Certified Greg Raglow and Omar Ibrahim in PADI Open Water at Nomad Ocean Adventure, diving in Musandam Sept 19-20

My logged dives #1308-1311

More diving this weekend, this time to train Greg Raglow and Omar Ibrahim in the wiles of PADI Open Water diving at our favorite dive center Nomad Ocean Adventure. Our group at one point included four o/w students plus a refresher diver, so Nomad were kind enough to allow me to engage a divemaster for a weekend of free diving. The one who jumped up and said "Me, me, pick me!" was Nicki Blower. Meanwhile attrition took its toll as we counted down the days to the course and we were eventually down to just two students, Drs. Greg Raglow and Omar Ibrahim, plus Bobbi and Nicki and me, so it turned out to be a comfortable grouping, as pictured below:

Having just two students is just right. It gives us lots of time to deal with the vagaries of getting the students to NOA, getting them in the water (till midnight first night), getting a few hours sleep and up at dawn for two more pool modules, then two dives on Friday, back to the dive center and more pool work till dinner time. Next day was easier; after a good long sleep, we just had the final two dives on Saturday. Happy divers at the end, the two on the left both newly crowned PADI Open Water certified.

Diving Friday Sept 19 at Ras Morovi and Lima Headland

The first day it was just us in a boat with another instructor Pierre and his one student so we were able to tailor our dive sites to those most suitable for an open water course. We noticed a lot of brown algae in the water on the way out but at the bay north of Ras Morovi conditions didn't seem so bad, so we started there, and found decent vis at 5 meters. We didn't go below 12 meters.our first day. I wore only a full lycra and a rash vest, and didn't feel the chill except at our deepest points. We motored over to Ras Lima for the second dive and after the usual lunch of mystery meat wraps and delicious pasta salad we decided vis wasn't so bad there, so we did our second dive from our lunch spot. Here is the video.

Diving Saturday Sept 20 at Lima Rock and Octopus Rock

Diving next day was quite good for an open water course. Two divers on our boat had been to Lima Rock the day before but said it was awesome and were eager to repeat it despite the fact they had got caught in current off the east point. Sea conditions the previous day had been choppy but motoring up the coast of Musandam was smooth on the Saturday and we decided after checking out Lima Rock to go ahead and dive it. We have to be careful of currents there, but if they're not ripping, sticking to the center is usually ok, as long as you make your turn around point appropriately. We started the dive near the west tip and found a surface current pulling us in that direction, so we went down not knowing what to expect but found it much reduced under water so we were able to make our way easily to the east. I was planning a 15-16 meter dive but there was a huge honeycomb moray at 18 meters so we went on a 56 minute NDL, but the dive for the students was shorter than that, and I delivered them to the surface at 45 min while being harassed by batfish. Bobbi and Nicki waited below, where I rejoined them. The most interesting moments are in the video here.

We don't normally do Octopus Rock on an open water course, but Antonio who was managing the divers on board had been there yesterday and found decent vis and mild current conditions, so to my pleasant surprise we ended up there for our second dive. It's one of my favorite sites in Musandam. We did some skills including compass work at the beginning of the dive, so didn't start our tour until 15 minutes into our time below, and we encountered a slight current against our northerly direction, so more air was consumed than in ideal conditions, and 40 min into the dive I broke off from the group with Omar and let Bobbi and Nicki take Greg as their buddy. Omar and I went to the top of a reef where we were entertained by schools of trevally and batfish getting the wrasse makeover. The others surfaced 15 minutes after we did, well to the west. Everyone seemed happy, those with greatest success were crowned for their achievements, and we hope to see them back in the water again soon.

Fun Diving in Daymaniyats: Bobbi, Vance, Jay Fortin, David Muirhead, Doug Cook, Jana Hanova, and Dino Savva

My logged dives #1304-1307

We met our friends at the new Euro Divers center at Al Sawadi Beach Resort and headed onto our boat. Sea conditions were choppy and hindered our progress and spray washed into the boat on the trip outbound, but the weather was warm so all was very pleasant. We were clamoring to go to the Aquarium but the boat put in at Three Sisters not far from there to let the weather calm down a bit. 

