The Rains Came...

We have had some unusual weather in the country which begins with Q lately. Some attribute this to global warming-- I'm glad people are finally starting to take notice of what is happening.

Last week, the rains came. Usually the country which begins with Q has its rainy season during the winter-- in January, or February. Even during this time, though, more than 20 drops of water which fall in the same spot constitute as rain. However, the storms last week closely rival those found in rainier climates. The rain did not just fall for 20 drops, or even for 20 minutes. Rather, last Friday, the rain fell for a good hour or more.

This did not affect our diving, however. As I had to go to the beach to work on my Divemaster candidate internship, which entailed accompanying Open Water students on their first 2 open water dives (I greatly enjoyed the experience, but was more tired after 2 dives than I normally would be), I found myself outside setting up kit during the worst part of the rain.

I haven't owned a rain umbrella since I left Japan in 2006. However, I found my beach umbrella came in handy to stop the wind-driven rain and sand from drenching me as I worked.

Building Boom

People may be leaving cars and overdrawn credit cards at the airport in Dubai, but quite the opposite is happening in Doha.

The other day, I stepped out from work and realized how significant it was to see the number of cranes dotting the skyline. I counted 17.

Here's a panorama view, starting from the North:

Dive report

I've been underwater the last 2 weekends, and there are lots of good things happening there.

Two weekends ago, though, there were terrible winds at Old Club Reef. For those who live in snowy climates, think of how it is when snow drifts-- that's what the sand was like. Even with keeping the kit in the back of my car, it still got covered in sand. I had to take my regulators apart and clean them, and I'm still finding sand in odd spots.



Last weekend the Al Khor Dive Club ventured out to 3 Barges, a dive site that is North and East of Ras Laffan. We did 2 dives, with the water temperatures being 20C. 3 Barges is a site teeming with life. There were countless chromodoris annulata nudibranchs, 6-armed starfish, small patches of coral beginning to grow, and... wait for it... 3 anemone with clownfish! This is a huge deal for Qatar.







Coral beginning to grow.


Brittle star.

Chromodoris Annulata nudibranch.

Yesterday I went to Old Club Reef, and the conditions couldn't have been better. Warm day, no wind, and water temps warmed up to 22C, with a small thermocline to 23 at 6 meters, and surface temperatures at 24. If this keeps up, I predict I'll be back in just a 3mil within 2 weeks.

But there was some excitement at OCR. A chromodoris obsoleta has laid eggs, and I also got a good photo of the chromodoris cazae that has been lurking for the last few weeks. Seeing the chromodoris cazae is an especially wonderful treat, as the only documented sightings of this nudibranch in the whole wide blue world are Qatar and the UAE. There were also 3 nice-sized white snapper, which I am sincerely hoping did not fall victim to the spearfishermen who insist on hunting where a lot of people pleasure dive.

Chromodoris cazae.



Nudibranch eggs.

l

Chromodoris obsoleta and eggs.

c

Chromodoris Obsoleta--close up.



Finger coral that reminds me of icicles.



Rush hour.


Brittle star.

Sampling the wares...

I've heard of sampling grapes at the store before buying, but this has to take the blue ribbon...

This morning I was in Carrefour, doing a shopping before going to work. I stopped at the nuts and dates section, and found that someone, or several someones, had opened a box of dates...


and helped themselves quite generously, leaving the pits behind on the shelf.


It's amazing what I see in Doha sometimes.

Fuel Tank Accident

I didn't know anything about this until I was on Facebook today. I saw a billboard at Billboard Signal that looked like it had been ignited, and commented that 'someone must have run into it'. A colleague replied with this video from YouTube.

So, yep, I suppose someone *did* run into the billboard.

While this is quite a shocking sight, I have to say that it isn't surprising to see here. Particularly whoever is blaring on their horn for the other people to go, or the cars that are still sitting right near where the tanker is about to explode...

Tribute to the Korean Drummer...

Because we all get bored at work from time to time...

