Good marine life with willing subjects
| Facts about Muscat It is in Oman- Muscat is in the Arabian Sea.
- The typical depth is 0-10 Metres 0-30 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 10-30 Metres 30-100 Feet.
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Daymaniyat Islands Nature Reserve
Group of 9 uninhabited Islands with 17 diving sites that form a chain stretching from East to West for 20 km. The Islands and surrounding coral reefs are designated as National Nature Reserve by the Oman Government and access is controlled.
The north (ocean) side of the Islands is for diving with rock faces and shelves going to a max. depth of 20-30 m. The south (lee) side of the Islands has beautiful shallow reefs with max. depth 10 m and are outstanding for snorkellers.
In addition to the abundant coral reefs and marine life, the Islands are stop off station for migratory birds and a sea turtles that lay their eggs in nests on the beaches.
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| Facts about Daymaniyat Islands Nature Reserve- It is in Oman
- Daymaniyat Islands Nature Reserve is in the Arabian Sea.
- The typical depth is 0-30 Metres 0-100 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 3-10 Metres 10-30 Feet.
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Astolla (Haft Talar) Island
Overview
Despite the name given to the island by the locals (Haft Talar-meaning 'seven rocks'), the island appears to form a single block roughly 3 miles in length and one mile in width with an estimated height of two hundred feet at its highest point. An isolated rocky area has broken away from the main block towards the south end. Given that the island is not sheltered from the open sea, it is subject to strong wave attack during the southwest monsoons, when wave height exceeds 3.5 meters. The coastline therefore suffers from severe erosion and most of the littoral material is lost to the sea.
Geographical coordinates: 25°07'N, 63°52'E.
Altitude: (average and/or max. & min.) 0-200 m
Area: (in hectares) c. 5,000
A small solar operated beacon has been constructed on the top of one of the island's cliffs for the safety of passing vessels.
General location:
The island is situated in the northern Arabian Sea, approximately 25 kilometers off the mainland coast, 40 kilometers East-Southeast of Pasni Harbor, in Blochistan province. It comes under the Pasni subdivision of Gawader district.
The island supports some rare and vulnerable species of animals such as endanger species Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and quite possibly critically endanger species Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbracata)
The site is of special value for maintaining the genetic and ecological diversity of the area. There is a considerable convergence of plant and animal species that inhabit the island and the surrounding waters.
The area is of special value as the nesting ground of Green turtles and possibly the Hawksbill turtle. As well as, the site is of special value for at least one endemic animal species, Echis carinatus astoli, and viper
Ecological features:
The natural vegetation is composed of zeromorphic type able to survive the arid climate. It does not only suffer from extreme drought but also from wind carrying saline particles. Salt sprays coupled with sand particles clog the respiratory mechanism of plants, affecting growth. Prosopis juliflora is the most significant widespread species distributed in the island. Indigofera oblongifolia and Hycium depressum are also prevalent forming large bushes. Other types of vegetation found include Sueda fruticosa, Aerua persica.
Noteworthy fauna:
The island is reported to support a large number of breeding seabirds including Larus hemprichii and several species of terns. Avifauna includes: Ardeola cinerea, Egretta gularis, Pluvialis squatarola, Numenius arquata, Limosa limosa, Calidris minutus, Larus argentatus, Larus genei, Cursorius coromandelius, Galerida cristata, Oenanthe deserti, and Prinia spp.
Sightings of cetaceans such as dolphins and to a lesser extent, whales have also been reported. In fact, in December 1994, a large whale (possibly sperm whale) carcass washed up on the shores of Ganz, Balochistan. Recent evidence indicates that significant, previously undocumented populations of up to 20 species of whale and dolphin occur within the Pakistani Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) Studies in neighboring Oman, combined with newly available data on illegal Soviet and Japanese whaling off Pakistan in the 1960s, verbal reports of sightings by fishermen, and records of beach-cast specimens, suggest large numbers of many species of whale and dolphin spend part of the year in Pakistani waters. It can be surmised that these cetaceans, which are primarily dependent on the highly productive Southern Arabian upwelling system, use parts of the Pakistani EEZ for both calving and feeding.
| Facts about Astola Coral Reef It is in Pakistan- Astola Coral Reef is in the Arabian Sea.
- The typical depth is 0-30 Metres 0-100 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 3-10 Metres 10-30 Feet.
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Karachi has not been on world map as far as Scuba Diving is concerned, this port city of Pakistan offers various type of scuba diving. Two major areas provide interesting opportunities to explore at Coordinate: - (24°47′46.07″ N 67°02′38.44″E) …
1 Ship wrecks
Karachi is known as a graveyard of Ships, which sank during the last 40 years and are still laying submerged beyond the Manora break water within a radius of six miles. They pose a potential threat to the visiting Vessels approaching KPT entrance buoy.
