Mitigation measures

As a matter of compensation for the last two posts without pictures, let’s make it up to you with a few underwater macro piccies as a starter. Two nudibranches (marine snails without a shell and with bare branches visible in a bush, hence: nudibranches) grazing away beautiful algae (by which they obtain their own beauty, naturally ), served between a tiny crab living a hidden life between coral branches, and of course, a well-known little fellow.

For your information, I was actually playing underwater tourist instead of assessing algae out of diplomatic reasons: I was asked by the environment and safety engineer at the fertilizer plant to provide him with some pictures and ideas on an exhibition concerning marine life in front of his plant. And as I will tell you later, I had all reasons to cooperate.

Lagoonology and sinkhology

These are a few of my favorite things

We managed to get one day ahead of schedule by doing the work of 2 days in one 15h-day of working against the clock in Mirbat, so much that it wasn’t fun anymore. But yesterday, we finnished our job in Dhofar with a trip to Siddah, a small fishermen’s town at 60km, which I visited only once 3 years ago. Back then, there was no blacktopped road leading there, and
the community living there was extremely secluded… This time, the brand-new roads made it impossible for me to recognize the track leading to the bay we sampled before. Anyway, after thirty-eleven tries we found a hell of an off-road track which brought us straight to the bay. Or at least in our perception… After the dive, we tracked the coastline with our GPS to geo-reference the satellite image, and to our delight this lead us to discover a small crystal clear blue lagoon, where we just couldn’t resist having a swim. After the Spa hot tub, meet our resort’s swimming pool! Sorry, no piccies yet, as we only took some analogous and anyway I’m sending this from my mobile in the car on our way in the desert, enjoying samosas with Lenny Kravitz in the cassette player We’re on our way back up north again, to Sur in the Gulf of Oman, where we need to monitor my caging experiment and the seaweeds in front of one of the world’s largest fertilizer plants. Last mission before returning home. Naturally, before heading towards “civilization” again, out of the ruines of Baghdad a.k.a. Mirbat, we made a stop-over to enjoy a prehistoric birds’ concert at Tawi Atair again. First time for Jan, and he immediately got as hooked to the place as I got…

Harsh driving conditions during a mild desert storm between Haima and Adam.

Keeping track

During the two days between Koen’s departure and Jan’s arrival, I came up with a far more easy way of ground-truthing the satellite imagery: since my GPS is capable of logging any track followed (at swimming speed: up to 7 km!) and both my GPS and camera are equipped with accurate clocks, I can simply cover a whole bay with video transects which I can easily “georeference” afterwards, instead of stopping everytime, entering a waypoint and taking notes. Besides the advantage of being more continuous, any novice can perform the ground-truthing field work this way. The nice result this yielded lead me to another discovery concerning georeferencing the images: instead of searching in vain for conspicuous landmarks in the desert or along the heterogenous coastline, I could simply make my way by foot along several stretches of a few hundreds of meters of coastline with the GPS in track mode. Accurately overlaying the image would then become the so-called piece of cake! Only, doing this would cost one of us half a day, which we probably haven’t got left… Why do good ideas always come too late?? Today, I did the kind of dive that makes me wonder what I did to deserve getting paid for this job Crystal clear blue water, 20m visibility, collecting algae up to 15m depth for 70 minutes, surrounded by coral valleys and beautiful fish… I enjoyed it so much I decided to get up in the blue to carry out my safety stop at 5m floating like an astronaut in this beautiful scenery Sorry, no piccies (yet): no timd to connect my pc to the internet, and still looking for the lost USB cable to download the piccies from the spare camera I used…

