Diving
History in UAE
I discussed this topic, how UAE citizens were diving for
living in the past, with my cousin Mohamed Khamis Al Suwaidi , born in 1961 he worked
in the army, and he was a sailor, and until now he still has this hobby which
is diving but for fun, and he says that
he can’t avoid this habit, because he likes it too much.
Q 1.When you did start diving?
Q 1.When you did start diving?
I start
diving at an early age, when I was 8
years old; my father started teaching me
everything about diving; we were used to learn everything early to help our
family, because our life in past was very hard, that’s why we started work at
an early age.
Q 2.What were your tools for diving in the past?
Q 2.What were your tools for diving in the past?
In the past we
had simple tools, but it was very helpful for us. We used a gargoor which means
net, we put it in the sea for 1 day or half day, and then we took it back, this
net had one entrance and when the fish
entered the net it couldn’t go out; we put a piece of bread or aouma, which
means small fish, to attract the big fish; also we were using another tool called an Al Hadra; it worked only in shallow water, usually near the coast and fishing
operations depended on the phenomena of the tides. We used to put Al Fetam to
cover our nose from sea water; also sometimes we used to connect my legs with
rock to dive faster.
Q3.What challenges
did you face in diving?
The seas have a lot of risk and the women in past liked the man who wasn't afraid of the seas; also the great sailor was the pride of his family, and every women bargained for his courage; the biggest enemy for us was jarjor which means shark, so when we dive we should take a knife with us to be ready for any threat; also there is pterois volitans which have forks, also stingrays: the sting from this fish can make you die; also the diver had pain in their eyes and noses; these symptoms come from diving too much.
The seas have a lot of risk and the women in past liked the man who wasn't afraid of the seas; also the great sailor was the pride of his family, and every women bargained for his courage; the biggest enemy for us was jarjor which means shark, so when we dive we should take a knife with us to be ready for any threat; also there is pterois volitans which have forks, also stingrays: the sting from this fish can make you die; also the diver had pain in their eyes and noses; these symptoms come from diving too much.
Q4.How do you see the
diving in the past and the present these 40 years..?
In past we were using the
net, and thread for hunting fish, and we were using the rocks to make us dive
fast for collecting or searching for pearls, but now in this age we have new materials
for hunting and diving; it makes diving and hunting easier than before; now we
have a special suit for diving; also we can dive for a long time, because we
carry oxygen cylinders; also we use hooks instead of thread as its easy and
simple to use; also from the new material which is gun hunting for the big fish.
Furthermore, there is a new boat which is built from steal, and it works with
engines, with a strong power instead of our old boats which were built from
wood, and depended on rowing.
Analysis:
We see that they were
living a hard life; they were risk themselves for living; the children had to
work from an early age. I see that it gave them experience in life; many people
lost their lives in the past, because they put their lives at risk to make a
living.