The story behind the Korean Drummer is that he was a bit unamused with the songs, so he decided to amuse himself. I've seen other forms of amusement (texting, phone sudoku, writing shopping lists, crossword puzzles, doodling, language drills), but I certainly think the Korean Drummer is on to something.

The lesson, I suppose, then, is that anything is what you make of it.

I do hope he got into a band with some more amusing music...

Alternatively, we could put him in a duet with Miss Star Wars Trumpet Solo...



I love the jumping up and down in this one...

The sky really WAS falling...

Like the time-honored Chicken Little story, where the sky is falling... well...

In Doha we've had blue sky, dusty sky, moldy sky, and now... falling sky!

Image and report courtesy of Qatar Idols, from Qatar Living.




Part of City Center Crashes
Qatar Idols's picture
By Qatar Idols on Sun, 01/02/2009 - 5:22pm

DOHA City Center - one part of City Centre on the 2nd Floor (behind Debenhams near the rest room) crashed down this morning at around 10am.

One Filipina worker who is about to go to work and one Nepali cleaner were running and screaming while the ceiling in 2nd floor were about to crash. It sounded like an earthquake and was a strange feeling when that whole part of ceiling in 2/F totally landed on the floor (in front of Nour Boutique & Otife Coutour).

My dear friend Yroll called me at 10:21am and asked me what happen because he knows that I am working nearby the incident. I answered that I am in the parking area already and about to leave the place. He was at Carrefourre when he called me (for some outside job) when he heard the crash inside Carrefourre. He went out and was supposed to visit me & check what really happen when he witnessed the big ceiling crash and land.

Thank God nobody got hurt by accident.

Dust Storms...

This sand/dust storm moved in literally within a 5-minute time span. I had left the office briefly. When I came back, the whole sky was whitish-grey. The front doors going outside were open, and I could smell the dust already. People outside, walking towards the building, were covering their mouths with sleeves or hands.

This morning I could smell and breathe the dust inside my apartment, and a thick cloud hung near in the downstairs carpark.

While we do get sandstorms here, I've never seen a storm move in this quickly here.

Dust envelops Qatar
http://www.gulf-times.com/mritems/images/2009/2/12/2_272609_1_248.jpg



Palm trees swaying in the wind as a thick dust haze shrouds the Corniche. Inset: A couple caught in the dust storm cover their faces. PICTURES: Jayan Orma


A HEAVY haze enveloped most parts of Qatar as a dust storm swept through the state yesterday.

The condition will continue today but with a lesser intensity, Met officials said yesterday.

The wind is expected to subside for a while before noon but will gather strength once again later in the day. The dust storm is expected to recede by late in the evening, they said.

The Met office attributed the dusty winds to the formation of a high-pressure ridge over the northwestern areas of Saudi Arabia and of its movement to central Iran. Doha was on the path of its movement, said the head of the forecasting department, Abdullah al-Mannai.

“The situation may continue for the next 48 hours,” he said.
The weather office forecast a wind speed of up to 40 knots on the offshore and a high sea of 14-16ft.

Visibility was in the region of 600m to 650m, it added.

The dust storm is expected to move towards the UAE this morning.
Drizzles are possible, Met officials said.

The intensity of dust storms was severe in Ras Laffan, Shamal and Ruweis.
Work at many construction sites had to be suspended as the haze hit visibility badly.

A Qatar Airways spokesman said incoming as well as outgoing flights were not affected.

Meanwhile, work at all Kuwaiti ports has been halted since yesterday morning due to bad weather. Most of the capital was shrouded in a dusty cloud.

Yarra Valley Wine Tour

On my last full day in Melbourne, I set off in another 24-passenger bus with 18 other wine connoisseurs to the Yarra Valley, one of the grape-growing regions in Australia. Other Aussie wine regions you may have heard of include Hunter Valley outside Sydney or Barocha Valley outside Adelaide. Interestingly enough, during the conference, I met some people from Canberra, and learned that wineries are starting to pop up around Canberra as well. A mention of this to a native Melbournian I met at my guesthouse, though, was met with a polite smile and slightly skeptical look, followed by an enquiry as to whether if I had been to Yarra Valley yet, or if I was planning to go.