My way

I can’t remember exactly what it was all about, but I my intense dream had something to do with deadly poisonous fish when my alarm woke me up at 4 a.m. Okay, being responsible for someone to catch his flight in time means taking some margins into account, but getting up while everything was still dark and quiet (yes, well before the Muedzin’s first call for prayer) was a true hell. And of course, not necessary at all. Thanks to Mussallem’s road description, we found the bus station in no time. What I still can’t accept is the fact that Oman’s national transport company has a brand new fleet of comfortable long-distance coaches (the picture on the top of the site is fake – all bus drivers are Indian), and both the office opening and coach departure were timed to the second! Help, our western civilization is infecting Oman, what a shame!! Where are the beautiful days when I used to drive at 120 km/h on the highway through the desert from Muscat to Salalah and a cripple old coach would overtake me at 140, the engine cap at the rear removed to get extra cooling?? Anyway, there are still some things to be lived if you travel by coach, as Koen notified me upon arrival that he’d experienced an impressive sand storm at the half-way stop-over, and that the whole bus was agitated to see a rain shower pouring from the sky and turning the mountain wadis just before Muscat into muddy streams. Muscat too seems to shiver under 20°C and a grey sky today (surprisingly, it was the put-the-airco-on!-Koen who actually pronounced the word “freezing cold” when mentioning 20°C! Hurray, he’s getting used to it, just in time! )…

Here too, clouds are building up (although chances of getting rain are virtually null in this area this time of the year), but the sea is a lot calmer than yesterday, when a fairly strong wind didn’t make it easy to deploy the experimental cages. Yesterday, with a bit of luck, the satellite passed over the sunny sky as well, and so today I went to the same site to check on the cages (as moving around cages on the seafloor didn’t quite help improving the visibility yesterday) and to carry out some ground-truthing for the satellite image.

Good start: I got stuck in the sandy dunes surrounding the bay. Getting myself out was impossible. If you do something, you’d better do it good, as I use to say. So after two weeks, I got confronted with western civilization again, as two jeeps manned with Australian divers came along. Their “level of kindness” was about a quarter of that of the most rude Omani I’ve met during the past few weeks. A short “Hi” was asked too much. They’d help me out after their one hour dive (of course, that was something I could still live with). A few minutes after they submerged, a very kind Omani pulled over and helped me with the most basic attempts (flatten tyres, dig out the wheels). He couldn’t pull me out as he was driving an automatically shifted Range Rover, but he drew the attention of another Omani passing by (slowly, because he too experienced troubles in the loose sand). I went to this second one and explained him what was going on, with the few relevant Arabic words I know (as he didn’t understand any word in English at all): “me too, it is very difficult with the car here, I’m over there”, or something like that. While he tried to help me out, we started talking and it turned out that he happened to be a good friend of Mussallem, the extremely kind diver at Salalah who helps us out with diving tanks and a boat every time I’m here, and who helped us likewise to deploy all the cages at once yesterday. It was a model Arabic class exercise: listening carefully to the flood of Arabic sentences the other guy produced, trying to recognize at least a word and a verb per sentence, and mixing ingredients of all the dialogues we learnt in class to answer with a few basic sentences. We still managed to talk about what I do, Mussallem’s occupation and hobbies, the beautiful wreck in the bay I was about to snorkel in and the construction of the nearby hotel.

Anyway, he managed to pull me out and I went on snorkelling. With flood, the cages were at 7,5m, just enough to still allow to attach a temperature logger which I forgot yesterday, untie the buoy that was still attached to the site, and enjoy the result of yesterday’s labour as well as a beautiful lion fish which apparently found the cages very attractive… I’ll try to post a video fragment of that later (it wasn’t an easy job carrying a camera, a collecting bag, a fibreglass writing table, a GPS and a buoy at the same time while snorkelling; I really appreciate two pairs of hands for this kind of job, I can’t thank you enough, my dear brothers!)…
On my way back, while collecting some shallow algae, I had a close encounter with a huge octopus! As I reckon you’d be more interested in seeing an octopus than in seeing shallow algae, here’s the picture.

Tomorrow, inch’allah, Jan’ll be here, bringing along a few precious things that of course I had to forget at home, and the family business will go on! Cheers!

