The red tide has cause a lot of problems for divers on both the east and west coasts of UAE in recent months, not helped of course by sewage tanker drivers dumping raw sewage into storm drains and adding to the existing problems.
Anyway in need of a few lungfulls of compressed air I decided to go over to Dibba and just see how bad it was.
Armed with the 60mm Micro on my D70 (changing to the 60DX for the second dive due to problems focussing because of severe fogging of my mask), I braved the crap viz which was down to less than 3M on the second dive.
Between the mainland and Dibba Rock, the underwater scene looks like the aftermath of a nuclear holocust, death and destruction everywhere, but occasional small corals beginning to emerge, and some, I guess, of the hardier species of animals that can live in such conditions such as tube worms, tube anemones, hermit crabs, feather stars providing something to photograph.
Had a problem with my Sea & Sea 110alpha in that it would not fire, and changed over to the YS90 for both dives.
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*****
All photos copyright Gordon T. Smith 2011
