CLUBFOCUS UKDIVING
What do you see ?
We have whale shark migrations in May and October and some of the largest turtle nesting sites in the Middle East are found at Ras Al Hadd , Ras Al Jinz , Masirah and the Daymaniyats . Resident turtles include green , hawksbill and loggerhead . There are Arabian humpback whales and Brydes whales are seen in the south of Oman . They are an incredible sight .
We also see super pods of dolphins , both spinner and common dolphins , off the rugged coastline of Bandar Khayran and when we are lucky , at our home dive site , Fahal Island . A dive trip is always extra special if a pod happens to play along in the wake of one of our boats . There are black tip shark nurseries at the Daymaniyat Island Nature Reserve and also on the east side of Fahal Island as well as some sites in Bandar Khayran . We have a resident family of elegant eagle rays and occasionally are lucky enough to see leopard sharks and guitarfish , as well as devil rays .
How much diving goes on ?
Lots . Most of our diving is recreational diving on reefs and wrecks . A small group of the club are doing more technical , decompression or rebreather diving . We dive every weekend and mid-week , with occasional night dives or after work afternoon dives . Members log a total of more than 1,200 dives in a year . The club has three boats , and a normal day trip could have from eight to 20 divers on it for two dives . We also organise a few longer trips each year . We are , of course , well placed to holiday in Muandam , Salalah , Sifah , Saudi Arabia , Red Sea , and the Maldives .
Roser Biosca and Fiona Lemaire
Michael Dunmore , Claire Woodhouse , Fiona Lemaire
Wim Vranckx and Roser Biosca
What type of training is most popular with members ?
At the moment we don ’ t run Ocean Diver courses , but encourage new divers to train locally and then join us for diving and further training , and we are getting a regular stream of new divers this way . We have four Dive Leaders in training and ten Sports Diver trainees at present , whom we train from the beach and on boat dives . We tend to run a course once we get sufficient numbers to start ( five to 10 ) and then schedule accordingly .
Neil Abbott , one of BSAC ’ s longest serving instructors
Hayley Kennedy snorkelling with whale shark
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