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Dive Logs for Vance Stevens PADI open water scuba instructor #64181 Dives 455-458 October 3-4, 2002 Oman Damaniyites

Diving with: DiveEco, Dion in charge
Dive buddies: Dave Propst, Dusty and Bobbi, Lisa on day 2, and Dion flitting in and out
Others in dive party: Abdullah and Nicki day 2
Conditions: pleasant and calm
Visibility: 8-10 meters or so
Wetsuit: my ScubaPro .5 mil skin with a 5 mil Typhoon top
Weight:10 kg-ish
Diving from:DiveEco boat Sofia (avoid the other one, perennial engine problems)

Thursday, October 3, 2002

My 455th Logged Dive since 1991

Dive site: Northwest corner of Jun Island and heading east along the 'back side'
Training conducted: none

Data from dive computer:

no image available as dive computer stores only 3 graphics

Interval on computer from previous dive: nil, first dive of day

Time down on dive computer: 10:35
Max depth: 17 meters
Time started up from chart: 60 min showing on computer at time of ascent
Dive time from computer: 62 min
Min Temp: 26 degrees centigrade
Nitrox 21% (normal air), no deco

PSI/Bar in: 220
PSI/Bar out: 50 bar, ish

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

Description of dive:

There were turtles breaking the water next to the boat seeing what all the fuss was about as we prepared to drop in on them, and sure enough, we saw one underwater first thing. Dion had joined our group of Dusty, Dave, and Mom and I, and as the current was slightly against us, he signalled we should reverse directions. So instead of rounding the point and going along the wall and coming up on the sand beach side of the island, we ended up diving it's northern face. Vis deteriorated but Dusty saw a turtle that no one else did. Next thing of interest was a pair of nudibranchs latched end to end as had been seen in that area last time we had been to the Daminiyites. In a few crevices we saw crayfish, but not warding off schools of fish as we'd seen last time. I found the bat cave later on, a hole with some of the largest batfish I'd ever seen inside, almost a meter long. I was really surprised at their size and went to the trouble to go to the back of the hole where there was an entrance at the other end where we could see them closer up. Further down the reef I found a brown jellyfish motoring to free itself from porite coral to which it had become attached, so I jarred it loose with my bare hands (non-stinging), and watched it pulsate away. At the end of the dive we found a turtle resting in a patch of cabbage coral with half a dozen barnacles on its back. It swam off as Dave passed overhead (he said later he liked to see them swim). Just before we surfaced, exactly one hour into the dive, I found a large blue jellyfish lodged under a staghorn, flat on top with spongy pillars, size and shape of an inverted royal crown.

Surface interval: 1 hour 10 minutes

My 456th Logged Dive since 1991

Dive site: The 'Mousetrap' northeast corner of Jad, following the wall east toward Jun
Training conducted: none

PSI/Bar in: 210
PSI/Bar out: 50 bar, ish

Data from dive computer:

Surface interval:
Pressure group at start of repetitive dive: on computer, n/a

Time down on dive computer: 12:48
Max depth: 20.2 meters
Time started up from chart: 60 minutes 30 sec
Stop at 5 meters: 1 minute
Dive time from computer: 63 min
Min Temp: 25 degrees centigrade
Nitrox 21% (normal air), no deco

Description of dive:

