Hi All
Firstly congratulations to Martin on passing his PADI instructor course and Ruth for finally getting her DL sign-off.
Well this week we managed to get both boats out but I have only received one report, thanks Liz
Meeting at 08:00 at FIMC Burn was loaded and ready to go for 8:45. On checking out, the coastguard asked to see a local marine driving license – DXB license was accepted without any problems. (we had been pre-warned that the techies had been turned back previously for lack of docs so it looks like FIMC is heading the way of Dubai re: licensing.)
First stop was Deep coral, the viz was good though there was a slight current running which resulted in a slight drift dive on Anemone Gardens. Plenty of whip coral, Nudies and a couple of albino moray eels sharing a home greeted both pairs. Dave recovered an abandoned mask with a broken strap with Liz bringing up the accompanying snorkel and what was left of the strap.
We then motored on to Car Cemetery though with the numbers putting us in an unfamiliar location. Using a couple of sightings to guestimate the position Dave and Kerstin rolled in to a vast expanse of sand, searching towards the shore they surfaced 10min later without seeing so much as a hub cap. The decision was made to fall back to Inch 2 for a final dive, though en-route it looked like a couple of the commercials were also heading that way so we stopped short at Coral Corral. Rolling in at 15m there were large schools of Indian mackerel, red tooth trigger fish and a turtle came to say hi. Moving round the wall a rock favoured by the local conch stood out with 9 conch shells being counted on the one boulder. Onwards to the shallows where the large table coral are still in great condition with all the supported life you’d expect sheltering in and around the branches.
After speedy transit back to FIMC and a first attempt landing on the trailer, an early departure was foiled by a sport fishing boat cleaning what felt like any rod, reel, and float they could get their hands on – all while sat on the wash down area next to the boat ramp. We managed to tow out, circle the boat park looking (unsuccessfully) for alternative wash out points, un hitch, un load, re hitch and tow back to the ramp well before they had finished. Eventually our turn came and we could wash Burn down and flush the engines before parking up for another week.
This weeks social is at Dubai Polo & Equestrian Club
That's it for this week.
Danny.
Firstly congratulations to Martin on passing his PADI instructor course and Ruth for finally getting her DL sign-off.
Well this week we managed to get both boats out but I have only received one report, thanks Liz
Meeting at 08:00 at FIMC Burn was loaded and ready to go for 8:45. On checking out, the coastguard asked to see a local marine driving license – DXB license was accepted without any problems. (we had been pre-warned that the techies had been turned back previously for lack of docs so it looks like FIMC is heading the way of Dubai re: licensing.)
First stop was Deep coral, the viz was good though there was a slight current running which resulted in a slight drift dive on Anemone Gardens. Plenty of whip coral, Nudies and a couple of albino moray eels sharing a home greeted both pairs. Dave recovered an abandoned mask with a broken strap with Liz bringing up the accompanying snorkel and what was left of the strap.
We then motored on to Car Cemetery though with the numbers putting us in an unfamiliar location. Using a couple of sightings to guestimate the position Dave and Kerstin rolled in to a vast expanse of sand, searching towards the shore they surfaced 10min later without seeing so much as a hub cap. The decision was made to fall back to Inch 2 for a final dive, though en-route it looked like a couple of the commercials were also heading that way so we stopped short at Coral Corral. Rolling in at 15m there were large schools of Indian mackerel, red tooth trigger fish and a turtle came to say hi. Moving round the wall a rock favoured by the local conch stood out with 9 conch shells being counted on the one boulder. Onwards to the shallows where the large table coral are still in great condition with all the supported life you’d expect sheltering in and around the branches.
After speedy transit back to FIMC and a first attempt landing on the trailer, an early departure was foiled by a sport fishing boat cleaning what felt like any rod, reel, and float they could get their hands on – all while sat on the wash down area next to the boat ramp. We managed to tow out, circle the boat park looking (unsuccessfully) for alternative wash out points, un hitch, un load, re hitch and tow back to the ramp well before they had finished. Eventually our turn came and we could wash Burn down and flush the engines before parking up for another week.
This weeks social is at Dubai Polo & Equestrian Club
That's it for this week.
Danny.