A short history of some of the ships followed: -
MV ABASIN-
Pakistani flag vessel, MV Abbasin, had sunk after hitting the wreckage of a Panamanian carrier, MV Isebina, 1972. The wreckage of Isebina was removed by a foreign salvage company hired by the Government of Pakistan but the wreckage of MV Abbasin is still lying submerged four miles southeast of the Manora breakwaters.
Dynamic Venture-
27th July, 1972
Depth 8 meters
Dynamic Venture, sank in the Karachi waters in 1977 and is laying submerged northwest of the Manora breakwaters. This Panamanian ship was deliberately sunk by the crew of the vessel in protest against the non-payment of their wages by the owner. The crew was rescued by another foreign ship which also towed Dynamic Venture some distance away to her sub-aqua grave
MV Munir-
10th March, 1977
Depth 15 meters
MV Munir, belonged to a Gulf State (UAE), sunk in 1977, and is laying about a quarter mile southeast of the Manora breakwaters
MV Nanda Devi-
23rd March, 1977
Depth 14 meters
MV Nanda Devi, belonging to India, sank in 1980 and is laying 3.5 miles west of the Manora breakwaters
MV Regal Sun –
15th Oct, 1979
Depth 13 meters
MV Regal Sun, sank 2.2 miles off the Manora breakwaters when it broke in two parts and sank…
MV Dia Hatim –
27th June, 1980
Depth 15 meters
MV Dia Hatim, is laying submerged eight miles south-east of the Manora breakwaters
MV Amir- laying on her port-side opposite Himalya, but is not considered dangerous for shipping traffic, and many more interesting wrecks inviting scuba divers to explore them.
As the topography near the Karachi is mostly sandy and gentle slope, these ships wrecks have attracted marine life over the period and formed artificial reef with lots of cnidarians, crustaceans, echinoderms, mollusks, worms, invertebrates.
Tsunami 2004
As you know healthy coral reefs provide their adjacent coasts with substantially more protection from destructive tsunami waves than do unhealthy or dead reefs, a Princeton University study suggests.
The tsunami 2004.Devastated the coastlines of the Indian Ocean, but in Pakistan the effect of tsunami were quit different it brought new spawn of different new species of corals from neighboring coral reefs, the mass migrated offspring started cloning and forming new reefs at incredible speed. During last two years over 30+ new species has been noticed so far and serious effort required observing and documenting this new Eon.
This will be golden opportunity for divers of the world to peep into the history of millions of years ago and witness some of the fact about the process of evaluation.
| Facts about Karachi- It is in Pakistan
- Karachi is in the Arabian Sea.
- The typical depth is 0-30 Metres 0-100 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 3-10 Metres 10-30 Feet.
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Cherna Island
The majestic Cherna Island, a solitary rock bravely faces 50 years of target practice by the Nay this is the only place in vicinity of Karachi city where we find coral reef. Cherna Island is a popular place, for fishing, Scuba Diving, Snorkeling. But often the villager are creates problems for picnickers.
“Our valuable Marine Life”
Jan 15th Divers from “Karachi Scuba Diving Center” were diving at Bachum Reef near Cherna Island, the visibility was 40 to 60ft. normal for the month of January. The reef was full of life the color full fishes were busy swimming in and around the rocky formation. This is one of the best dive sites we have near Karachi shore, where the 40 ft drop from the top of the Plato, which is already 50 ft. deep, to the bottom reaches at a depth of 90 ft makes this dive site perfect location for a deep dive training site.
The Second dive was planned at Cherna Island north-west point, 40 ft deep dive, the visibility was excellent, and water current was pretty strong, moving westerly. Due to the strong current boat anchor could not hold properly and the boat drifted while we were gearing up we decided to make drift dive and discover new ground. We descended on anchor line and started swimming across the current towards the island. Suddenly we notice small patches of coral about 6 to 18 inches diameter and 10 t0 12 inches high approximately 20 ft. apart. And the density increases as we moved towards the island and to our surprise we landed in a good size of coral reef.
There have been small patches of reef existing earlier but this one was gorgeous. A variety of corals we found were simply astonishing, The biodiversity on the reef was remarkable; we noticed different types of Sponges, Anemones, Worms, Crustaceans, Bryozoans, Molluscs, Echinoderms, and a large selection of coral fishes we explore the new found reef for good 40 minutes the maximum time we were allowed to stay at that depth before getting into decompression problems. After surfacing we marked the reef site into our GPS and from January onwards we made 10 dives to explore the reef and documented the following marine life in the form of pictures and video clips.