Our second dive of the day was vintage Damaniyites. The plan was to drop in on a spot on Jed Island now called the Mousetrap and follow the wall toward Jun to the east, round it to the south, and end up in the shallows. On descent a current carried us east toward where the other divers had gone in before us. Dion stopped to play with the French girl and so Dusty, Dave, and Mom and I got in the lead again to explore the coral encrusted outcroppings, poking with anticipation around each one. There were schools of fish here, but nothing big. Looking toward the surface, a large school of batfish caught my eye. Snappers poured over the reef as well as another yellowing fish. I found an interesting box fish, triangular actually, with head like a sea horse. We saw a huge turtle with a large ramora on its underside. Dusty and Bobbi said they saw one on the top of the reef. Some large puffers made minimal effort to not get out of our way. There were jacks and other big silver fish lurking at 18 meters just as we turned the corner on the wall., suggesting that there could be something interesting here at depth on the edge of the sand channel. Dave swam higher than we did, and found a leopard shark resting in the white sand just inside the wall. We all paused for a long look and checked pressure gauges. Once we resumed the dive we found a turtle eating a tasty brown jellyfish. There were several tasty brown jellyfish around, but he seemed so into this one that he didn't even run off as we approached. We headed up into shallows with lots of hard coral, porite and staghorn. Found a fish trap and freed two very large and agitated fish that were banging their noses on the wiring in an attempt to escape our approach. One forced his way right through the wire net, the other eventually found the hole Dave and I made widerby pulling the wire out of the mouth of the trap. Comparing depth gauges (50 min into the dive) Dave and Dusty were low on air and Bobbi wanted to surface. During the ascent, the current carried us over another resting leopard shark. I finned as I ascended to stay directly over the shark. With everyone at the surface, I snorkeled with my eyes on the shark below and saw Dion's group of divers coming over the end of the wall. I shouted to Dave I was going back down and he acknowledged OK, so I joined Dion and his 4 divers in their discovery of the shark. On close inspection, it appeared to be the same one we had seen earlier, with two ramora top and bottom and the same beady little shark eyes. All divers ascended after that.

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

Friday, October 4, 2002

My 457th Logged Dive since 1991

Dive site: Doc's wall, Northeast edge of Little Jun and heading east along the wall finishing up top of the submerged reef
Training conducted: none

PSI/Bar in: 210
PSI/Bar out: 50 bar, ish

Data from dive computer:

Surface interval: 20 hours and 18 minutes
Pressure group at start of repetitive dive: on computer, n/a

Time down on dive computer: 10:12
Max depth: 17.7
Time started up from chart: 53 min
Dive time from computer: 55 min
Min Temp: 27 degrees centigrade
Nitrox 21% (normal air), no deco

Description of dive:

We'll always remember this one as the turtle dive. When the current is to the east as it often is it's always been a great dive to put in back of Little Jun and end up over the reef to the east that tops out at 12 meters and goes a couple hundred meters before sloping down to sand at 18. You have to be careful there because if you're sucking your last breaths from a tank at the end of your dive you don't want to inadvertently go too deep, but if you're keeping your depth to 12-15 meters, then this is a great drift at the end of a dive that can last ten minutes. There's always a lot of activity here.

Today it was turtles. Lisa from Abu Dhabi joined us on this trip. I asked Dion if he wanted to Buddy with her, as he was sort of joining us, but he was deliberately noncommital, so Dave volunteered for the honors. Down below, we pursued our strategy of trying to get in the lead and found ourselves finning to keep up with another mother / father / son trio from the other boat who were scaring up turtles as they went. Dave was doing his air conservation thing higher up the reef and I think Lisa might have been taking pictures. We lost track of Dave, there was a current preventing us from turning back, and Bobbi and Dusty and I soon found ourselves just the three of us. Bobbi and Dusty lagged momentarily wondering where the others had gone, but I took faith in the buddy system and assumed Dave and Lisa were competent enough to go it alone, so we let ourselves get carried along with Team Turtle.

Later, back up top, Dave and Lisa said they saw a couple of turtles, and Abdullah and Nicki said they'd seen none. I don't get all that stoked about seeing a turtle or two on a dive, but we must have seen a couple dozen on this one. The number of turtles reminded me of diving on Sipidan, where there were so many on each dive you didn't bother looking at each one. On Sipadan I remember how the turtles there seemed oblivious to divers, so you could come quite close to them without disturbing them. Here they were a little more skittish, almost invariably moving off at our approach, but not always.