Fairly significant

The contrast between summer en winter monsoon keeps on surprising me everywhere I look. I know it’s hard to believe a (marine) tropical rain forest during summer monsoon can change into a desert during winter and vice versa within 4 months, both in the sea (with macroalgae growing up to 5m high and covering intertidal rocks for a 110% in summer vanishing completely in winter) as in the mountains… So here’s the evidence, and I guarantee you that it’s not limited to these few examples… First two pictures are from September 2005, last two are taken this time.

Field fun

After almost a day without electricity (= without refrigerator or air conditioning), the current has been re-established sooner than expected. We take this opportunity to show you a bit more of our fun job.

Mirbat proudly presents you the inauguration of the brand-new open-air Spa & Resort, featuring 34C hot tubs filled with crystal clear sea water with sea-sight including juvenile fish to clean and tickle your body while you are dreaming away. The tubs come with smoothly eroded seats in the rocks. Searching for intertidal algae becomes a delight!

Find the deadly poisonous Scorpion fish in the quadrat

Shifting question: did the author manage to discover this specimen in time before he was going to take some interesting algae of its back? If so, how many seconds before doing so?

Send your answer by e-mail. The winner stays alive.

To see Tawi Atair and to nearly die peacefully

If there’s one thing I was dying to see, it’s the Dhofar mountains during winter monsoon. I was told that the lush green subtropical savannas and rain forests loose every single bit of their green appearance and turn into a brown leafless landscape during this dry season. As I’d seen this mountains three times before during summer monsoon (see again my msn space), I couldn’t actually believe the difference could be so dramatic. It can, as it turns out. Where the contrast is so abrupt entering the mountains from the desert in the summer, there wasn’t a contrast at all this time. Sure, the vegetation was still there, but the trees were bare and the tall grass had completely died off, resulting in a colour not much different from that of the desert. As if a huge forest fire had swept away every green touch. It’s actually kind of ironic that to Koen, who is visiting the region for the first time anyway, it’s hard to believe that you could come out of the desert right into an African-style rain forest. To him, what we’ve seen this time represents a normal vegetation to be found. Still, some things remind of the peculiarity of this region: hundreds of cows grazing everywhere, and especially, (in vain) searching for green spots, they were crossing the roads all the time. Farmers were transporting hay stakes as well, a sign that the cows can’t find enough grass anymore…

To see Tawi Atair and to die peacefully, they say… so, after a little stop-over at Salalah (where we found everything, including internet cafes, closed for siesta… frustrating, as we were really looking forward to finally share our life with the world and a few special someones again) we made a little detour to explore nature’s most overwhelming site I know (overwhelming both by its form and the creatures that inhabit it). It’s more or less of a tradition to me when I come here, and I just love showing this infamous sinkhole (collapsed cave of 200m in diameter and 200m deep) to others.. It’s one of these places where civilization didn’t (yet) take over the adventurous feeling: one of the two roads leading there is still not blacktopped (although sadly that too won’t take another 6 months to be done), no signs, no marked trails or stairs or whatever, no viewpoints, nothing… If anyone comes here (and I invite everyone), it’s merely because he or she has got a strong interest in these kind of phenomena, and so the place is still quite pristine and devoid of litter. Although the green rain forest surrounding it had turned greyish brown, the birds concert was as breathtaking as always, and what’s more: we could enjoy it for a longer time thanks to the complete absence of mosquitoes! After the classic experiment of throwing some stones into the 150m (after climbing down 50m) deep crater (taking 5,5 seconds), we sat down and enjoyed the sight and the sound silently for more than half an hour. This is definitely the most peaceful spot on Earth that I’m aware of. On the way back, we decided to take the off-road trail (which was actually significantly the shortest way to Mirbat), which turned out to be in an extremely bad shape just prior to the road works during which it will be blacktopped. After a (completely Arabic!) conversation with a passing local farmer to inform us on the condition of the road (of course, we also needed to explain what the heck two expats with a pick-up overloaded with cages and equipment were looking for in a place like Mirbat), we learned that it was possible to take the road only if we were skilled and careful drivers. Which, of course, we are, as you can see. It was completely worth the shot…

