UAE East Coast Temperatures

[Searcaigh]

Spent the weekend in Fujairah with six dives planned, however, only managed five.

First two dives were solo on Inchcape 2, a plethora of Hypselodoris dollfusi on this wreck, I stopped counting at 20 on the first dive.



Conditions were really weird. It was relatively flat on the surface and at 6m no water movement at all, however, on the bottom 22m it was really surgy and this was the same on all the dive sites close to shore that I did (The Blocks and Inchcape 10).

I'm not sure of the reason, but perhaps something to do with the incoming tide on a new moon phase??

I was also using my snoot, which worked well on this scorpionfish



It was really challenging on the Blocks though with about 1m visibility and the surge, this was the best I could manage of a Flabellina rubrolineata



Water temperatures on Saturday were 26C on Inchcape 2, and 27C on the Blocks.

On Sunday it was 25C on Deep Reef and 29C on Inchcape 10

My best shot was the Thecacera pacifica (aka the Pikachu) laying eggs.



This was in a really awkward position plus with the surge I was having major issues trying to get a good angle in order to get a decent shot. It was totally impossible from the front. I did take a couple of snoot shots from the other side but the egg belt is not so obvious.

I pointed it out to another photographer and ten minutes later when I came back to see if it had moved round in the egg laying process (I had seen it was moving counter clockwise), it was gone !!

Someone had moved it!

 

[Searcaigh]

Up at 05:30 this morning.

The forecast for the weekend has not looked promising all week, however, the dive centre messaged me at 06:00 to inform me that the CG were okay with boats going out.

I passed this message on to the others in the group and we all met at Fujairah Marina after driving through some rain showers in the Hijar mountains that we have to cross.

The wind picked up and we all decided to bail and return to Dubai. It really chucked it down on the way back, but cleared up to nice and sunny on the Sharjah side of the Hijar range.

Back to the Bridge tomorrow and tentatively booked for some dives next Thursday.

 

[Searcaigh]

Haven't posted for a while mainly because I haven't been going over to the east coast much.

I did mid-week dive a few weeks ago and spent this weekend diving a few sites off Fujairah and Khorfakkan.

Complete nudi fest, totally awesome. Water temps 26C off Fujairah and 27C off Khorfakkan.

Found this Goniobranchus tinctorius at The Blocks on Friday.



Loads of Hypselodoris dolfusis on Inchcape 10



On Saturday I dived with two other photographers on Inchcape 2

Found the largest Thecacera pacifica I've ever seen, 5cm



The BIG surprise though was a 2m Guitar Shark sitting on the sand just off the wreck, and all three of us set up for macro

Just for the record

 

[Searcaigh]

Haven't posted for a while, as I wasn't diving much over on the east coast until recently due to some work that came my way and a personal decision to make the most of east cost diving and also not getting up at the crack of dawn to go diving.

Not one to rush in the morning as I usually take around an hour to get ready before I leave taking into account of having something to eat and drink as well as taking care of other biological functions.

Another issue is that the traffic situation where I live is getting from bad to worse due to road modifications and poor planning of road infrastructure. I want to move but Mrs Sear doesn't.

That said, I have to be leaving the house by 6:30 for what generally is a 90 ish minute drive to Fujairah city, but frequently involves picking up a buddy, which can add between 10-20 minutes onto that journey. Gone are the days when my buddy lived around the corner

Driving back post-dive and dropping people off also takes its toll and then by the time I wash all my gear etc., I'm pretty knackered to be honest and just want to do nothing, even downloading photos my have to wait until the next day.

My planned routine now for weekend diving is now doing two afternoon dives, which means not getting up at stupid o'clock, and possibly a night dive, then staying in Fujairah overnight and doing two morning dives, giving me a five dive weekend.

However |I still get talked into doing single day trips due to buddy availability although I frequently do solo dives.

Was that a 10 minute moan

Yesterday, was a one day trip with a friend of Mrs Sear, who is a diver but hadn't dived since June or July this year. She usually travels to warm water destinations to dive and doesn't do much in the UAE. She also asks me for advice and although we've been on the same boat together a few times, she's never buddied with me.

She drove to my place yesterday morning, which was helpful as this meant a direct drive to Fujairah. Then after loading her gear in the car and setting off, she informed me that her new ID card had not been issued yet. This resulted in a diversion to her place to collect her passport, which is required for coastguard purposes, adding 30 minutes to the overall journey.

Fortunately the traffic was light as it was a public holiday (UAE National Day) and I was listening to my relaxing music in the car, and we did have some interesting conversations about living in the Middle East and diving in Saudi Arabia.

We arrived with sufficient time to make sure I bagged my spot on the boat and set up my gear by the time one of my usual buddies arrived with one of her friends.

There were four other divers on the boat doing some part of their technical course (twinsets) so it was all pretty chilled, I know the instructor and one of the students (also a photographer).

The past two trips to Inchcape 2 have been in amazing visibility and two weeks ago I did a dive with one of my buddies who was just getting back into diving after her thyroidectomy and wanted to take an easy dive on Martini Rock. The amount of soft corals on that site now blew my mind and I was determined to photograph it this time.

Unfortunately due to windy weather over the weekend the vis was rubbish near the surface, about 3-4m, but close to 10m at 13-14m depth??

This is probably the best shot I took on that first dive.



Water temps have now dropped to 26C

 

[Searcaigh]

Making up for lost time on this post

Over the past month Inchcape 2 has been a major nudi fest, although the Janolus sp have disappeared.

Hypselodoris nigrostriata have taken over, I guess their main food supply is there and once that's gone then they will disappear too.



A Phyllodesmium sp is also rather prevalent



Usual suspects like Hypselodoris carnae,



Hypselodoris dolfusi



and Calorie militaris always found on this wreck



A nice surprise yesterday to come across this Cadlinella ornatissima

 

[Searcaigh]

Another fabulous couple of dives off Fujairah yesterday (Deep Reef and Inchcape 10).

The first dive was to locate and photograph the Harlequin Shrimp, Hymenocera picta, that was first spotted a few months ago, with several sightings in this area. Although I had dived Deep Reef a few times and I never managed to find it, one of the dive operator staff mentioned that some photographers had disturbed the area where they were located probably enough to make them move on.

We only found one, and from my experience of spotting them in SE Asia, I presume it's a female as it was fairly large around 6-7cm




Inchcape 10 had a plethora of nudis, mainly Goniobranchus annulatus



But I also came across this tiny 4mm Diaphorodoris sp.



Water temp was 26C, I was in my 5mm, with additional vest, but hood was not required.