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The Palm Jumeirah to have 'dive park'
Four themed areas being developed in Dubai
The Palm is developing an artificial 'dive park' at The Palm,
Jumeirah. Divers will have the choice of four themed areas forming the 'Dive
Experience' -'Snorkellers' Cove', 'The Lost City', 'Dives of The
World' and a spear fishing area."
Many tourists to Dubai and
people living in the United Arab Emirates, including myself, are eager snorkellers
and divers. We have, therefore, designed the most extraordinary
dive experience to excite beginners through to the most avid
explorers," commented Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, chairman of
The Palm. By placing artificial reefs such as the aircraft, vessels and
environmentally friendly concrete compositions, fish aggregating
devices (FADs) are created. Gradually, smaller fish will be
attracted to the reef as they have a place to hide from the larger
predator fish. As marine life attaches itself to the artificial
reef surfaces, the amount and diversity of marine life in the area
will naturally grow.
On the 'Snorkellers' Cove', people can discover coral and sea life
and search for a lost treasure one kilogram gold bars will be
carefully placed on the seabed around the cove continuously.
The 'Lost City' dive site will be located at the base of the
Crescent and will allow divers to sift through the ages of a lost city. It comprises a series of underwater
replica artifacts from the Arab world, including wind towers,
pyramids and Roman columns. The 'Dives of the World' experience
will be located just outside the Crescent island.
Various artificial reefs will be created and placed to simulate
the coral and bottom topography. Many of these 'Dives of The
World' will be shore dives, meaning that they will be accessible right from one of the hotels on the Crescent.The Spear Fishing dive park will be located in an area beginning
one kilometre offshore from the centre of the Crescent.
A range of wrecks will eventually be transported to site and
submerged, including two passenger aircraft, an Ilyushin 86 and
Airbus 300, along with the possibility of a train from India and several cars.
"The Ilyushin 86 plane will be the first of our wrecks to be
transported to site via a barge in one month's time", said Bin
Sulayem. It will sit approximately 10
metres under water.
According to experts working on the project, surveys have been
done to ensure that where the planes and vessels are placed has the least amount of impact on
sea life. At the heart of these dive experiences and about 100 metres of the
Crescent will be a Dive Centre, incorporating a dive shop, cafe
and platform, allowing access to the nearby dives, all in one
convenient location.
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