It was definitely hearth-warming to come home to the hotel in Mirbat. Ta-Pa, the Nepalese cook (the best in town and surrounding continents), was sitting outside as we came down the road, and he immediately jumped up to welcome us enthusiastically, and made the most delicious “Manchurian” dishes this evening. True, it’s always a bit strange to enter this Sarajevo-like village and the very basic “comfort” (if you can call it that) of the hotel if you’re new to it, but it’s easy to get used to and to me, it really feels as coming home in some way or another…
And although no dolphins leaped out of the water yet when we enjoyed our dinner on the terrace next to the sea, I’m definitely looking forward to start the fieldwork here. First interesting observation confirming our hypotheses on the effect of summer-monsoon induced upwelling (when surface layers are blown away by the strong winds and replaced by cold, nutrient-rich bottom water) on seaweeds: while intertidal rocks are completely covered with dense algal growth during summer monsoon, not the least bit is to be found this time! The sea is surprisingly calm, and definitely warmer than during the summer upwelling… Mmm… I’m goin’ in…

Oh, one more thing, both the desert beach and the sinkhole made me realize again that you don’t need to be alone to really miss someone. Just not being able of sharing these incredible experiences immediately is enough…

Desert nightlife

Desert: the final frontiers

These are the voyages of the desertcruisers. Their continuing mission: to explore strange, new desert coasts, to boldly go where no algae have gone before. From the crazy log of captain Klaas and assistant Koen:

Oman time, Wednesday 8 march…
We are invited to the Marine Science and fisheries centre for a meeting with one of their investigators, and the board of the centre. The meeting was set up by Barry Jupp from the ministry, and highly inconvenient for us, as we desperately wanted to head off to cross the desert at Barr al Hikman before sunset. So half an hour late, and getting really annoyed, we are warmly welcomed by Hafwan al Rashdi, senior seacucumber researcher (“Mobutu” because of the hat), who actually turned out to be the nicest, friendly etc. kind of guy. In fact, that’s not worth mentioning, since that applies to 90% of the Omani we meet. Oh, and for those who wondered about the seacucumber: yes, it’s tasty food, and no, it’s not a vegetable, but an animal. Anyhow, Mobutu seems to have this idea of new integrated research, that should lead to more understanding on species richness to be found at the coasts of Oman, and to governmental issued Marine Protected Areas, to protect these species. And how badly they need Klaas’s opinion and know-how on that subject (they even proposed to give a seminar next time in September, can you imagine that)…Later on, Robert Baldwin from Five Oceans joins us, and then there we are, 4 ex-pats and 3 Omani in a cool and comfortable meeting room, Science is in the air… the first decisions are taken… To be continued, that’s for sure!

Then, more than 2 hours later than scheduled in plan C bis etc., adventure calls and we hit the road! Well, road, you can read this as a vague trail in the sand , bumping like hell, and cursing at the gps reader that refuses to work properly. Of course, while cursing and discussing, we reach the coast without any problems. Then abruptly our cursing is stopped as we gaze with astonishment at the huge swell caused by a 6Bft strong wind…

Yes well, let’s have dinner first and take a nap…. in the car, as the back-up plan didn’t include sleeping bags. And there’s more it didn’t include, as will turn out later… Where were your remarks on our list “to buy before we leave”?? Isn’t that just what you people at home should do??

This is what happened the first day (Thursday). Pumping up the inflatable barge (ahum), swimming out 300m on the sea against a heavy wind coming in right ahead, diving, finding the experimental site in perfect shape…
Victory!! Intensive monitoring begins, and than getting the impossible done: getting twelve concrete tiles and eight metal cages (for a total weight of 200 kg!) on the raft, and swimming back to the shore, pulling all that equipment… Just loading the second tile, things already go terribly wrong: the sharp edges of the tile tear a huge hole in the bottom air compartment… As Klaas is in the water to dive, Koen is forced to make the “Mr. Wolf”-like decisions. The picture tells how this looks like!