I hit the road with the Australian Wine Tour Company, a business started by ‘a guy with a car’ who wanted to share his appreciation for the Yarra Valley’s scenic locale for fermented grape juice sippers, but grew to include a fleet of a 24-passenger bus and a smaller minivan service—with customizable itinerary-- for those gourmet types who may not want to mix with the regular riff raff.

We visited 4 wineries:

Yering Station

Rochford Wines

Yering Farm

Domaine Chandon—yes, the Dom Perignon people.

At each winery, we were given an introduction to a few of the wines by a member of the staff, and then allowed to visit the tasting bar to try some more. Our itinerary and tour price included a lovely gourmet lunch at Rochford Winery served with a glass of wine, ice water after our stop at Yering Farm, and then a bread/cheese platter and a glass of sparkling wine to finish at Domaine Chandon.

I had never been on a wine tasting tour, so I didn’t really know the finer points of tasting wine, or how the sometimes flowery descriptions are written. Tasting wine requires a number of steps—they may seem overly academic, but are necessary to fully appreciate the flavors of the wine as well as to prevent overindulgence. As it turns out, 5 20 mL tasting serves equal a full drink, so professional wine tasters who sample 50 to 60 wines a day would certainly fall over by noon if the wine were actually consumed.

Great Ocean Road

I went on a Great Ocean Road day tour during my stay in Melbourne. “Day tour” is not a mislabeling, either—I left my guesthouse at 7.10 am, and didn’t get back until after 9pm that night.

The Great Ocean Road is a two-lane (sometimes three) winding road that starts just west of Melbourne, at Torquay, and ends 12 kilometers east of Warrnambool (still in Victoria). Our tour only covered half of the road, from Torquay to The Arch, although a 3-day tour will cover the whole road as well as the remaining distance to Adelaide (or back to Melbourne, a “boomerang” tour I didn’t know anything about until after I had returned).



The highlights of the Great Ocean Road are ample surfing opportunities, the Great Otway National Park, and Port Campbell National Park—home of the famous Twelve Apostles. Large cattle buses (carrying camera-toting tourists, not cattle, but you get the idea…) storm up and down the GOR next to smaller 24-passenger mini-buses. I rode in the latter type with a tour company called Bunyip Tours, as recommended by my guesthouse travel shop, and can’t imagine going in a large bus as the small minibus for that long was challenging enough.

We started out from Melbourne, and after a quick stop in Geelong (juh-LONG), weaved our way toward Bell's Beach, a surfer’s haven. From there, we weaved our way down to Apollo Bay for a picnic lunch and a view of the start of the Great Ocean Walk—a multiday hike that leads to the Twelve Apostles. Following a post-lunch hike through a rain forest, we were on our way to the Twelve Apostles.


Bell's Beach

The Twelve Apostles are limestone formations which have been formed—and have been, or will be, destroyed—by erosion. Ocean waves hit the limestone cliffs, causing caves to form. Eventually, at the rate of 2 centimeters a year or so, the caves are ‘eaten’ away until an arch forms. Over more time, the arch collapses, forming a separately-standing limestone stack. There were originally twelve stacks, but now only 8 remain. 6 can be seen from the main viewing platform.


Great Southern Ocean. As our driver reminded us, the only thing separating us at that point from Antarctica was water.


Twelve Apostles.

In other parts of the park, recent archway collapse has occurred. In 1990, a double archway formation called London Bridge went the way of the song, as one of the arches fell down. As an interesting aside, there was a man and a woman who were stuck on the isolated stack and had to be rescued. This is an amusing tidbit in itself, but the best part has to be that both the man and the woman were married—to separate people. As the news and resulting rescue of the Trapped Duo was televised nationally, their cover was blown—and all thanks to natural science.


London Bridge

I've placed some more photos on my Flickr account.