UAE East Coast Temperatures

[hedonist222]

I did a night dive on Friday.
It was supposed to be a group of four. They cancelled.
So it was that Jay and I.
We were greeted by a full moon. It was just over the horizon. A dark amber.
Dive was great. A lot of nudibranch.

 

[Searcaigh]

Getting to that time of the year where the water temperature is higher than the air temperature.

Last Friday the water was 25/26C and the air 24C. Still in my Waterproof W7 5mm wetsuit, but felt a bit chilly when the boat was moving to the second site. The drysuit will be coming out soon.

Vis was 15-20m on the first dive at Paradise Reef, but declined a bit at Ruby Reef.

Lots of pipefish around



but no seahorses on Paradise Reef, however we did find one on Ruby Reef

 

[Searcaigh]

First dive of the year yesterday after an SI of 28 days due to the chaos of moving house and having Salmonella typhus!

Dive sites were just off Fujairah on Inchcape 10 and Car Cemetery 2.

We had booked for the dhow for a lazy day and it really worked well for us as the majority of the people who were supposed to be on the dhow had cancelled due to Covid, leaving five of us with massive space and lots of social spacing

Water temps are back to 23C surface to bottom and I was back in my drysuit since last April.

Unfortunately the repairs to my drysuit do not appear to have worked and I was rather damp

Anyway that aside the first dive on Inch 10 was amazing and I had the best encounter with a sea snake to date.





Oh there were nudis too





Second dive on CC2 was terrible and as vis had dropped to around 1m, nonetheless I persevered for 50 mins.

 

[Searcaigh]

Two dives on Inchcape 10 yesterday, my choice as I was the only person on the boat

BDC did provide me with a buddy though, Jay their resident DM.

The new weekend here (Sat / Sun) is still settling in, and some companies are still using the old weekend (Fri/Sat). This creates a challenge for some dive ops, who have to now cover possible divers from Friday to Sunday and BDC are running dive schedules accordingly.

Anyhoo, as they say in Canada, I booked for Friday as I have other stuff to deal with on Sat / Sun plus everyday is the weekend since I retired last October

As a result of the above I had a whole boat to myself

I was back in my Waterproof W7 5mm semidry as my drysuit leaked last weekend and I didn't have the time to sort that out.

The first dive on Inch 10 was awesome, loads of nudis and we barely covered the stern area, so the second dive option was a no brainer.

Water temps were 23/24C, would have preferred to dive dry but hey, it wasn't too bad as there was so much to see and cold didn't really register as I was so busy taking photos.

This >10cm Gymnodoris impudica was crawling along the sand just off the starboard stern, spotted immediately.



It reminded me of a boat and I call it "Sluggy McSlugface"

Several feather stars had squat lobsters in them.



Whilst trying to photograph a H. dolfusi in an awkward position (me not the nudi) I noticed a whitish dot moving just above me.

Nomea sp less than 10mm



Two great dives and both finished by 11:30 as we left more or less once all my kit was on the boat.

Great day's diving.

 

[Searcaigh]

Been a rough weekend weather wise and all diving was cancelled on Friday. On Saturday the CG still had a full warning at 05:30 so I went back to bed, but it was lifted at 08:00. One of my buddies was with Divers Down but they only managed one dive due to the sea conditions.

Today I went out with BDC, only six of us on the boat for Angel's Reef and Inchcape 10.

Apart from a seasnake, nothing exciting on the deeper dive.

Inch 10 had lots of nudis again but I was taken by the coral gobies on the purple coral today.



There was a lone Hypselodoris pulchella near the stern of the wreck as well as jet ski that has come loose from another site (Barracuda Park)!



Water temps 23C, I was cozy enough in my old 7mm semidry, but a wicked current on the second dive had me sheltering in the lee of the wreck for the total dive.

 

[Searcaigh]

Spent the whole weekend diving with Barracuda. It was their 12th Anniversary and they are probably one of the few successful dive ops here in the UAE.

Dive sites covered were Inchcape 2 and Anemone Gardens on Saturday then Ruby Reef and Inchcape 10 on Sunday.

Vis today was better than yesterday at around 10m, water temps 23C throughout the whole water column.

Both wrecks and Anemone Gardens were a nudi fest, with around 11 different species spotted.

Some of the highlights:

Hypselodoris nigrostrata



Hypselodoris kanga



Phyllodesmium sp. laying eggs



Great weekend and the next one can't come soon enough

 

[hedonist222]

Apparently a mola mola a sighted?

 

[Searcaigh]

Apparently a mola mola a sighted?

Indeed, Leah has video. It was a small one less than one meter.

It was all happening about 15m above me while I was nudi hunting.

 

[Searcaigh]

Only three of us on BDC1 today, loads of space. Dived Inchcape 2 and Anemone Gardens again same as last Saturday but not as productive in the nudi count so I had to photograph some fish as well

That said we did find a rather large (10mm) Eubranchus sp.



Several small yellow (female) boxfish around.



On the second dive, my buddy K found a buried almost invisible halibut.



Water temps 23C, and probably will stay that way for the next few months.

 

[Searcaigh]

Recorded 22C off Fujairah last Thursday and the nudis appear to have got into hiding

Nonetheless, I had two relaxing dives in somewhat murky waters on The Blocks and Inchcape 10, and today I dived Inchcape 2 and Martini Rock.

I managed to have an agreeable cuttlefish for a good portion of the dive on Martini, and it's alway a joy to watch the colour changes on these creatures (I must do video sometime), even moreso given that this creature is colour blind!

Original pose when I found it on the sand:



Then:



and:



Took around 30 shots (not all of them great, but certainly got 10+ keepers.

Few shrimps around too