UAE East Coast Temperatures

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Back to BDC this weekend and without my usual buddy as she's back home in Germany for her Mum's birthday.

Had the pleasure of @hedonist222 and Jonny for dives on Paradise Reef and the Blocks.

Visibility was an incredible 20m minimum on Paradise Reef with temp of 25C. Glad I decided to use my 5mm. Second dive on the blocks it was a degree warmer and vis down to 10m, which for the Blocks is brilliant

Pregnant seahorse on Paradise Reef

A couple of nudis on Paradise Reef too

Descending down to The Blocks (22m) the vis was incredible until 20m when the vis deteriorated. Hedonist222 spotted a snake eel in a hold but by the time I positioned myself to photograph it a sandstorm came in. Not really sure who caused it but there was one guy wearing free diving fins that I suspect

There were some usual nudis around but it wasn't until I investigated another group of blocks that I found a lone Hypselodoris pulchella, normally they are in pairs in trailing mode.

Hopefully I can get back to the Blocks again next week.

 

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Well something neither my buddy nor myself was prepared for today ..... a WHALESHARK

We were dropping down on Ruby Reef un a crazy current. When I was at 5m I saw this weird fish and couldn't figure out where the head was or the tail then realised it was a mouth!

I still hadn't turned my camera on never mind the strobes and it passed me very quickly and swam under the boat. My buddy managed to get one shot as it disappeared into the gloom.

Mega currents and we surfaced briefly to be towed back to the shotline.

The rest of the dive was uneventful

On the second dive at The Blocks, there were dozens of H. dolfusi it was ridiculous, but then at the end (of course) I came across a Gymnodoris impudica about to have lunch.





Bottom temp on Ruby Reef was 24C and on The Blocks 25C

Soon be time to get the drysuit out

 

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Back to Ruby Reef again this morning and still a little bit of current today but not as bad as last week.

We had a turtle and squid as well as two seahorses and two electric rays.

The gem though was this tiny juvenile triangular cow fish spotted by @hedonist222

Inchape 10 had a lot of nudis, mainly Hypselodoris infucata, but it was interesting to see several Goniodoridella savigny.

Bottom temp on ruby Reef was 26C and on Inch 10 27C.

A really good day's diving.

 

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Dived "Paradise Sands" this morning, the person driving the boat gave incorrect instructions for dropping the shot line

After 20 minutes trying to locate the reef at 29m we gave up. Another group found the reef after 15 mins.

The second dive was on Inchcape 10 which is currently a nudi paradise, and the good news is that the Phidiana militaris are back

Dozens of Hypselodoris infucata too

26C on Paradise Sands, and 27C on Inchcape 10.

 

[hedonist222]

Did some tec training with @RainPilot today at snoopy rock.
Was fun.

Then a dive at snoopy deep.
There was a school of Bat Fish. No less than twenty at the shot line.
Among the school were four large Canthidermis sufflamen (Ocean Triggerfish).
The only other time I saw this species was once a few months ago at night. A solitary one snuggled up and asleep.

 

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The past few weekends have had some dreadful vis on Inchcape 10, so bad that some divers couldn't find the mooring line and did a free ascent with smb. However last Friday was a bit better and good to see some Phidiana / Caloria species returning

Had a decent first dive on Ruby Reef both last Friday and the week before too.

Water temps are still around 26C which is very comfortable.

Oman Hawkfish



Banded Sea Krait



Seahorse (Hippocampus sp)



Hopefully the water remains at this temperature for a few more months as I'm very comfortable in my Waterproof W7 5mm suit, and interested to see how warm it will be as the temperatures decrease before I have to start using my drysuit again.

 

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Dived the Blocks and Car Cemetery 2 on both Tuesday and Thursday this week.

Vis was awful at 2m on both days but CC2 has a lot of nudis right now, mainly Goniobranchus annulata.

Here is one admiring its ring of eggs



My favourite from today though is this Hypselodoris nigrostrata



We also came across the cannibal nudi, Gymnodoris impudica



Water temps were an amazing 27-29C, very comfortable

 

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Well it's getting cooler now and after two night dives on Thursday and the two morning dives on Friday I was happy to be in my 5mm Waterproof W7 suit as my buddy was shivering on the boat on the way back to the marina and saying "I'm wearing my drysuit next week"

Nothing special on any of the four dives at the weekend except I got really close to the pipefish that lives around the stern of Inchcape 10 on the second night dive using the red light function on my Sola focus light.



The anemone near the rear penetration area was also looking very different from daytime and I have to admit I didn't notice the small fish there until I was processing the image on the computer.



Water temps on the bottom are now dropping to 25C. I'm just hoping that my Waterproof W7 5mm wetsuit is good for another couple of months before I succumb to the drysuit.

 

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Had a break from diving the east coast last weekend due to a change in dive plans that would have resulted me driving back to Dubai at night, which I am no longer comfortable with.

That said, yesterday I was almost wiped out twice when vehicles cut me off driving in front of me to exit the highway from an outer lane, one in the morning and another on my return journey.

My old buddy Dimitris has returned to the UAE after five years back in the UK, and we dived together on Friday.

I had already booked for Saturday with some other friends and ended up driving over to Fujairah on both days, something I would have preferred to avoid.

Anyway both days diving were done at the same sites, Angels Reef and Inchcape 10. My usual buddy Kerstin did not join us as she has a cold.

Angels Reef was really nice with around 8-10m vis on both days with 26/27C water temps. Surface temps are now dropping to around 30C.



Main activity on Angels Reef on Friday were the sea snakes, I spotted five in total, but didn't manage any decent images as they were pretty quick at arriving and swimming around.



Inchcape 10 on the other hand was good for nudis on both days, various large species (Hypselodoris, Goniobranchus and Caloria). I'm sure Kerstin would have found more of the less than 10mm ones.

Goniobranchus annulata



Hypselodoris dolfusi





Caloria indica



Water temps on Inch 10 were 27/28C very pleasant and I'm wondering how for how long it will be before I change to the drysuit as the air temperature is dropping, Today Fujairah max air temp with be 29C.

 

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Full moon last Friday with predicted currents at time of diving due to tidal movement and we were not disappointed

Dive sites were Inchcape 10 and Car Cemetery 2, with some great vis on Inch 10 at just over 5m .... woo hoo.

Water temps on both dives was 25/26C and my main buddy Kerstin did her first dive since many months in her drysuit, which needs a new wrist seal as it ripped when she took it off after the second dive.

Loads of nudis on both sites but half way through the second dive the vis in the bottom two meters turned to almost zero ruining some photo opportunities

I found this little triplefin while searching for Caloria sp. in the hydroids on the bow railings.



Also plenty of small scorpionfish around too, this one was around 30 mm



Usual nudi species, nothing special.