Here's the video from our two dives on the first day ...

Friday, September 12, 2014 - Three Sisters and Aquarium

Saturday, September 13, 2014 - A lovely pinnacle and Sirah Island

I called the pinnacle Rays' Reef because of the rays living there. It was on our way out to Sira Island from the resort, the nearest thing diveable. It was a great place, check out the video. I'll try and find the proper name for the reef.

And finally, I got the video mix made of our last dive of the trip, on Sira Island just short of Jun. This one included all of us somewhere, I think, Bobbi and me, Jay Fortin, David Muirhead, Doug Cook, Jana Hanova, and Dino Savva. This video contains the video of all of us taking the turtle for a walk. Enjoy ...

How did we get here?

Jay Fortin had a meeting in Dubai and asked us if we could join him for diving since he had a weekend free not to prepare for it. Gail was away in Uganda, so Dave Muirhead arranged that on this designated weekend we would hook up in Oman and dive the Daymaniyat Islands, one of our favorite dive destinations in our area. Doug Cook decided  to join us from our Waspes HHH running group and he brought a UN staff member named Jana Hanova. David added a colleague named Dino, whom we also know from the Al Ain running group, making us 7 in a group that converged on Al Sawadi Beach Resort for 8 a.m. diving Friday September 12.

Jay flew in the night before from Bahrain where he works now and after 2 hours waiting to get through Seeb airport  managed to find his rental car and drive the hour to the resort. David and Dino drove down from Al Ain all the way to Al Sawadi where they over-nighted in the resort for $189 a night including two dinners. Doug and Jana opted to fly from Abu Dhabi to Muscat since they got nearly free tickets for air miles and a cheaper deal on the hotel, only $113 a night for two, with meals included, but they faced the two hour airport wait on arrival in Seeb plus the car rental plus the hour’s backtrack in the UAE direction to reach the resort (plus Doug could do only one dive Saturday because he was flying that evening back to Abu Dhabi).

Bobbi and I converged in the normal manner. I got off work early Thu afternoon and found Bobbi at home, we checked emails and packed, and left the house at around 5:30 p.m. By around 8:00 we had reached our favorite restaurant on the Batina coastal towns stretch, don’t know its name but I can give you its coordinates, and it’s to the right of a restaurant more obviously called FAMOUS. That one might be better known, or might not be, but the one we always stop at has chicken karai to die for. This stop is easy to find because the roundabout is always chocked with traffic, so we pull off the road into a chaos of vehicles playing bumper car on the slip road. We always head for the ATM around the corner from the gas station on the slip road, return to tank up at the pump, and then end up at the restaurant.

We were having our meal there when I got a call from an Oman number so I took it. It was Kiwi Lunden who had just discovered from something I’d posted online that we were diving Daymaniyats next day. She was diving there Saturday using Global Divers in Seeb, but was trying to see if she could join us. It was too late to book anything the next day so she’d have to join us in the morning on spec. Plus she was in Muscat, 2.5 hours drive from where we were having dinner. Too bad we hadn’t known earlier or we could have arranged for Jay to pick her up on his way from the airport. Long story short, we didn’t manage to work things out but we’ll see her weekend after next when she comes through Al Ain on her way to Dubai.

We had another hour to drive to reach the place we were staying, our favorite Batinah coast hostel the Suweiq Motel. It has clean rooms, and since the refurbishment, quiet too, no more backbeat bleed from the bars, which are something from a Felini film, or from Tatouine in Star Wars. If you like cold beverages and a change of scene, and are on your way to dive from UAE, it’s a great place to stop for the night, and just half an hour from Al Sawadi in the morning now that the sweeping elevated u-turn over the highway has finished construction.

I wrote that on the ride back to UAE from Oman, just pasted it here.