Corals: - Brain Coral, Disk corals, Brown boulder corals, gorgonian, Orange Daisy coral, Tentacle coral, Flex coral and many more Varity of coral.
Fishes: - Long fin Banner fish, Blue-ring fish, Sergeant fish, Chevron Barracuda, Parrotfish, and Black spotted Puffer, Blue-spotted Fantail Stingray, Yellow Snapper, Sweet lips, Coronation Grouper, Coral Grouper, and Giant grouper, many verity of Scorpion fish, Moray eels, were documented.
Anemone & Jellyfish:- Tube Anemones, Bulb-tentacle Sea anemones, Anemone coral, Upside down jellyfish, Stinging Hydrozoan etc.
Worms: - Striped Ribbon Worm, Fan Tube Worm, Bristle Worm, Spaghetti Worm, Christmas Tree Worm, Flat worm. and Peacock worm.
| Facts about Churna Island- It is in Pakistan
- Churna Island is in the Arabian Sea.
- The typical depth is 0-20 Metres 0-60 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 3-10 Metres 10-30 Feet.
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A man-made reef thanks to local dive clubs. Located at the end of a the road between the Q-Chem fenceline and the Sealine resort. There are several vehicles, buses, a pickup and some small boats as well several piles of metal/etc. This is a favorite local dive. This shore dive has easy entry and depths are from about 14-16 meters. Hamour are seen regularly as are blue angel fish (they love bananas), and other small local fish. Occasionally barracuda appear to liven things up. GPS Coordinates are: 24° 52.189' E 051° 31,84'
| Facts about Umm Said/Old Club Reef It is in Qatar- Umm Said/Old Club Reef is in the Arabian Sea.
- The typical depth is 0-20 Metres 0-60 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 0-3 Metres 0-10 Feet.
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Please see Astola NW as how to get to Astola.
This is a small rock jutting out vertically about 1.4km south of the main Astola island-GPS co-ord 25° 6'24.86"N, 63°51'9.00"E.
Lots of Groupers, Snappers and coral. Its a nice dive to circumnavigets the rock. Also lobsters
| Facts about Astola-Anda Rock- It is in Pakistan
- Astola-Anda Rock is in the Arabian Sea.
- The typical depth is 0-20 Metres 0-60 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 10-30 Metres 30-100 Feet.
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Please see Astola-NW for details as how to get there.
The West tip of Astola has very fast currents-the visibility is over 15 m but lots of coral and fish.
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Please also see Astola-NW for details as how to get there.
Along the south west face are Caves. One can snorkel to them. visibility is not good due to surge.
Astola Island is pristine and uninhabited. We have to try and make it into a marine reserve.
| Facts about Astola-SW-Cave- It is in Pakistan
- Astola-SW-Cave is in the Arabian Sea.
- The typical depth is 0-10 Metres 0-30 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 10-30 Metres 30-100 Feet.
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Astola island is an adventure dive. It is located about 25 km south of the Balochistan Coast and is 40 km south east of Pasni. it is the largest island of Pakistan but is uninhabited except for feral cats.
To get to Astola, drive all the way from Karachi to Pasni on the Mekran Coastal Highway-about 8hrs , then hire a small fishing boat which will get you to Astola. the boat will take about 5 hrs to get there. We camped there for 3 nights and had brought our own aircompressor. The boat stayed with us for 4 days and cost about Rs 20,000=$350.
The north west cove near a Hindu temple has a lot of sea urchins and sea slugs. depth from 6m to 20m.Visibility is 10m +.
See also dives on the west, south,Anda rock around Astola
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An island thet is full of fish and coral . Also turtles and star fish in the deep parts. Whale shark is a regular visitor to the waters of this island . the current changes form a place to other and form time to other but some times it gets strong. There are two ship wreck . it takes 2.5 hours to get to the islant by a boat and mybe less in a speed boat .
| Facts about jubail - jana island It is in Saudi Arabia- jubail - jana island is in the Arabian Sea.
- The typical depth is 0-30 Metres 0-100 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 10-30 Metres 30-100 Feet.
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Lots of wrecks of busses , cars , pick ups , and tires . Fish are small . The visibility is bad because the the water is not deep ( 22 feet max. ) . Diving in July , August and September is hard because of the very hot wearther . there is no currents at all so it is a good place for traning and bigenners . The sea bed is mud . The place is almost empty of fish far of the wrecks.
| | Facts about half moon bay |
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Fahal Islands in Muscat is a centre of coral diversity
Exposed rocky shores facing north and east is the hub of soft coral growth, while south and west facing shores contain hard coral growth, for example at Cat Island, Cemetery Bay and Fahal Island.
