UAE East Coast Temperatures

[Searcaigh]

Yesterday the water temp was 25C at 40m, I was trying out my new drysuit, could have done it in a 5mm ha ha.

Who was to know, but I really wanted to test it, and I was warm and cosy as well as DRY, what a difference. In fact five of us were in drysuits and two in wetsuits, and this is the Middle East habibi.

We went out with Darryl from Freestyle, the ride to the site was very short, but we also had a fast surface current and had to use the anchor line to descend.



Visibility was dreadful, 2m max, I did see a Murex shell though and we did find Cauliflower Gardens, plus I spotted a seasnake below us during deco (first one north of Fujairah)



Last dive of the year, totalling 108 dives, 69 of which were here in UAE

Wishing everyone great dives for 2017.

 

[MasterChief D]

Typical! If you had taken the wetsuit it'd have been 19 C - still, you managed to try the new drysuit...

Happy New Year with lots of safe diving!

 

[BoltSnap]

What drysuit did you get??

Happy New year to ALL!!

 

[Searcaigh]

What drysuit did you get??

Hi Burhan,

I hope all is well with you

The suit I purchased is a ROFOS the 350 model.

Main reason for purchasing this model is local support (Freestyle Divers run by Darryl and Marine Owen). I would probably have ordered a Fourth Element one through ProDive but give all the hassle I had ordering a wetsuit from them, I wasn't prepared to wait 9 months again!

Anyway the ROFOS has all the bells and a few whistles, very nice suit, and it's so nice to be dry for a change, my old DUI leaked from day 1.

 

[Skulmoski]

Main reason for purchasing this model is local support (Freestyle Divers run by Darryl and Marine Owen).

I too have had wonderful customer service from Marine. Luckily I live in Abu Dhabi, otherwise, I am sure she would be seeing much more of my hard earned dirhams!

Thanks for the photos last year; really enjoyed your posts.

GJS

 

[Searcaigh]

Glad you enjoy the posts.

We should meet up at some point Skulmoski, perhaps at the new Freestyle place in Dibba when they organise it.

Looking forward to two days of diving this weekend

 

[Searcaigh]

So first dives of 2017, not everything went to plan though, I only managed 4 our to the planned 5 dives due to my ears locking up on the fifth dive and I just couldn't equalise on the last dive, even when I surfaced during the attempt I couldn't even equalise, and ended up swimming back to the boat and packing my gear for the day.

Anyway apart from that last abandoned dive the preceding 4 gave me some challenges mainly due to the LP inflator on my "newish" DiveRite single tank wing, and I had to dive with the inflator hose disconnected.

My daughter had the same problem with my DiveRite Travelpac, and the LP inflator has already been replaced on that wing last year.

Fortunately my first dive on Saturday morning was on doubles and the LP inflators on that wing work perfectly

My daughter was teaching a couple of students AOW, so I mainly dived solo on Friday, and on Saturday I had my usual buddy Kerstin.

Friday's dive sites were Inchcape 10 and The Blocks during the day then back to Inchcape 10 for a night dive. Water temps were 24C. Vis on Inch 10 was poor so I was not expecting much on the The Blocks but was pleasantly surprised to see that it was >5m, I was astonished to say the least.

Usual Risbecia pulchella at the Blocks



At the safety stop level 5-6m there are lots of jellyfish around, it's that time of year and I expect this to last for a month or two.



On Saturday we dived Deep Reef with great vis (about 10m) on that dive, water temp was 24C, air temp was 23C.

Some shots from Deep Reef





There is also a plethora of crocodile fish (or maybe they are just flatheads), and I found a juvenile one around 3cm in size, most are 30-50 cm



One of the larger ones



All in all a good weekend's diving with friends despite an abandoned last dive

 

[RainPilot]

So 22C at Inchcape 2 yesterday, I was the only idiot in a wetsuit. 3mm long at that. 2 1/2 hours dive and I was ever so slightly blue....

Really must get a DS

 

[Searcaigh]

Been dry for the past two weekends, moving house, which has been one of the most stressful times of my life. No internet either until tonight for over a week too

 

[snorkymn]

Hi everyone, What's the expected temps in that area in March? Warmer? Some plans just changed and I may end up visiting for some diving.. real recommendations on where to stay and dive for about a week would be helpful.