Meanwhile, back under water, the three of us kept moving along the wall, swimming through tunnels of boulders with blue fern coral and speckled with tiny fishes that retreated in a blink as we penetrated their refuge. We ogled at the swarms of fishes, mostly snappers, that ebbed and flowed on the reef, and the small schools of jacks and batfish. The other trio having since ascended we were now in the lead for dislodging turtles. When we got into double digit bar 40 min into the dive I moved us up to the top of the reef where vis was slightly clouded with algae, but it was still beautiful with the yellow and blue soft corals forming a lawn between the rocks. One of the rocks turned out to be an old turtle with a smooth green shell that moved off as we were swept nearer. Dusty showed me his pressure gauge, 1000 psi (75 bar). I had a bit more than that and unfurled my meter-long octopus for him. Here there were turtles everywhere we looked, in groups of 3 or 4, only mildly concerned about us as we drifted by them. The decreased vis made them seem to pop up here and there at the edges of the gloom. A honeycomb moray wrapped around a rock near which there lounged a turtle made an interesting tableau. We went for 5 min sharing air until I dipped below 1000 and then Dusty went onto his own reg again and we went for another 5 min amazed at the number of turtles. It was about this time that I noticed the reef was sloping down and we'd dipped to 14 meters (and were in fact bouncing 15), so I brought us up where we were looking down on the reef rather than skimming it. I recall one last turtle with 2 ramoras on its back just at the edge of the reef where it gave way to 18-meter sand as we got to around 500 psi and started our ascent drifting into the channel. A remarkable dive!

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

My 458th Logged Dive since 1991

Dive site: Northwest corner of Jun Island and heading east along the 'back side'
Training conducted: none

PSI/Bar in: 210
PSI/Bar out: 50 bar, ish

Data from dive computer:

Surface interval: 1 hour 26 minutes
Pressure group at start of repetitive dive: on computer, n/a

Time down on dive computer: 12:34
Max depth: 17.5 meters
Time started up from chart: 53 minutes
Dive time from computer: 56 minutes
Min Temp: 28 degrees centigrade
Nitrox 21% (normal air), no deco

Description of dive:

After a surface interval where, snorkeling, I saw a school of batfish and a couple more turtles, and observed the darting antics of aggressive tang (orange-bladed surgeon fish) off the sand beach at Big Jun Island, we motored to the western point and prepared to put in at apprx the same place we had plunged in first dive the day before. As this had been our least interesting dive out of 3 so far, and as there are so many places to dive out there, I wondered what made Dion choose that particular spot, but on the other hand, the last 11 times I'd dived spots chosen by Dion they had all been spectacular, so we dutifully hopped in the water keeping our reservations more or less to ourselves.

This time we weren't disappointed. The drop in was a little chaotic. The boatman put Dave, Lisa, and Bobbi and I in the water at a rough spot then backed up dangerously without dropping off Dusty. I watched the whirling screws pass underwater then joined Bobbi in the shelter of the island while we awaited the boat's return and Dusty's delayed entry. Dave and Lisa meantime descended, signalling in so doing that they would dive independently again. Dusty was with us momentarily and we descended to catch up with Dave and Lisa. Other divers were entering the water ahead of us so Bobbi and Dusty and I rushed to the lead again and found ourselves with the same trio as on the dive before.

Vis was slightly better, and this had been the main problem compromising the previous day's dive. Dusty and I did different swim throughs than the one the day before. On the wall, a honeycomb moray poked its head from a hole. We saw families of cuttlefish on a couple of different occasions. Bobbi and Dusty saw a couple of scorpion fish, including they said, a white one, but the one I saw was done in a black and red motif with a patch of yellow below one eye, interesting camoflage, and different from the purple hues of the ones usually see between Martini Rock and Muscat. We saw a number of turtles.

The finning was hard due to a contrary current perhaps, so that after half an hour I was down to 100 bar and Dusty to less. The sand bottom was getting shallower so we were able to move up to the sheets of cabbage coral at 12 meters and still keep an eye out for rays and sharks in the sand 5 meters below. When Dusty got to 50 bar we put him on octopus as before, but I didn't have all that much either, and when I was nearing 30 we moved up to 8 meters and back onto our own regs. Still we were able to perpetuate the dive for many minutes longer with my SPG staying on around 30. It was at that point, as it happens so often in the Damaniyites, that as we're nearing the end of the dive, thinking of coming up, around the next outcropping, we saw a last leopard shark in sand at about 14 meters. We didn't descend on him but enjoyed the view from overhead. It's always a nice way to end a weekend diving in this consistently rewarding nature reserve, and Dion keeps his perfect record at 12 for 12.

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