large obstructions under water. Apparently there was only 6m of water above them which would suggest some big wrecks if it turned out to be true.

At the first location we found nothing – this was not altogether surprising as we discovered later the wrong co-ordinates had been entered into the GPS. However a return visit a couple of hours later, this time to the right place also revealed nothing more exciting than smooth flat seabed.

At the second place there was definitely something to look at. This was a lot smaller than we’d been told to expect being 18m down but it was still solid and rectangular. It turned out to be a hopper barge maybe 50m long with a double storey wheel-house at the stern. Everything interesting had been stripped off which leads me to think it was probably sunk deliberately for the fishermen. There was a big cow-tailed ray at the bow and a family of batfish swimming round the wheel-house. Not spectacular but it will make a nice second dive after the Dara which is about 6km away. The wreck was christened “Cathy’s Barge” or CATHYB for short in the GPS.
 
The last new site we visited turned out to be a couple of steel workboats, some steel reinforcement and various assorted rubbish obviously thrown down as a fish nursery. Mike and Derek reported a 2m hammour but otherwise it was nothing to write home about. We didn’t name the site in the end as “Sarah’s Heap of Crap” didn’t seem quite right (well not to Sarah anyway).

While all this was going on, a new verb was being added to the English language: “to brian”. I don’t want to go into too much detail here – suffice it to say that a swift jump into the water was required to avoid unspeakable unpleasantness. This is a story that will just run and run. A bit embarrassing perhaps but as Brian himself said later: “Thus are legends made”.

Gourmet of the week goes to Derek. Back at the club and half way through his roast pork he commented that the apple sauce was a bit runny. This might have been fair comment except that it was actually vinegrette for Alissar’s side-salad. Gordon Ramsay obviously has nothing to worry about!
Welcome to 2011!

31 December

We managed to get a dive away on New Year’s Eve – the last of 2010. Bearing in mind the party later, we decided it would be prudent to do nothing too strenuous so we did a single tank dive on Karen’s dhow. The viz wasn’t wonderful but it was still much better than two weeks ago and although the dhow isn’t large it has lots of fish. The baby barracuda seem to have left home but the big ones are still much in evidence. There was also the usual abundance of fusiliers and jacks and also a couple of electric rays, one of which only had one eye (sounds like part of a playground joke!)
In some ways the most amazing thing was the surface visibility. From 25km out from Sharjah we could see Palm Jumeirah, the Atlantis and Burj Al Arab. The Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman skylines were very clear and Hamriyah and the RAK mountains could be just about seen to the north. I can’t remember seeing all this from that distance before.
Nor can I remember very much of New Year’s Day but that’s another story.