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Dive Logs for Vance Stevens PADI open water scuba instructor #64181 Dive 429-430 May 3, 2002 Abu Dhabi, UAE Sir Abu Nu'air

Diving with: Abu Dhabi Sub Aqua Club
Dive buddies: Dick Steer
Others in dive party: Antti and Ville, Wendy and Peter Hardy, an Indonesian couple, Brian King, Jenny, and Jessica was it, or Jennifer? (Wendy's younger daughter)
Conditions: pleasantly warm, hot on the boat in a wetsuit
Visibility: poor first dive, fairly good the second
Wetsuit combo: 5 mm farmer johns and Typhoon top
Weight:14 kg, possibly a little overweight
Diving from: Saphire

My 429th Logged Dive since 1991

Dive site: Middle west side of SAN
Training conducted: none, just having fun

Data from dive computer:

Interval on computer from previous dive: nil

Time down on dive computer: 11:19
Max depth: 21.7 meters
Time started up from chart: 36 min.
Dive time from computer: 43 min
Min Temp: 23° C
Nitrox 21% (normal air), no deco

PSI/Bar in: 200
PSI/Bar out: 50

Pressure group out, from tables or wheel: n/a

Description of dive:

We had come here to look for a wreck. Pete Hardy had popped its coordinates from the charts into his GPS and we threw a shot line down at the spot the GPS took us to. We then did circles in two boats to no avail. After half an hour we headed to the nearby island.

We had depths of 30 meters up to quite close to the western shore. We dropped in there at about 20 meters, hoping for a wall. We had instead a slope with nothing much. There were a few ridge lines, and we followed those. There were a lot of fish, but it was about like Delta Buoy. Connoisieurs of Abu Dhabi diving reveled in the variety of blennies. I noticed a lot of big groupers playing hide and seek with us. But it was nothing special.

Interestingly, Dick lost his fin on the way down. We had crawled down the anchor line in a stiff current, pausing often as Dick had warned me of an ear problem. At bottom I headed off east in search of the ridge at shallower depth. Dick caught my attention and pointed out his salient lack of fin. We returned to the anchor line. I had him stay there and hold my reel. I went under the line in search of his fin. I returned shortly with nothing to show for my efforts but loss of breath. I signalled up. He signalled oh sod off I can do this with one fin. I figured that was ballsy but ok, so we headed off in search of a ridge line. Making our way along the ridge we encountered Pete and Wendy finning in our direction against the current. Wendy had Dick's fin and returned it. Happy end to story. (Later we accused her of pinching it off him while he was sorting out his ears on the long way down).

Surface interval: 1 hr. 48 min.
Pressure group at start of repetitive dive: on computer, n/a

My 430th Logged Dive since 1991

Dive site: Southwest corner of SAN
Training conducted: none, fun dive

Data from dive computer:

Time down on dive computer: 13:55
Max depth: 15.1 meters
Time started up from chart: 40 min was when we signalled ascent
Dive time from computer: 41 min
Min Temp: 25° C
Nitrox 21% (normal air), no deco

PSI/Bar in: 220
PSI/Bar out: 110

Pressure group out, from tables or wheel: n/a

Description of dive:

A lovely dive this. Not expecting much after the first dive, we dropped to 15 meters into sand, me right on top of a cuttlefish. In fact, so on top of it that I didn't see it, but only became aware of it through Dick's gestures. I was so much on top of it that it didn't know which way to move. I moved my finger down on it, and it still didn't run. I touched it's top as I sometimes do at night when I've frozen them in my torch beam. From my touch, stirred to action, it turned irredescent and backed away posthaste.

I was disoriented at first. I had kept track on my gps on the jaunt over of our direction and I was sure that Abu Dhabi was southwest, yet it seemed intuitively that in that direction lay the island. I studied my compass and worked out that we wanted to head north and east. I signalled that way to Dick and he shrugged ok. Our first movements were over sand and more sand, but eventually we came into shallower depths and coral and fish. We had headed the right way.

We came upon a forest of staghorn coral. It was the most amazing thing. It was beautiful. Fish were everywhere here. Lots of colorful yellow grunts with black spots. Lots of angelfish. Unlike in most of Abu Dhabi where the snappers predominate, here I identified a few but noted they weren't so dominant. Big parrotfish cruised above the coral. There were lots of tiny wrasse in the coral, and fish hiding in the niches offered everywhere. Eventually we came upon a turtle. Startled into escape, it drew our gaze seaward where there at that moment appeared a huge tuna, the size of a shark.

Wow, really nice dive. Hated to leave it, but the divemaster had declared 40 minutes limit. I came up with 110 bar.

Interestingly, some other people on this dive had gone the wrong way on descent and stayed deep, seen nothing but sand, and were incredulous at our accounts of coral forests teeming with fishies.