Our first dive was at Shi’b Ashayzeniyat. We had apparently jumped onto a freight train. As divers took up places along the reef wall, we could do nothing but settle back and enjoy the ride. Because I was having equipment problems I moved in toward the wall in an attempt to gain some shelter from the current. While I struggled with an ever-inflating BCD, divers swept past raising their hands to ask the universal divers question – “are you okay”? I would touch finger to jump to return the “I’m okay” signal. Luckily Eric didn’t believe me and finned over to assess the situation. I was attempting to un-jam the inflator button; Eric simply disconnected the low-pressure inflator hose – a temporary fix, but one that allowed me to complete the rest of the dive.
We continued along the wall enjoying the soft corals and reef creatures, but few of us were lucky enough to encounter the hammerhead sharks or to come face to face with the manta as Mahdi and Abdulla did. Becoming low on air, we completed our safety stops and surfaced to find the ever-attentive crew standing by in the zodiac to ferry us back to Voyager.
The first dive over we settled into what was to become the usual routine. Throughout the trip divers would exit the water simultaneously talking about the dive and shedding dive gear. Cameras went into the sweet water barrel, tanks were eased into tank racks and masks and fins secured within the BCD. Divers efficiently showered with one of two sweet water taps on the dive deck, while swapping stories. Then wrapped in dry towels they would head into the lounge area where photos were reviewed, equipment repaired, and stories continued. Because of generally flat seas the longer intervals between sites were spent in transit. Divers would enjoy sitting on the bow in camp chairs or on the open upper deck. Then the call we’d been waiting for…”Ten minutes to dive time.” And the routine begins again. Divers appear on the dive deck to find that in the interim the crew had filled their tanks.
Exploration diving is unique because you never know quite what you will find. Not all of our dives were great, some didn’t even come up to ‘good’, and some enjoyed by only a few. An example of this came at mid-day on Sunday as we moored on a small reef at the entrance to the Yanbu shipping lanes. The visibility on the reef was akin to Half Moon Bay, but caused by swirling sand instead of silt. The reef was probably close to 90% dead, but on the few remaining coral heads we would see the usual Red Anthias,, Emperor Angelfish, Nudibrancs, giant clams, and other reef life found on thriving reefs, including a nice size moray peeking out from his haven inside a discarded tire. I guess I liked the site because it showed the tenacity of the sea despite mans interference.
A more usual site encountered (and one enjoyed by all) was Shi’b Shulaybah, the site of the ship wrecked Argonaftis, (of Greek registry) that had been slung onto the reef during a violent storm in 1985. She still sits scaly-wagged with her bow buried in the reef and while her huge propeller is at 50 feet her stern-house sits above the sea and can be explored during a surface interval. I did two dives here. On the first dive we were dropped by zodiac on the port side at the stern and worked our way around the bow and back to the Voyager. On the second dive we utilized the same drop point, but dove back by diving over the bow, under the mid-section at 45 feet, rounding the stern and catching the current to drift dive back. While I chose to dive the wreck, others went in the opposite direction to explore the caves at the other side of the large reef system. Between dives a group went on board to scramble around the living quarters, imaging the last hours of the crew as they waited for rescue. Beer bottles were still in place on tables; shelves full of books, and you could view walls in the cabin of the Second Officer painted with seductive artwork.
We worked our way south after enjoying the reefs of Umm Lujj. We stopped at the Iona Wreck in Yanbu and took advantage of the calm seas to enjoy the southern most points of Seven Sisters; marker numbers 39, 41 and 44. The Yanbu area was beautiful (as always); sharks being sited on most dives, large pelagic fish present and many hard and soft corals. The night dives were spectacular and at West Reef a few of us did the first night dive at 7:15 and then returned to the water at 10:30 for a second night dive. We unofficially named the site Spanish Dancer Reef, after several were spotted. Unfortunately we came aboard after the second dive to find that the boat had ranged and was sitting almost on the top of a huge coral head. This necessitated that the crew move the boat to new anchorage. A feat accomplished at ease and not even noted by divers that were already sound asleep in their bunks.
Over the next two days we continued south, soon entering the outer reef system at Rabigh. This would prove to be some of the best diving of the trip. We officially named a site at Shi’b Al Khamsa, Anenmoneville because of a wall that was carpeted solidly in anemones. The anemones (complete with the accompanying anemone fish) covered an area from 15 to 60 feet deep and perhaps 50 to 100 feet wide, sight to behold.
At Si’b Al Bayda we had the best night dive site ever. We were able to go up over the reef wall and into a shallow lagoon. The lagoon has a sandy bottom at 20 feet, dotted with small coral heads. This proved to be the perfect site to watch night creatures move about. It was here that James shot the spectacular footage of the moray eel hunting his supper of an Orange-spined Unicornfish.
I could go on for volumes describing dive sites and life onboard. I haven’t even talked about Rabigh not allowing us to enter and blocking our path with a Coast Guard vessel or the 6 hours wait at Qassim Airport or the many other incidents, which have become part of the week’s memories. We had frequent sightings of sharks, mantas, schools of barracuda and other large pelagic fish. We dived reef walls, outer reefs and inner fringing reefs. We enjoyed the company of the other divers, ate fresh fish prepared by the chef and experienced so many other things. But, luckily as a member of DDA you will be able to share in our adventure later in the year as we share our videos and photos with you. We have dutifully recorded the dive sites, their GPS coordinates, and the good and bad points of each. We will be repeating trips to Yanbu and the outer reefs of Rabigh later in the year. And, finally it’s not too early to add your name to the growing list of adventurers for next years Eid Exploration Trip which will start at Jizan and precede north to Al Lith. As always dive safe, protect the environment, and have fun.