Big Trip

[Erik]

Well my friends, after trying to get a trip to Mexico or Hawaii or the Carribean, I sat down, looked at my bank account, and decided that I will go and visit my lovely wife in Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. She is working over there, and for obvious reasons I am looking forward to going. The other reason is that it is warm, and it is a group of islands, so I can dive,dive, dive!
Apparently, spearfishing is legal, but spearguns are not ??, so I can't bring my gun as it might be confiscated at customs. But there are some dudes there that my wife went spearfishing with last week, so I'll try and bum one off somebody. I'll be there from the 8th Dec to Dec 30, and I will let you all know what's happening.
Bon Voyage to me,
Erik Y.

 

[Crispin]

Try and find out about some pearl diving Erik, I know you can get pearls there, at around 18 - 25m, apparently you can bring them home too (but im not 100% sure about the duty side of it).....
Howard Jones at Freediver may have some more info on this one.....

howard@freediver.co.uk



good luck and have fun!

 

[Erik]

Bahrain

Hi everyone, I'm in Bahrain still, and have gone diving twice. Ramadan stopped me from getting in the water at first; nobody wants to go diving here when they can't drink or eat during the day. It's over now, so we managed to get out a few times so far. The water is 22C and the air was 37C on the boat! I wore my full 5mm suit and 14lbs weight due to the extremely high sanility plus the depth being only 8 metres. The Gulf is generally very shallow, but there are some deeper sites over 20 metres, which hopefully we'll get to this week. It's been very windy for the last few days (20-30 knots), so we have been kept out of the water again.
The site I dove was very nice, coral formations and lots of beautiful fish, but nothing like the Carribean or west coast Canada. I don't have much experience in warm water, but was happy to reach over 3 minutes on many dives. I miss the colder thermoclines that we get in Canada, but I'm sure I could get used to these warm temperatures! I spent over 2 hours in the water, which is a stretch in Canada, usually I'm cold by then, and the dives get shorter. No spearguns around right now, so no fishing for me .
What I like very much here is the culture and people. These are very friendly and warm people that inhabit this area, eager to trade stories from our respective cultures and show us around the sights with great enthusiasm.
Eid Mubarrak, Happy Hannukah and Merry Christmas to all of you and your loved ones. I wish you all the best, and look forward to meeting more of you in 2002

Warmly,
Erik Young

 

[freediver48]

Hi Erik,

Good to hear from you, the conditions sound very interesting, the windsurfer in me is getting excited at the thought of good winds and warm water.The winds locally have been so strong that the other day I almost quit diving because of the major roar in my snorkel. You miss the thermocline? Let me tell you, you might change your mind when your eyes cross at 50'. The last dive the air temp was 38, and the first few feet of water was 45, and we are talking imperial units. What it was at 50' I don't know but man it was cold. We have been staying in for 1 3/4 hours, but trying to get your pants zipped up can be a challenge once back at the car. I'm glad you are enjoying your trip, please say with to Juanita for me and have a great holiday season.

Best wishes,

Doug