UAE East Coast Temperatures

[Searcaigh]

Can't believe this thread is still active I haven't been on SB for a couple of years, but straight away it feels like coming home - I miss you guys <3

Of Course it's still active Karen

I hope both you and Paul are doing well and also Axel

Getting cool here, drysuit is dusted off and is ready for action, 24C off Fujairah this morning, and 11C air temp when I was driving over around 07:00

 

[Searcaigh]

Today's dives were with Barracuda out of Fujairah Marina.

Flat calm conditions and first dive was to 33m on what was supposed to be New Deep Reef, but for me due to equalising issues I drifted too far off the shotline and found myself at 33m in 2m vis on the sand

Ah well

Second dive on Car Cemetery 2 was not as productive as last Friday but it was still good.

Water temp 24C, plus it rained this evening so the drysuit is definitely on the cards for next weekend.

Usual suspects

Crocodile Fish

Oman Hawkfish

Caloria indica

 

[Searcaigh]

Temperatures are dropping, and the vis is ........ nasty, 23C and diving dry now until temps get back up to 26 :

Couple of dives yesterday with RainPilot and PunkabillyTurk at Dibba Rock courtesy of Freestyle.

As mentioned it was cold, and poor vis, lost both my buddies half way through the first dive however we did manage to stay together on the second dive and both buddies helped locate some nudies.

Three pairs of Risbecia pulchella spotted

Lots of other interesting stuff around too, if you look carefully

Nice and warm in my drysuit, unlike others who were visibly shivering when we were back on the boat.

Good day out and nice to catch up with another couple of SBers

 

[Searcaigh]

An early rise this morning to arrive at Extreme Dive op by 07:30 ... I think, it was a long time ago now. Fortunately no fog like Tuesday, but given this is the furthest away dive op on he east coast from Dubai, two hour drive is minimum from where I live.

First dive was Extreme Reef near Snoopy Rock which once again proved to be uneventful then back to Car Cemetery 1.

Water temps were 23C on dive 1 and 24C on dive 2.

Couple of pics

Small cleaner shrimp

Moses Sole

 

[Searcaigh]

Woo hoo first dives of 2018 logged

Two dives from a friend's boat today (most cost effective diving - piece of cake .... literally)

Nice and relaxed dive with Kerstin on Deep Reef, although water temps from surface to bottom (28m) was 23C.

Great way to start the New Year

Some usual suspects

Sea Snakes

Sea Horses

plus other stuff, although I was shooting Wide Angle on the first dive when we found a nudibranch

Soon be Friday

 

[Searcaigh]

On Friday we dived with Barracuda from their dhow, which although can be fun when conditions are good, wasn't really a good day out.

Conditions were okay initially but the shot line was not in the right place and visibility was rubbish to say the least resulting in 25 min dive on sand after losing my buddies and on the second dive my focus light died so no pics to speak of.

Waste of a day and gas to be honest. What we should have done is gone out with the chase boat to drop the shot ourselves and made sure it was on Deep Reef.

The second dive on Inchcape 10 required a 30m swim against the current to reach the marker buoy, and visibility even at 24m was around 2m. Without a light it was really pointless!

Aboard the dhow before we departed.

 

[Searcaigh]

A nice 23C in water yesterday throughout the whole water column from the surface to 72m, although I didn't really notice so much while wearing my drysuit and didn't pull my hood on until I was about to go under the wreck of the Ines. My two buddies on rebreathers, one diving a semi-dry and one wet, were already hooded up on entry.

Although dark at the bottom, the vis was really good.

The key objective for today's dive was to take this photo

Then we moved along the wreck to a point where it's possible to pass underneath from one side to the other at 72m

No notable large animal life on the wreck though.

On our 9m deco stop, we had fun with a crab living on one of the floats holding the chain in place, and somehow it managed to move from the chain float to me and disappeared into my gear according to my buddy Ernie.

Total run time was 92 mins with a bottom time of 25 mins.

Some pics of my buddies during the dive and on deco

 

[BoltSnap]

@Searcaigh were you on oc or cc in this dive?

 

[RainPilot]

Searcaigh only dives OC. I froze today in a 5mm at Dibba rock, 21 C on the bottom. I am getting soft in my old age. Ordered a Seaskin DS on Searcaigh's recommendation, cannot wait.

 

[JohnnyC]

Start renting one already!!! You're gonna be frozen by the time it arrives!