MetroLifePAGE 19

April 12

Food, fashion, movies and more...7DAYS

In 2002, the South African

version of ‘Sesame Street’

said it would be

introducing a character

that was HIV-positive

Julian Pletts immerses himself in the past

PEARLS ABOUT THE OLDEST TRADE 7 >> In the South China sea, there are signs that pearl diving was carried out as early as 200BC. >> The world’s largest pearl is 24cm in diameter, weighs 6.4kg and is worth $93 million.>> The Gulf is the largest natural pearl diving area inthe world. >> Some sailors would swallow big andprecious pearls to hide them.>> Pearl diving died out in the 1950s.>> As many as 70 people would live for upto three months on a small dhow. >> The divers descended to 40m on a single breathfor roughly five minutes.

Diving into UAE history

For decades, divers would plunge toamazing depths below the ArabianGulf on just a single breath insearch of beautiful pearls.

Pearl diving was the first industry toprovide an income for Dubai

residents, who traded the pearlswith India, Iran and Turkey.

Starting today, Jumeirah BeachHotel and the Emirates MarineEnvironmental Group (EMEG)are offering pearl diving tripsallowing locals, residents andvisitors to experience thisproud tradition. At EMEG’s outpost, AliSaqar Al Suweidi (heprefers Major Ali) waits togreet you. The 56-year-old, kind-eyed man, is athird-generation pearldiver, former minesweeper in the UAEnavy and now EMEG’spresident. He approaches the pearldiving experience withmixed emotions - it’s atourist enterprise butit’s also a chance torevive a way of life hisfamily had to abandon.By the 1940s theJapanese had perfectedcultured pearl farming,effectively strangling themarket for pearls forthese waters.“For me, it is great forpeople to come,especially people who

don’t know about ourculture, and see how we

used to live,” says Ali, whobegan pearl diving aged 17.

“I have three children andI’m proud to take them pearl

diving. It was, though, a veryhard life.”

After a short safety briefing, Alidescribes the vital medications

divers took on their three-monthvoyages. A fish-only diet and water

rations of three coconuts-worth aday meant illness was common.

Then, it was a change of clothes - wedonned the traditional long white

diving smocks - and boarding Ali’s‘sambuk’ (traditional pearl diving dhow).

We reached our destination and Ali

demonstrated how to wrap our feet aroundthe weighted rope the divers used todescend and the ‘zaibal’ they tugged to tell those on the surface ‘I’m low on air, pull me up!’.Then, after extra guidance from the divingsafety experts, the treasure hunt began. Weemerged with handfuls of oysters to cheersfrom those on board. As we sat down toexamine our haul, our hearts beat with theintoxicating excitement of possibility - wouldwe, could we have a priceless pearl?We had come up empty. The trip did offer up a priceless gem - MajorAli’s tales of yore. He regaled us with this:“One day, way back when, an Omani paupernamed Saif Al Hass visited my grandfatherSultan. Saif was in desperate need of work tohelp feed his family of 30. Saif however,could not swim and had faced manyrejections along the Emirati shores. Sultantook him under his wing, giving him a joband teaching him to swim and dive.“Saif then joined Sultan on a three-monthtrip. On that trip, as they were anchored nearGhantoot they started searching their smallpile of oysters.” “When you find the pearl you must put it inyour mouth until the Captain comes andpays you because you lucky,” Ali explains.“After a while, Saif was sat there with hismouth bulging. Nobody believed he hadanything in his mouth. But not only did hehave a pearl, he had the biggest one everrecovered by Dubai divers. “Saif returned to Oman a hero. He bought thebiggest farm in his village, where his familylived in prosperity for the rest of their lives.Sultan bought a huge boat and started a goodstrading business which helped his familysurvive the demise of pearl diving in the UAE.”

GOING DOWN: A diver is instructed on howto correctly descend. Inset, top: Major Aliregales divers with tales of the good old days

If you are interested in trying pearl divingfor yourself and hearing a few more

stories like this, call 04 4088828