since i was away and lost by few months, i was'nt able to publish this on my blog..so here it goes..
january 11,2008....0500hrs was the time set for us to meet with the group in EPPCO gas station Al Qusais.We arrived at 0545hrs(whats new?)lagi kami late ni kuya jabe mapa jumeirah or outside UAE dive late pa din kami. And our destination?
Khorfakkan Port Fujairah UAE.exciting ang first ever boat dive..in our previous dives,mejo may kaba pa ako..pero that day was different,it was like at last we can enjoy the view underwater and not just doing any underwater skills for our lessons.
ETA 0800hrs we will be at Khorfakkan Port..
The gang - lu , myla, pekto,joel(our instructor),precious,arnee(scuba dubai), jabe,emil & des.
i was behind the camera.
after the photo sessions, we immediately proceed with our equipment assembly then pre-dive briefing,jump on the boat and off we go....
First Stop - Inchcape wreck 1depth: 22.3 m
temp: 20 degrees
visibility : 8m (not bad)
time : 0930hrs
we stopped on the anchor line,put on our equipments and did the back roll entry.we experienced a strong current until 5 m then descended smoothly.i was having problem descending because of the current and i don't have enough weights. we descended on the anchor line and upon reaching the bottom, i was fascinated by the scenery, a tug boat sunked 8 yrs ago was there in front of me. we hoover and swim around the wreck. i saw a group of yellow snappers, angel fish, cuttlefish,trumphet fish,puffer fish, sea weeds on the wreck. it was amazing.am i dreaming? I'm actually swimming with these sea creatures and watching their normal habitat.months of scuba training and money spent actually paid-off on that experience.
the gang:kuya jabe - he had a nice time.since water sport is his interest, he enjoyed every minute at the bottom
joel(instructor) - busy checking his students,had a great time as well.
emil & pekto - emil was checking on pekto. since pekto was having vertigo(dizziness),he actually blow underwater and feed the fishes(his full breakfast)..hahaha = )
myla & lu - myla was a bit ahead on diving experience since she went previously to a dive trip in mussandam(oman). she is actually baby sitting her buddy lu who doesn't have any fear of going inside the wreck(big NO! NO! if your are not trained for it)
arnee & precious - arnee was busy spear fishing(oooppss. sorry 'bout that.divers should be the ambassador for environmental protection and rehabilitation and not catching the creatures as meal =) . precious spent most of her time taking snaps.
and oh i almost forgot mr.hareb- an emarati police officer that owns the dive house and dive boat was with us on the dive.
everyone was satisfied on the dive,though not much creatures was present we had a nice dive.
While waiting for our surface interval(time to spend on surface before doing another dive), we went snorkeling.
Next Stop : Shark Island
everyone is a bit hungry,so joel introduced to us his specialty "Diver's Delight". before our actual dive he was discussing to us the cuisine that he specially prepared for our dive and taadaahh! "Hard Boiled Egg".after enjoying a delightful meal ,we grab our masks,snorkels and fins for snorkeling. we saw parrot fish,yellow tail clown fish on the sea anemone,puffer fish, and others which I'm not familiar with plus 3 white tip sharks. these sharks are young white tip that you can usually find in reef areas.they were lovely,swimming and roaming around the rocks.
Joel called our attention and told us that it was time for our second dive.
we went and descend 17 m. maximum depth but the current was so strong though the visibility was not bad 8m-10m, we had a hard time swimming against the current.in short, it was a bad second dive.everyone was disappointed on that dive,we were off by around 200m on our drop-off point.should we anchored and descend somewhere near the island,it could have been easier and we could have enjoyed our dive more.but definitely we will come back for another one.as the divers saying
" IT IS BETTER TO HAVE A BAD DAY DIVING, THAN A GOOD DAY WORKING" = )
