UAE East Coast Temperatures

[Searcaigh]

A lot of variation in temperature over the past few days from as low as 22C to 26C.

Had 5 dives with Coastal Technical Divers at Fujairah and completed my practical part of Advanced Recreational Trimix course with my buddy Dimitris, temperature at Inch 1 was 22C as was a deep blue dive to 48M but wearing semi-drys makes a difference.

Today I just used a 5mm with hooded vest and was cold at 23C at Dibba Rock, oh well next weekend it will be back to a semi dry.

Lot of cuttlefish all semi-buried around the area

 

[Searcaigh]

Still bloody cold, 23C today off Sharm Rocks and 24 off Dibba Rock.

Couple of muppets on the first dive that decided to break some rules of physics and go up and down from 10m to near surface several times during the dive at Dibba Rock.

At the end of their dive they disappeared when I surfaced with the DM, and we eventually found them, one with an empty tank and the other with only 30 bar …. after I made it known to them that they were dickheads and would die soon if they continued to dive like that they cancelled their second dive, which turned out good for me as I and two dives with a couple of marine biologists from Abu Dhabi University …. well they ended up as solo dives for me …. nice and relaxed.

Wee turtle at Sharm Rocks

 

[Searcaigh]

The best made plans ……. well sh!t happens … and in many ways.

Plan was to dive Inchcape 10, but somebody has stolen the mooring so we lost a lot of time trying to snag the wreck with the anchor and Glenn, owner of CTD did two dives trying to find it to no avail.

Plan B - Inchcape 2.

Mark's drysuit zipper broke :cross: and he ended up diving in a shorty (24C and lots of stingers at the safety stop)

Lots of nudis … Hypselodoris carnae and dolfuzi as well as Chromodoris annulata, all over the place, but did not spot any other species although I am sure they were there, I was getting concerned that there was some moisture inside my housing, which I figured may be condensation, but never had that experience before.

Plenty of small crocodile fish too, all around 30cm, nothing like the bigs ones I have seen in the Red Sea or SE Asia



As we were heading to the line the strobes fired without me pulling the trigger and I suspected the worst.

Back on the boat all looked well apart from a few drops of water inside, nothing serious and I even took a photo of Samir as we passed by a tanker named after the company he works for.



Several crew members who were on deck may have thought we were a bunch of pirates … just as well it was not a US vessel otherwise I might not be writing this

 

[steffi]

Hi all!

A group of 8 of us from Kuwait are going to dive with Freestyle in 2 weeks (May 29). We will only be diving 1 day off the East Coast. Which TWO dive sites do you MOST recommend? Can't dive Inchcape 1, as some of the divers in the group aren't certified to go that deep.

Thanks!
Steffi

 

[Searcaigh]

Hi Steffi,

Inchcape 2 (20/22M square profile) and Martini Rock (multilevel dive deepest 19M)

Both sites are close to each other and about 30 min boat ride from Freestyle

 

[MasterChief D]

Hole-in-the-Wall (very close to both sites already suggested by Searcaigh) with a max depth of 15m, plenty of small canyons, a nice swim-through and great table coral garden on the west side, might be another alternative for your 2nd (or 3rd) dive.

 

[Simon-]

Just watch out for the urchins on both side of hole in the wall

 

[Searcaigh]

Frogfish at last

First dive on Inch 1, thanks to Spenser for pointing out the two frogfish, I was looking in the wrong tyres

Some of the Dendronepthia coral from the bow of Inch 1 appears missing, I wonder if some @ssholes have removed it trying to locate the frog fish?

One of them was in an impossible place the photograph, deeply out of the way of my prying lens, but in another tyre I managed a few shots of a second one.



I just love the false eye on the tail end, never noticed that on a frogfish before



---------- Post added May 17th, 2014 at 07:21 PM ----------

Just watch out for the urchins on both side of hole in the wall

A few pickpockets around too ……

 

[Searcaigh]

Wow 28C today at Dibba Rock and 20M visibility

Plenty of Risbecia Pulchella around and two of them were caught in a compromising position



At the end of the second dive my buddy Dimitris and I practiced some skills … S-drill, DSMB and ascending with no air in wing and using DSMB with dump valve.

After our dives I popped down to Divers Down to meet Wandersome, who is over from Pakistan for a long weekend and also met Abdullah who has been staying at the Miramar for the last week, both members of Scubaboard. Will be diving with Wandersome on Sunday, hopefully on Inchcape 1

 

[Abdullah]

The night dive on Inchcape 1 was pretty good. The three of us were on twins and stayed into deco because the conditions were so good. Temperature 24C, visibility about 20m, and me wishing I hadn't packed my camera already. Glass shrimp in a tire kept my attention for 5 minutes. Plus, a few large flatfish in the sand off the bow and a large grouper in the hull.

Yuri did valve drills next to the hatch while avoiding lion fish suspended a meter above the deck. He did a good job transferring his light as he cycled through the valves.