Ok, so here’s the situation: one small hole in the outer air compartment, one small and one medium in the centre compartment, and no air left in the bottom. Abort mission? Hell no! So in a devastating tempo we proceed loading the raft, and let’s get the hell out of here! For those who had some doubts concerning inflatable rafts (as even Koen had) for this kind of work: badly damaged and overloaded, the raft holds! Ok, now searching a solution for the other half of the site… And then, God comes down with his machine, sending in a boat of fishermen, about 500 meters out of shore. Waving like never before, shouting, and finally using the car horn, we manage them to notice us and to pull over. Again Klaas his mastering of Arabic is convincing enough to arrange a boat rental scheduled on Saturday.

The next day brought a good and a bad thing at the same time: the wind finally dropped, thus making the work far more easy, but at the same time making the sun burn with no place to hide. So we spent more than two hours in the cooling (28°C) water.
In the afternoon the fisherman who would rent us his boat comes to join us. He barely speaks one word English, doesn’t know to read either as it turned out. And is highly surprised when he noticed that those crazy western expats come to stay for four days in the desert without tea, sleeping bags and spare fuel, but carrying loads of useless fancy high-tech equipment…

Allah, what fools! Oh and by the way, yesterday, two snakes found our gear to be a very attractive hiding place… but don’t worry, keeping the words of the fishermen in mind: “Two snakes, five snakes, no problem. Same same.”. What seemed more of a problem though was our troubling decrease of water reserve.

Omani who come early at an appointment, they exist. Who are they, what do they do, but above all, how do they do it…? They are fishermen, very kind, and come from the other end of the peninsula, just to help you out. The complete job took us only 50 minutes, and the use of a real boat made it far more safe for Klaas as well. We paid a reasonable 40 rials, but the problem was that those were our last 40 rials. So we left, but came soon to the conclusion that we had no fuel enough to make it to the next town.
Staying in the desert was not an option, since we ran out of water. Buying fuel was not an option, because we didn’t have any more cash, and no credits card are accepted here. Guys, if you ever want to make this kind of trip, take everything we wrote in our last entry + extra water, + extra water, + fuel, + extra cash, + sleeping bags, + tea, + extra water, + extra cash!

Of course, God came down with his machine again, sending a car with European tourists with whom we could change our last euros for omani cash. That yielded enough fuel to the next town. Mind you, only by shutting down the airco(!) and limiting ourselves to 90 km/h, as our 4WD pick-up turned out to be a real sponge, a tippler, a soaker, in one word: a dipsomanious drinker. We arrived over there about 18u30. and intended to refuel, ‘recash’ and ‘refeed’, and head off for the next waypoint, which should take about half an hour. This town has the only cash point in a range of 320 km(!). And surprise: imagine this cash point being out of service… So, this is the point were people really get depressed. Stuck in a town where we didn’t want to be, no money to check in a hotel, to buy food, to buy fuel, nothing possible at all! Now, this is also the point were Omani can make you feel good again. First of all, you don’t complain, because “inch’allah”: everything happens according to the will of Allah! Then, chill down, chat with some super-kind people, find a place where they would grant you 10 rials at flashing your visa-card, eat incredible well and much with for 4 euros (yes, with two persons!), drink a sweet tea and leave 3 hours later than you’d have planned. Exactly who felt depressed?

Finally we arrived at our planned stop, a nice looking motel, with a very kind-looking hotel manager. Kind looking, because after we heard the price for our one night stay, he dropped spectacular on our “popular” list… For that price you’d expect even in Belgium a tv and refrigerator in your room, and included breakfast. You can already guess that none of this was the case. Add the absence of decent warm water, the presence of the most aggressive mosquitoes, and you’ll understand how eager we were to leave in the morning! “You slept well, Pauly?” “Yes, of course, bye bye!”: always keep smiling!