Saturday, October 18, 2008

Scuba Diving - UAE East Coast

Went for a dive yesterday with Heisham to the east coast. While Heisham carried out his training dives for his Advanced Diver certification, I went for a leisure dive. I was grateful to have been able to hitch a ride with Heisham in his car, otherwise I would have had to settle for the dive centre's mini bus.

Hawkfish on the Inchcape 1 wreck

The first dive was done on the Inchcape 1 wreck. This small crew boat was sunk on 12th December 2001 to form an artificial offshore reef. At 32m, it restricted our bottom time to 18 minutes and along with strong surface currents, poor visibility, a huge cluster f@#k of divers all exploring the small wreck and wanting to do a safety stop at 5m on the ascend line all made it a very undesirable dive experience.


Thankfully, the second dive on the Inchcape 2 wreck was much better. The Inchcape 2 is a another crew boat that was sunk on 24th April 2002 based on the success of the sinking of the Inchcape 1 and the marine life it attracted.

Lionfish on the Inchcape 2 wreck.

The wreck lay at 20-22m and visibility was good, current non existent and marine life prolific. The icing on the cake for me was finding two nudibranches that I had not photographed before.


Hypselodoris Kanga nudibranch on the Inchcape 2 wreck.

The schools of snapper that surrounded the Inchcape 2 were really something as well. I hope they will still be around when I can finally shoot wide angle using my D80 in a Nexus housing and a 10.5mm lens.
I am glad that after this weekend, Heisham would have his Advanced Diver certification and I can have a regular dive buddy that lives a scant 300m down the road from me. 

Then on the way back to Dubai we stopped over at the Friday Market where I bought two silk carpets, one for my study and the other for my hall. We also met up with Beaver and wifey in Deira to eat mandy with grill fish. Now my mandy experience is complete.  

2 comments:

seb said...

Dear
i am sebastien from khasab diver in Oman
While i was surfing on the net and i got astonishingly attrated and fascinated by number of the wonderful pictures you had taken in different places and the way you took them . i can say a big Wow;;;

I would like to invite you to come over here to Khasab and meet us . I will be very pleased if you accept my invitation for a small but amazing visit .

My agency is a diving and dhow cruise organizer which you can enjoy a number of activities and fun . we do organize diving,snorkeling,fishing,kayak,mountain trips,camping and beach party

Awaiting your acceptance revert back.

regard
seb
khasab.diver@gmail.com

jony said...

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