The Damaniyat Islands, about 17-km offshore, support extensive reef development. Damaniyat reefs are typically dominated by a few genera, but at some sites where the assemblage is mixed, coral diversity is known to be high. Damaniyat reefs provide a diverse habitat and feeding grounds for commercially important fish and a high potential value to Oman’s tourist industry, says Mussallam, who being an active diver has watched coral reefs from close quarters.
Sharqiya coast, which used to be an area of luxuriant coral growth, has only a few reef formations now. Much of the previously luxuriant coral growth was destroyed in a storm a few years ago.
| Facts about Fahal island- It is in Oman
- Fahal island is in the Arabian Sea.
- The typical depth is 0-40 Metres 0-130 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 10-30 Metres 30-100 Feet.
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Another spot of maraine life
| Facts about Martini Rocks It is in United Arab Emirates- Martini Rocks is in the Arabian Sea.
- The typical depth is 0-10 Metres 0-30 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 3-10 Metres 10-30 Feet.
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every time i dived there i saw somehing new the visibility is between 5 and 10 m
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We the Aqua Diving Services based at Karachi Pakistan provides underwater and diving services with Professional and experienced staff of divers with latest and best diving equipments to Ships, Power Plant, Barrages, Dams, Water Heads, Gas and Oil Fields, etc. We also provide group Swimming, Diving, Fishing guide/training services with the facilities of underwater CCTV, Still/Video Photography, Boat Service, Spot/Sea Dive Please contact: AQUA DIVING SERVICES
Address: 3, Nagina Centre, P.O.Box. 7016, Keamari, Karachi-75620 PAKISTAN
Telephone: 92-21-2856446, 92-21-2857407
Fax: 92-21-2856450
Mobile contact : Tasleem Pervez 0300-8297358, Ch. Farrukh Shahbaz 0300-8299492
Email: click here to email
| Facts about Oyster Rock, Paradise Point, Churna Rock, and Open Sea- It is in Pakistan
- Oyster Rock, Paradise Point, Churna Rock, and Open Sea is in the Arabian Sea.
- The typical depth is 0-10 Metres 0-30 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 10-30 Metres 30-100 Feet.
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For me the dive that summed up our whole trip was Limah Rock. This is a large island that juts magnificently up from the sea. It is over 300m high and sinks down over 60m into the depths. We dived Limah Rock on our last day, the tide was just about to turn so there was no tide movement and the sea was flat calm it was perfect conditions for a dive. We stepped off the dive platform and slowly descended through what felt like an aquarium. The fish below us would move aside and as soon as we had passed the gap would close so that we were constantly surrounded.
This dive we were on a mission. The dive guide had told us that seahorses live on a large rock at 29m so we were off to find them. At that depth we would not have long so I was relieved to be able to see the rock from 20m away, there would be no searching in low visibility for us. Approaching the rock there was no seahorses to be seen. Then as we looked closer one was found holding onto a piece of soft coral. It was small and blended perfectly with its surroundings, using natural camouflage to hide from predators.
Unfortunately we did not have time to look for more but as we turned to ascend I was amazed at the sight that met me. From nearly 30m down I could see the bottom of our dhow. There were several pairs of divers gliding over coral through so many fishes that you could not possibly count them all. Silhouetted against the sun was a school of large batfish. I turned and looked along the reef. Larger fish were gathered a little way off, the water was so clear that they appeared to be floating in mid air with nothing to support them. Further up a shoal of fish swam by at speed as if they were in a rush to go somewhere important. We slowly made our way up the side of the reef looking into every hole and under every overhang.
I could not believe the colours in the coral. It seemed as if every colour you could think of was there in every shape imaginable. There was large soft cabbage coral in a soft green, spiky teddy bear coral in red and yellow, purple soft coral and no end of brown and green table coral. All too soon this dive was over and we had to ascend to the surface but it is one that will get a special mention in my log book.
The dive trip came to an end that day as we arrived back in Dibba but for the divers it will live with them a long time. We took nothing but pictures, we left nothing but bubbles......we will be back.
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Diving in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf, it is very different from the Red Sea. Lots of silt here with a few coral reefs, sea grass beds, and interesting oyster beds here in Bahrain. Haven't been to UAE or Oman, but have been doing lots of diving here in Bahrain. Water temp is dropping. Starting putting on shorties a few weeks ago, almost time for full wet suits. During November, water temps can drop 5 to 7 deg C per week. It's down to the 20's now. A month ago, we were in t-shirts!
| Facts about The Gulf It is in Bahrain- The Gulf is in the Arabian Sea.
- The typical depth is 0-30 Metres 0-100 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 0-3 Metres 0-10 Feet.
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